A study published in Nature (2014) investigated the persistence of gut microbiota immaturity in malnourished Bangladeshi children. The research team, including researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, analyzed the gut microbiota of 50 healthy Bangladeshi children during their first two years of life. They used a machine-learning approach to identify bacterial species that define a healthy gut microbiota during early development. These species were used to create a model that calculates a "relative microbiota maturity index" and a "microbiota-for-age Z-score," which compare a child's fecal microbiota development to that of healthy children of similar age. The study found that severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is associated with significant relative microbiota immaturity that is only partially ameliorated by two widely used nutritional interventions. Immaturity is also evident in less severe forms of malnutrition and correlates with anthropometric measurements. The microbiota maturity indices provide a microbial measure of human postnatal development, a way of classifying malnourished states, and a parameter for judging therapeutic efficacy. The study also examined the effects of SAM on microbiota maturity, finding that both food interventions had non-durable effects on other microbiota parameters. The reduced bacterial diversity associated with SAM persisted after Khichuri-Halwa and only transiently improved with RUTF. The study identified 220 bacterial taxa that were significantly different in their proportional representation in the fecal microbiota of children with SAM compared to healthy children. The study also found that microbiota immaturity associated with SAM was not solely attributable to the antibiotics used to treat these children. The results suggest that microbiota immaturity may be an additional pathophysiological component of moderately malnourished states. The study highlights the need to determine the physiologic, metabolic and immunologic consequences of this immaturity, and how they might contribute to the associated morbidities and sequelae of malnutrition. The study also discusses the need for further research to determine the long-term efficacy of nutritional interventions for moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) and the potential for new therapeutic approaches, including the use of probiotics. The study concludes that defining microbiota maturity using bacterial taxonomic biomarkers can provide a way to characterize malnourished states and assess the effectiveness of food interventions. The findings suggest that more prolonged interventions with existing or new therapeutic foods and/or addition of gut microbes may be needed to achieve enduring repair of gut microbiota immaturity in childhood malnutrition and improve clinical outcomes.A study published in Nature (2014) investigated the persistence of gut microbiota immaturity in malnourished Bangladeshi children. The research team, including researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, analyzed the gut microbiota of 50 healthy Bangladeshi children during their first two years of life. They used a machine-learning approach to identify bacterial species that define a healthy gut microbiota during early development. These species were used to create a model that calculates a "relative microbiota maturity index" and a "microbiota-for-age Z-score," which compare a child's fecal microbiota development to that of healthy children of similar age. The study found that severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is associated with significant relative microbiota immaturity that is only partially ameliorated by two widely used nutritional interventions. Immaturity is also evident in less severe forms of malnutrition and correlates with anthropometric measurements. The microbiota maturity indices provide a microbial measure of human postnatal development, a way of classifying malnourished states, and a parameter for judging therapeutic efficacy. The study also examined the effects of SAM on microbiota maturity, finding that both food interventions had non-durable effects on other microbiota parameters. The reduced bacterial diversity associated with SAM persisted after Khichuri-Halwa and only transiently improved with RUTF. The study identified 220 bacterial taxa that were significantly different in their proportional representation in the fecal microbiota of children with SAM compared to healthy children. The study also found that microbiota immaturity associated with SAM was not solely attributable to the antibiotics used to treat these children. The results suggest that microbiota immaturity may be an additional pathophysiological component of moderately malnourished states. The study highlights the need to determine the physiologic, metabolic and immunologic consequences of this immaturity, and how they might contribute to the associated morbidities and sequelae of malnutrition. The study also discusses the need for further research to determine the long-term efficacy of nutritional interventions for moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) and the potential for new therapeutic approaches, including the use of probiotics. The study concludes that defining microbiota maturity using bacterial taxonomic biomarkers can provide a way to characterize malnourished states and assess the effectiveness of food interventions. The findings suggest that more prolonged interventions with existing or new therapeutic foods and/or addition of gut microbes may be needed to achieve enduring repair of gut microbiota immaturity in childhood malnutrition and improve clinical outcomes.