NPR

A Mix Of These Foods Could Restore Healthy Microbes In Malnourished Kids

A paste made from chickpeas, soy, peanuts and bananas is the result of years of work studying the bacteria that live in the human gut.
Source: Olivia Falcigno/NPR

When children suffer from severe malnourishment, they don't just lose weight.

The condition wreaks havoc on biological systems throughout the body — including the microbiome, the healthy bacteria and other microbes that live in our digestive tracts. Those bacteria number in the trillions in every person and include hundreds of different species. They're essential for metabolism, bone growth, brain function, the immune system and other bodily functions.

In a published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal , scientists in a renowned microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, report the development of a specialized food designed to rehabilitate gut microbes in severely malnourished children, a treatment that should facilitate both their immediate and long-term

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