Frequent intestinal infections due to poor water quality and inadequate sanitation during childhood often result in chronic malnutrition and linear growth restrictions. Many developing countries, however, are now undergoing diet and disease transitions, with a shift from frequent malnutrition and infectious disease to increasing overnutrition, with calorically-dense, high-fat, low-fiber diets, and higher rates of overweight and obesity. The impact of this dual burden of infection and overnutrition on childhood intestinal health and immune function remains unknown. Doctoral student Kelly Houck (University of North Carolina), with the guidance of Dr. Amanda Thompson, draws on the emerging field of study focusing on gut microbiota, the beneficial bacterial colonies responsible for intestinal barrier function, digestion of dietary fiber and immune health (inflammatory regulation), to examine the impact of pathogenic and dietary factors on the relationship between childhood gut immune health, growth and obesity.
The Galápagos Islands of Ecuador are an important setting for this research as children experience both high infection rates due to the lack of clean water and overnutrition, likely due to the reliance on processed foods shipped from the mainland. Researchers will collect detailed data on the children's diet, illness history, and household characteristics, and will measure growth and adiposity, household water quality, and gut immune function using blood spot and fecal analyses. This project tests the hypothesis that in dual burden environments, concurrent pathogenic exposures and overnutrition contribute to gut immune dysregulation, creating a new synergism between overnutrition and infection that may be driving the paradoxical pattern of childhood stunting and obesity seen in such populations.
In developing countries where economic development and urbanization are rapidly transforming human health, the need to understand how these changes are affecting childhood immune function and growth is urgent to prevent the high rates of infection, stunting and obesity. The proposed project offers training to university students and a community health worker in Ecuador. The results will provide original insights into the impacts of gut immune activation on childhood growth and obesity and identify important targets for public health education and interventions relevant to the Galapagos, Ecuador, and other non-industrialized populations undergoing transition.
