GASTROENTEROLOGY NERD ALERT!

Check out this fascinating article about a recent publication in Nature Medicine on the impact of the gut microbiome on food allergies.

Disclaimer: I am neither a pediatrician nor an allergist, but I am completely intrigued by the wide ranging influence the trillion microorganisms that live with the gut (collectively known as the gut microbiome) have on our gut health and function, as well as colon cancer risk, metabolism, mood, and apparently possibly food allergies too!

The article describes how a healthy baby’s stool was transplanted into a mouse and this protected the mice from having allergic reactions to cow’s milk. However, “in contrast, germ-free mice that received gut bacteria from human babies with cow’s milk allergy did experience allergic reactions to cow’s milk.” In addition, “the researchers…also identified a bacterium that, when present in the gut, prevents allergic responses to food.”