Programs for treating malnutrition in children should consider how food formulations affect postnatal gut microbiome development.

The pressing need to improve nutritional status globally is reflected in the United Nation’s top three Sustainable Development Goals: no poverty; zero hunger; and good health and well-being1. Currently, one in three children under 5 years of age is either undernourished (wasted and/or stunted) or manifests their malnutrition as overweight2. Part of the problem and part of the solution may come from the vast collections of microbes that establish themselves in the gastrointestinal tract beginning at birth.

• ①肠道菌群破坏是营养不良原因之一，食物的营养价值除包含的营养物质外，还包括肠道菌群与食物分子的相互作用对健康的影响；

• ②可设计生物等效、地理适应的菌群导向性辅食（MDCF），这些MDCF由廉价的、当地可用的食物成分组成；

• ③菌群将宿主生理与MDCF成分代谢相关联，有助于识别MDCF的生物活性成分，并能对不同MDCF配方的疗效和生物等效性进行关键评价，临床试验应进行多方面评估，包括菌群修复情况和宿主生理状态等。

主编推荐语

Nature Medicine近期发表Jeffrey Gordon团队的评论文章，概述了儿童营养不良与肠道菌群之间的关系，及如何基于肠道菌群-食物营养-人体三者的相互关系设计菌群导向性辅食。最后，评论还进一步提出了展望，如未来是否可为孕期妇女开发以菌群为导向的治疗性食品，以最大限度地提高她们的营养健康，并尽可能地减少其后代发生低出生体重等健康问题。