A baby born by cesarean section is more predisposed to allergies, obesity or even intestinal inflammation. It is then appropriate to give him probiotics.
Caesarean section concerns 20% of births in France. According to a French study, being born by cesarean section increases the risk of developing inflammatory diseases of the digestive tract due to disruption of the microbiota. The explanations of Doctor Martin Ducret, doctor and journalist at Doctor’s Daily.
franceinfo: Before telling us about this study, explain to us what is the link between the microbiota and cesarean delivery?
You should know that the microbiota corresponds to the micro-organisms (bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi) which inhabit the intestine, the skin, the mouth and even the vagina, and with which we live in symbiosis to maintain good health.
In its mother’s womb, a baby is sterile, so it has no microbiota. It is during childbirth, when it passes through its mother’s vagina, that it will be contaminated through the skin, nose and mouth by its mother’s vaginal and intestinal micro-organisms, which are essential to develop its own microbiota.
But when a baby is born by cesarean section, he does not pass through the vagina, the natural transmission of his mother’s microbiota is then disrupted and this can predispose him to allergies, obesity or even intestinal inflammation.
Is intestinal inflammation the subject of a specific study?
Yes, researchers from INRAE, the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, carried out this study not on human babies but on baby mice. This is what explains Rebeca Martin-Rosique, researcher at the Micalis unit at INRAE and co-author of the study: “Mice born by cesarean section have greater inflammation and permeability of the intestinal barrier than those born naturally. Then as adults, they are also more susceptible to inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease.”
This suggests that changes in the microbiota very early in life have long-term impacts, particularly on intestinal inflammation.
Do solutions exist?
Fortunately yessuch as taking probiotics, which are bacteria or yeast to swallow in the form of powder or capsules. In the study, researchers supplemented mice born by cesarean section with the bacteria they were missing, and they regained a normal microbiota. These encouraging results pave the way for new studies on the effectiveness of taking probiotics in human babies born by cesarean section.
For further : an article from Microbiome Journal (in English).