Chemicals released by gut microbes and captured from the breath can reveal the composition of the bacteria living in the intestines.<\/p>\n
RT\u2019s Three Key Takeaways:<\/p>\n
Breath-based microbiome detection: Researchers showed that volatile compounds in exhaled breath can reliably reflect the composition of gut bacteria in children and mice.<\/p>\n
Disease prediction potential: Breath analysis accurately predicted the presence of asthma-associated bacteria, such as Eubacterium siraeum, highlighting its potential for early disease monitoring.<\/p>\n
Noninvasive diagnostic promise: This approach could enable rapid, simple, and noninvasive testing of gut health, improving early diagnosis and management of microbiome-related conditions.<\/p>\n
The human gut is home to trillions of beneficial microbes that play a crucial role in health. Disruptions in this delicate community of bacteria and viruses\u2014called the gut microbiome\u2014have been linked to obesity, asthma and cancer, among other illnesses. Yet quick diagnostic tools to identify issues within the microbiome that could be addressed to treat these conditions are lacking.<\/p>\n
Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia have shown that disease-associated bacteria in the gut can be detected through exhaled breath<\/a>. They found that chemicals released by gut microbes and captured from the breath of children and mice can reveal the composition of the bacteria living in the intestines. They also showed that breath samples from children with asthma could predict the presence of the bacterium linked to the condition.<\/p>\n The findings published in Cell Metabolism<\/a>, could pave the way for a rapid, noninvasive test to monitor and diagnose gut health issues simply by breathing into a device.<\/p>\n \u201cRapid assessment of the gut microbiome\u2019s health could significantly enhance clinical care, especially for young children,\u201d said\u00a0Andrew L. Kau, MD, PhD<\/a>, an associate professor in the John T. Milliken Department of Medicine at WashU Medicine and senior author on the study. \u201cEarly detection could lead to prompt interventions for conditions like allergies and serious bacterial infections in preterm infants. This study lays the groundwork for developing such crucial diagnostic tools.\u201d<\/p>\n In the process of digesting food that the body cannot, microbes release compounds, known as volatile organic compounds, that are excreted from the body through exhaled breath. The researchers, including Kau; first author\u00a0Ariel J. Hernandez-Leyva<\/a>, a WashU Medicine MD\/PhD student; and co-corresponding author Audrey R. Odom John, MD, PhD, the Stanley Plotkin Endowed Chair in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia, wondered if the types of compounds in breath can help identify the bacterial composition of the gut microbiome.<\/p>\n Hernandez-Leyva and his colleagues conducted a clinical study at WashU Medicine of children ages six to 12. They analyzed the breath and stool of 27 healthy children for microbe-derived compounds and gut microbes, respectively, to figure out which microbes were linked with which breath compounds.<\/p>\n The team found that the compounds in the children\u2019s breath matched the compounds known to be produced by the very microbes present in their stool, confirming that breath is a good proxy for the microbial community in the gut. They obtained similar results in mice by transplanting bacteria into animals without gut microbes of their own and finding again that gut bacteria can be identified from breath compounds.<\/p>\n The researchers also compared breath and stool samples from healthy children to samples from children with asthma. Pediatric asthma\u2014which affects nearly 5 million kids in the US\u2014is associated with an increased intestinal abundance of the bacterium\u00a0Eubacterium siraeum. Through breath analysis, they were able to predict the abundance of\u00a0E. siraeum\u00a0in kids with asthma.<\/p>\n Such information on\u00a0E. siraeum\u00a0abundance would be valuable for spotting early signs of microbiome changes that might exacerbate asthma symptoms. Similarly, routine screening of microbiome health through breath tests in infants born prematurely, for instance, might spot disruptions to the developing microbiome that portend infection.<\/p>\n