US – A new study published today in the journal Science ‘reveals the close relationship of cause and effect between the malnutrition and intestinal flora, and, inter alia. The authors claim you can have severe consequences for the intellectual, immune and skeletal development in children.

The study, conducted by a group of researchers at the Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis (Missouri, US), highlighted that acute malnutrition affects more than 50 million children worldwide, which may have “severe” consequences in their development.

The authors said that every time we have more evidence that a damaged intestinal flora may play a key role at the expense of intellectual, immune and skeletal development of children.

Among the earlier reports that researchers stated is a study that found that children suffering from malnutrition in Malawi have an “immature” gut flora compared to other healthy children of the same age.

When conducting the experiment in mice, they found that the animals lost body mass significantly, the growth of their bones and altered metabolic abnormalities occurred.

All this happened despite the fact that mice themselves did not suffer malnutrition, which for the scientist suggests that abnormal flora is behind these symptoms.

They also said that it has been shown that altered intestinal flora is linked to the mucosal immune system and the sensitivity of growth hormones.

According to the study, to date, clinical trials of probiotics generally classified as safe in children with malnutrition have not demonstrated efficacy.

Defining what constitutes a healthy intestinal flora, also among different demographic groups, is important, the study authors concluded.