Exploring the Crosstalk: Nutrition, Microbiome, and Cardiometabolic Health

The first 1,000 days establish a microbial and metabolic “set point” with lifelong implications for cardiometabolic health. Maternal–infant microbial sharing begins at birth, as microbes are transferred from both vaginal and gut reservoirs.1 Research, including that from our group, has used strain-resolved metagenomics to reveal the vertical flow of maternal vaginal and fecal microbes, including Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis (B. infantis) and other human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) degrading bacteria that dominate the breastfed infant gut.1 We have shown this transmission is strongly shaped by delivery mode, perinatal antibiotics, and early feeding practices, and can persist into toddlerhood.1 Specifically, we have noted that cesarean delivery, early antibiotic exposure, and formula feeding consistently attenuate or delay colonization by bifidobacteria and Bacteroides, altering the early-life gut microbiota foundation.