126. The Intestinal Microbiome in Undernutrition: Cause, Effect, or Both?

This product is free for those who attended FNCE^® 2017.

Undernutrition remains one of the most pressing global health challenges today, contributing to nearly half of all deaths in children under five years of age. Although insufficient dietary intake and environmental enteric dysfunction are often inciting factors, evidence now suggests that unhealthy gut microbial populations perpetuate the vicious cycle of pathophysiology that results in persistent growth impairment in children. The metagenomics era has facilitated new research identifying an altered microbiome in undernourished hosts and has provided insight into a number of mechanisms by which these alterations may affect growth. This session will summarize a range of observational studies that highlight differences in the composition and function of gut microbiota between undernourished and healthy children; will discuss dietary, environmental and host factors that shape this altered microbiome; will examine the consequences of these changes on host physiology; and will consider opportunities for microbiome-targeting therapies to combat the global challenge of child undernutrition.

CPEU: 1.5
CPE Level: 3
Learning Codes: 4150, 2080, 5280

Learning Objectives

• Identify the distinct patterns of gut bacterial community configurations in undernourished children
• List dietary, environmental, and host factors that shape the gut microbiome of undernutrition, and understand how this dysbiosis can impair weight gain
• Evaluate the clinical and preclinical evidence supporting the use of microbiome-targeting therapies for undernutrition

Speaker

• Roberta Anding, MS, RD/LD, CDE,CSSD, FAND

Moderator and Program Planner

• Geoffrey Preidis, MD. PhD

Planned with the Academy's Committee for Lifelong Learning