Dietary fibre initiation during weaning period good for infant gut health

The introduction of complementary dietary fibres during the weaning period shows benefits for infant gut microbiome diversification and stabilization, according to a study.

Linear mixed models were used to explore the longitudinal and cross-sectional development of infant gut microbiomes in 68 infants and metabolomes in 33 infants. The authors assessed fibre intakes with 3-day food records (months 3, 6, 9, and 12) via CODEX-compliant fibre fraction values and tracked the overall complementary food introduction through questionnaires.

Finally, the authors identified and quantified bacterial species via MetaPhIAn2 from metagenomic data and obtained metabolomic profiles using four LC-MS methods.

Overall, 176 complementary food fibre-bacterial species associations were identified. First plant-based fibres correlated with microbiota compositions similar to breastfeeding and with aromatic amino acid-derived metabolites, including 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (β, 3.50, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 2.48–4.52; p=6.53 × 10^–5).

Distinct fibres from various food categories were independently associated with specific bacterial taxa. Key species, such as Faecalibacterium prausnitznii, correlated with oat fibres (β, 2.18, 95 percent CI, 1.136–2.84; p=6.12 x 10^–6), indicating maturing microbial communities.

Notably, fibre intake during the weaning period resulted in changes in metabolite profiles, such as immunomodulatory metabolites with fibre effects seen in a source- and timing-dependent manner, which is involved in gradual microbiome diversification.

"Even minor dietary variations show significant associations with microbial taxa and functions from the onset of weaning, highlighting the importance of infant dietary recommendations that support the gut microbiome maturation during early life,” the authors said.