The study found that childhood diet has a lifelong impact

Eating too much fat and sugar in childhood can change your microbiome for life, even if you later learn to eat healthier, suggests a new study in mice.

The study by UC Riverside researchers is one of the first to show a significant decrease in the total number and diversity of intestinal bacteria in mature mice fed an unhealthy diet as young people.

“I studied mice, but the effect I observed is equivalent to children who have a Western diet, rich in fat and sugar and their intestinal microbiome is still affected up to six years after puberty,” said UCR physiologist Theodore Garland .

A paper describing the study was recently published in Journal of Experimental Biology.

The microbiome refers to all bacteria, as well as fungi, parasites and viruses that live on and inside a human or animal. Most of these microorganisms are found in the intestines, and most of them are helpful, stimulating the immune system, breaking down food and helping to synthesize key vitamins.

In a healthy body, there is a balance of pathogenic and beneficial organisms. However, if the balance is disturbed, either through the use of antibiotics, disease or an unhealthy diet, the body could become susceptible to disease.

In this study, Garland’s team looked at the impact on the microbiome after dividing their mice into four groups: half fed the standard “healthy” diet, half fed the less healthy “Western” diet, half had access to a wheel of running for exercises, and half without.

After three weeks spent on these diets, all mice were returned to a standard diet and did not exercise, which is normal for the way mice are kept in the laboratory. At 14 weeks, the team examined the diversity and abundance of bacteria in the animals.

They found that the amount of bacteria, such as Muribaculum intestinal, was significantly reduced in the Western diet group. This type of bacteria is involved in carbohydrate metabolism.

The analysis also showed that intestinal bacteria are sensitive to the amount of effort exerted by mice. Muribaculum bacteria increased in mice fed a standard diet that had access to a treadmill and decreased in mice on a high-fat diet, regardless of whether they exercised or not.

Researchers believe that this species of bacteria, and the family of bacteria it belongs to, could influence the amount of energy available to its host. Research continues on other functions that this type of bacteria may have.

Another notable effect was the growth of a very similar species of bacteria that enriched themselves after five weeks of treadmill training in a study by other researchers, suggesting that exercise alone may increase its presence.

In general, UCR researchers found that the early Western diet had more lasting effects on the microbiome than it did early.

Garland’s team would like to repeat this experiment and take samples at additional times, to better understand when changes in mouse microbiomes occur and whether they extend even into later stages of life.

However, no matter when the effects occur, the researchers say it is significant that they were observed so long after changing the diet and then changing it.

Garland said that the food you eat is essentially, “It’s not just what you eat, it’s what you ate as a child!”

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