How Early Life Gut Flora May Contribute to Obesity and Diabetes Later in Life

The mammalian gut has coexisted over millions of years in a symbiotic relationship with a vast and complex form of indigenous microbes. Gut flora host interactions are set early in life by a mother to offspring seed of ecology species at birth and a series of on-going complex and dynamic interactions with diet and lifestyle. This leads to a distinct microbiome developmental trajectory with age that massively influences host biochemistry and biological functions throughout life. Changes in the gut flora or dietary intake will immensely impose functional changes in organ function. The presentation will cover fundamental concepts of microbe-host interactions that impact on body function in early life. We will show that the problem that you encounter later in life, in regard to obesity and diabetes, may be set very early life. Works that has been and will be published from the EU-funded research project TORNADO are addressing these questions. In this lecture, Sven Pettersson will discuss these finding in the light of gene-microbe environmental interactions.