In this small but important study, C-section babies were swabbed with mother’s vaginal fluids at birth. Those babies swabbed demonstrated greater similarity to vaginal-delivered babies.
Generally speaking, babies born via C-section are first exposed to bacteria reflective of the hospital and the medical team, rather than the mother’s fecal and vaginal bacteria, as is the case with vaginal delivery. Long term health outcomes associated with disrupted microbiome development include increased risk of allergic disease, atopy, autoimmunity.
“These results show that we can partially restore and normalize the microbial assembly that takes place naturally in babies,” says Maria Dominguez-Bello, an associate professor of medicine at the New York University School of Medicine, who led the study. “We normalize their microbiome.”
While long-term outcome has yet to be established, steps towards normalizing the microbiome are extremely important, especially during this important window of time, where the immune system is actively being established.
Kara Fitzgerald, ND, received her doctor of naturopathic medicine degree from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She completed the first Counsel on Naturopathic Medicine-accredited post-doctorate position in nutritional biochemistry and laboratory science at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory under the direction of Richard Lord, PhD. Her residency was completed at Progressive Medical Center, a large, integrative medical practice in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Fitzgerald is the lead author and editor of Case Studies in Integrative and Functional Medicine and is a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM)’s Textbook for Functional Medicine. With the Helfgott Research Institute, Dr. Fitzgerald is actively engaged in clinical research on the DNA methylome using a diet and lifestyle intervention developed in her practice. The first publication from the study focuses on reversal of biological aging and was published 04-12-2021 in the journal Aging. She has published a consumer book titled Younger You as well as a companion cookbook, Better Broths and Healing Tonics and has an application-based Younger You Program, based on the study.
Dr. Fitzgerald is on the faculty at IFM, is an IFM Certified Practitioner and lectures globally on functional medicine. She runs a Functional Nutrition Residency program, and maintains a podcast series, New Frontiers in Functional Medicine and an active blog on her website, www.drkarafitzgerald.com. Her clinical practice is in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
Additional publications
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