Health Shot: Fiber, COVID, Race, and the Microbiome

Taking fiber with antibiotics may decrease negative affects on the microbiome & early life environment shapes what happens in the gut

Welcome to Health Shot, where we look at the newest research related to gut health, autoimmunity, chronic illness, stress, and the relationship between them. If you follow research related to these topics, you know that there’s a lot of it and it’s far from definitive.

Here, we try to stay informed about new findings, but also hold them lightly, knowing that scientific research is a long and winding process with many false starts. While no individual study can provide definitive answers, taken together, we can start to see where the findings are headed, long before they make their way into medical practice. One of the goals of Health Shot is to identify and highlight these trends.

THIS WEEK: 3 new studies, all related to the microbiome. Let’s dive in.

1. Fiber supplementation could prevent against gut dysbiosis caused by antibiotics

Published in Nature, August 24th, 2023

Bottom line: Evidence in mice suggests that prebiotic fiber supplementation can reduce the negative affects of antibiotics on the gut microbiome.

Research overview: After taking antibiotics, many people experience a drop in bacterial diversity in the gut, and in some cases develop gut dysbiosis (imbalance) triggered by antibiotic use. In this study, a team from Brown University explored whether there was a measurable impacts on antibiotic-induced dysbiosis in mice who were given fiber supplementation.

The team gave the female mice a cocktail of 7 plant fibers (cellulose, levan, dextrin, pectin, inulin, beta-glucan, arabinoxylan), and treated them with the common antibiotic amoxicillin. Using genetic sequencing of the subjects’ poop, the team evaluated the effect of the antibiotic treatment on microbial diversity. They found that with supplementation, the dysbiotic affect of the amoxicillin was significantly lower, and that this result held whether the prebiotic fiber was given before, during, or after the antibiotics.

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2. Infants born during COVID show lower microbiome diversity and altered microbiome composition

Published in Nature, August 16th, 2023

Bottom line: Evidence shows that our early life environment can impact the makeup of our gut microbiome, and environmental changes due to COVID may have a negative community-wide impact on baby microbiome diversity and composition.

Research Overview: Joining other studies with similar findings, this study found that the microbiota in children born during the first months of the COVID. pandemic differed from those born before the pandemic. The researchers analyzed stool samples from 34 infants born before the pandemic, and 20 infants born during the first six months of the pandemic, across a diverse set of racial and class backgrounds. They found that the babies born during the pandemic had lower microbial diversity, and lower levels of specific microbes, Pasteurellaceae and Haemophilus. The researchers concluded that there may have been a community-level affect of COVID-related lifestyle changes—like increased time indoors, decreased socialization, and altered hygiene habits—on the microbiomes of babies born during that time.

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3. Race-based microbiome differences develop in very early life, not at birth

Published in PLOS Biology, August 16th, 2023

Bottom line: Known differences in the human gut microbiome based on race/ethnicity appear to be primarily influenced by early life environment. They are not visible at birth, but are detectable by 3 months.

Research Overview: It is well established that there are race- and ethnicity-based differences in the human microbiome. In this study, researchers looked at samples from over 700 children of diverse backgrounds from birth to 12 years old to evaluate if and when differences showed up along racial and ethnic lines. They found that there were no significant race-based differences at birth, when the microbiome is seeded from the mother, but differences show up around three months old and appear to persist. From this finding, researchers concluded that early life environmental factors are likely to cause these differences, and highlighted the importance of including diverse cohorts in microbiome research.

I’m curious…

Have you ever experienced prolonged gut issues after taking antibiotics?

Do you take prebiotics or probiotics? What effects do you experience?

Let’s talk all things microbiome in the comments!