The c-section microbiome solution?

Researchers have altered the microbiomes of babies born through caesarean section by swabbing them with microbes from their mothers’ vaginas, they report in a first-of-its kind study published on February 1 in Nature Medicine.

The procedure — tested on just four newborns — is an attempt to simulate the microbial exposures that babies born through caesarean section (C-section) surgeries lack. C-section babies have a slightly higher risk of developing obesity, asthma and other ailments than do children born vaginally. There are also differences between the microbial communities on their skin, in their guts and elsewhere. But no study has established a link between health problems of babies born through C-section and the composition of their microbiomes.

Read the full story from Scientific American.