A cesarean birth or a long labor increase the risk of obesity and allergy.
A long labor or a caesarean section are painful moments for the woman giving birth, but they can also influence the health of the child. Researchers from the Canadian University of Alberta show that this type of delivery changes the baby’s microbiota. Eventually, this increases their risk of suffering from allergies or obesity. “This that happens to us in adulthood is related to the things we are exposed to in early childhood.”, underlines the main author of the study, Anita Kozyrskyj. Their findings were published in the journal Gastroenterology.
A cohort of 1,667 children
A first delivery is generally longer: it lasts about seven hours, compared to four hours for the second. Every birth is different, some women give birth faster, others will need 12, 24 or even 48 hours. A vaginal delivery is not always possible depending on the situation, in this case, the doctors perform the cesarean section.
In this research, scientists analyzed stool samples from 1,667 children born in Canada. They were all part of a cohort called CHILD, whose goal was to follow young people from birth through adolescence to determine the causes of allergies, asthma, obesity and other chronic diseases. .
Higher risks of overweight and allergy
The research team compared the state of the microbiota at three and 12 months, and the state of health at one and three years. The researchers found that children born by caesarean were more likely to have a high body mass index at one and three years of age. Analysis of their microbiota at three months shows an unusual rate of two types of bacteria: enterobacteriaceae and bacteroidaceae. According to them, this abnormal concentration was the main cause of overweight. At one year, this microbiota imbalance was still present, and colonization by the bacteria clostridioid difficult was also observed. Scientists believe that the latter is the cause of the allergies detected in children. These risks were also higher in children born after a long labour.
Cesarean section only when unavoidable
“Understanding how imbalances in the gut microbiota affect health during childhood allows us to have several options to prevent these chronic diseases before they appear.”, explains the lead author of the study. With his team, they want to avoid unnecessary caesarean sections and develop treatments to rebalance the microbiota after birth.
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