If you could lower your kids’ chances of becoming obese or developing diseases like Type 2 diabetes, Crohn’s disease and asthma, would you? Of course. But how? Interestingly enough, some of it may come down to how you cultivate the ecosystem of bacteria living in their guts — or, what scientists call the “gut microbiota.”
While researchers have only just begun to scratch the surface as to what a “normal” or “healthy” intestinal ecosystem is even supposed to look like, they do know that the healthiest people typically have the most diverse populations of microbes in their guts. Diversity is measured in terms of the number of different species and strains of critters, as well as the different types of functions they serve. Conversely, scientists have observed a relative depletion of species diversity in the guts of people in poor health.
Another important finding is also emerging: it’s never too early to start thinking about gut health. In fact, when your child is born, his or her gut is essentially sterile. From that point on, all manner of environmental encounters begin to seed it with the bacteria that will ultimately take up permanent residence there. The breast milk or formula you feed your baby; the siblings, pets and daycare friends he’s exposed to; the type of solid foods he’s weaned to; whether he plays in the country dirt or is raised in an urban concrete jungle; and how often he’s given antibiotics all matter.
By the time children turn 3, their gut microbiota is pretty mature and remarkably stable. Its overall profile probably won’t change much over their lives unless they make a drastic, long-term shift in their overall dietary patterns in adulthood. Even then, researchers don’t know to what extent a gut microbiota that was established on a fast-food diet can transform to resemble one that was established on a healthy, more plant-heavy diet — even if they’re fed the same healthy diets in adulthood. It simply hasn’t been studied in humans, though some animal studies suggest that our ability to completely transform the gut microbiota by adopting a healthy diet as adults could be hampered if we started with a relatively depleted gut ecosystem from a poor diet earlier in life.
[See: How to Make Healthful Dietary Changes Last a Lifetime.]
So how can you encourage health-promoting diversity in your baby’s or young child’s developing gut?
1. Find fiber.
Parents stress about their choice to use formula instead of breast milk, but data suggest that once babies start on solids foods, you can no longer tell the difference between the gut microbiota of a previously-breast-fed baby and a formula-fed one. The diet your baby is weaned to, however, makes a huge difference as to the trajectory of his or her developing internal ecosystem.
Comparisons of stool samples from breast-fed children in rural Africa with those from breast-fed children in urban Italy found huge differences in the gut microbiota as the kids were weaned to the typical diets of their cultures. The very high-fiber diet of African children (which included whole grains like millet and sorghum, beans, vegetables and only small amounts of animal protein) produced a significantly more diverse gut microbiota, and a signature balance of species that is associated with leanness. The diet relatively high in protein, sugar and fat in Italian children produced far less species diversity among gut microbes, and a signature balance of species that is associated with obesity risk.
[See: Here’s How People in 8 Other Countries Stay Healthy.]
So emphasize soft-textured, fiber-containing foods as staples of your older infant’s and toddler’s diets, and resist the temptation to default to lower-fiber “kid foods” like crackers, juice and French fries. For instance, try avocado, skinless sweet potato, diced beets, pears, melon, papaya, unsweetened quick-cooking oatmeal, cooked quinoa, well-steamed cauliflower and pancakes or low-sugar muffins made from ground almond meal instead of white flour. Season as needed to make them taste great!
2. Wean to beans.
Beans and lentils are not a staple in the typical American child’s diet, but they should be. They’re a terrific source of growth-promoting nutrients like protein, iron, folate and healthy carbohydrates. They’re also a rich source of fibers that gut microbes thrive on. Smooth bean purees like hummus make a terrific early solid food for infants; refried beans are an easy addition to a toddler’s quesadilla; split pea or red lentil soups work as well for older infants and toddlers as they do for us parents; boiled edamame are great toddler finger food; and dry-roasted chickpeas, fava beans and “soy nuts” are a nutrient-dense crunchy, salty snack for preschoolers to replace empty calorie crackers, chips, Goldfish and pretzels.
3. Snack smarter.
Almost any bar or sweet snack marketed to children — even organic — is far too high in added sugar and low in fiber to be healthy for a young gut. And those ubiquitous squeezable pouches of fruit and vegetable purees are usually just applesauce garnished with a nominal sprinkling of vegetables for marketing purposes. They’re fine for infants still on purees, but less nourishing as snacking staples when children get older.
[See: 10 Concerns Parents Have About Their Kids’ Health.]
Snacks that use dried or pureed fruit with no added sugar, coupled with soft seeds or nuts, deliver gut-nourishing soluble fiber at a more appropriate sweetness level. I treated my twins to lower-sugar sweet snacks like Health Warrior’s chia bars; mini Lara bars and Chia Co’s refrigerated Chia Pods. I also made my own trail mixes with freeze-dried fruit from Trader Joe’s or baked fruit “chips” from Bare Snacks tossed with nuts, dry roasted chickpeas, baked spelt and sesame snack sticks from Happy Herbert’s, roasted pepitas and a pinch of dark chocolate chips.
Bottom line? There’s a short window of time in early childhood in which our feeding practices may yield a longer-lasting impact on our kids’ health into adulthood than we currently realize. Lastly, and importantly: The answer to building a diverse gut microbiota resides in a fiber-rich diet, and there’s no evidence to suggest that probiotic supplement pills can make up for dietary shortfalls.
Editor’s note: the author has no material affiliations with any of the companies whose products are mentioned in this article.
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How to Feed Your Baby’s Gut originally appeared on usnews.com
