Environmental toxicants in breast milk of Norwegian mothers and gut bacteria composition and metabolites in their infants at 1 month

• Published in: Microbiome 2019-02, Vol.7 (1), p.34-14, Article 34
• Main Authors: Iszatt, Nina, Janssen, Stefan, Lenters, Virissa, Dahl, Cecilie, Stigum, Hein, Knight, Rob, Mandal, Siddhartha, Peddada, Shyamal, González, Antonio, Midtvedt, Tore, Eggesbø, Merete
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abundance; Acetic acid; Adult; Ammonium perfluorooctanoate; Analysis; Babies; Bacteria; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - drug effects; Bacteria - genetics; Biodiversity; Birth cohort; Breast milk; Breastfeeding & lactation; Chemicals; Child health; Chlorinated solvents; Chlorocarbons; Cohort Studies; Digestive system; Dioxins; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; DNA, Ribosomal - genetics; Environmental Pollutants - adverse effects; Environmental Pollutants - analysis; Environmental toxicology; Fatty acids; Fatty Acids, Volatile - analysis; Feces - chemistry; Feces - microbiology; Female; Flame retardants; Flame Retardants - adverse effects; Flame Retardants - analysis; Future predictions; Gastrointestinal Microbiome - drug effects; Generalized linear models; Genes; Health; Humans; Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated - adverse effects; Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated - analysis; Infant gut microbiome; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Intestinal microflora; Maternal Age; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Metabolism; Metabolites; Metabolomics; Microbiomes; Microbiota; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Milk; Milk, Human - chemistry; Mothers; Norway; Novels; Nutrition; Organic acids; Organic chlorine compounds; Organochlorine pesticides; PCB; Perfluorooctanoic acid; Pesticides; Pesticides - adverse effects; Pesticides - analysis; Phylogenetics; Polybrominated diphenyl ethers; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - adverse effects; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - analysis; Propionic acid; Regression analysis; RNA; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; rRNA 16S; Sequence Analysis, DNA - methods; Short-chain fatty acids; Surface active agents; Toxicants
• ISSN: 2049-2618; 2049-2618
• DOI: 10.1186/s40168-019-0645-2

Early disruption of the microbial community may influence life-long health. Environmental toxicants can contaminate breast milk and the developing infant gut microbiome is directly exposed. We investigated whether environmental toxicants in breastmilk affect the composition and function of the infant gut microbiome at 1 month. We measured environmental toxicants in breastmilk, fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and gut microbial composition from 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing using samples from 267 mother-child pairs in the Norwegian Microbiota Cohort (NoMIC). We tested 28 chemical exposures: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated flame retardants (PBDEs), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), and organochlorine pesticides. We assessed chemical exposure and alpha diversity/SCFAs using elastic net regression modeling and generalized linear models, adjusting for confounders, and variation in beta diversity (UniFrac), taxa abundance (ANCOM), and predicted metagenomes (PiCRUSt) in low, medium, and high exposed groups. PBDE-28 and the surfactant perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) were associated with less microbiome diversity. Some sub-OTUs of Lactobacillus, an important genus in early life, were lower in abundance in samples from infants with relative "high" (> 80th percentile) vs. "low" (