Impact of Early Food Diversification on the Composition of the Gut Microbiota in Infants during the First 200 Days of Life from Three Municipalities in the District of Abidjan
The gastrointestinal microbiota plays a crucial role in host health by modulating nutrition and disease processes. Although gut microbial composition is known to vary with diet, few studies have explored how specific infant diets influence the gut microbiota. This study compares the fecal microbiota profiles of three groups of infants: those exclusively breastfed with complementary food (BF + FD), formula-fed with complementary food (FF + FD), and infants receiving a combination of breast milk, formula, and complementary food (BF + FF + FD). Fecal microbiota was analyzed through Illumina high-throughput sequencing. The results reveal that Actinobacteria and Bacteroides are the dominant phyla across all groups. However, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes are underrepresented in infants fed with FF + FD. Among infants on the BF + FD diet, Bifidobacterium (17.84%), Escherichia-Shigella (9.37%), and Streptococcus (7.4%) were the most prevalent. In the FF + FD group, Bifidobacterium (24.33%) and Escherichia-Shigella (14.35%) dominated. The BF + FF + FD group showed similar trends, with Bifidobacterium (14.99%), Escherichia-Shigella (9.17%), and Streptococcus (7.68%) prevailing (p = 0.05). Age also influenced microbial composition. Between 0 - 119 days, Bifidobacterium (15.70%) and Enterobacteriaceae (11.28%) predominated, while at 120 - 179 days, these proportions shifted to 20.62% and 8.95%, respectively. By 200 days, Bifidobacterium and Enterobacteriaceae were still present but in lower proportions (14% and 9.31%).
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