Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Microbiome

Eating for trillions

Three studies investigate the bacteria in the guts of malnourished children and find that, when this microbiota is transferred into mice, supplements of certain microbes or sugars from human breast milk can restore normal growth.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Help for a healthy gut.

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. Dewey, K. G. & Adu-Afarwuah, S. Maternal Child Nutr. 4, 24–85 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Smith, M. I. et al. Science 339, 548–554 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Blanton, L. V. et al. Science 351, aad3311 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Schwarzer, M. et al. Science 351, 854–857 (2016).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Charbonneau, M. R. et al. Cell 164, 859–871 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Barker, D. J. Br. Med. J. 301, 1111 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. David, L. A. et al. Nature 505, 559–563 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ma, J. et al. Nature Commun. 5, 3889 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Schulz, M. D. et al. Nature 514, 508–512 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Dewey, K. G. J. Nutr. 131, 1879–1880 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kjersti M. Aagaard.

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Population health: Immaturity in the gut microbial community

Microbiome: Fibre for the future

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chu, D., Aagaard, K. Eating for trillions. Nature 532, 316–317 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17887

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17887

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Microbiology

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Microbiology