Researchers at the University of Birmingham and Durham University have received new funding to investigate how gut microbiota can help infants with iron deficiency anaemia.
The research could lead to probiotic treatments that reduce the side effects of iron supplements.
Lindsay Hall from the University of Birmingham and Peter Chivers from Durham University are studying early-life gut microbiota, particularly Bifidobacterium bacteria.
The researchers aim to better understand how Bifidobacterium bacteria acquire and use iron, which plays a key role in bacterial function and is limited in the gastrointestinal tract.
They intend to find new bacterial therapies that could be used together with iron supplementation strategies to treat iron-deficient anaemia in infants.
Iron deficiency anaemia, a condition in which blood lacks adequate healthy red blood cells, occurs when the body lacks sufficient iron to produce healthy red blood cells.
University of Birmingham professor Lindsay Hall said: “Although the research is at an early stage, it holds a lot of promise. Improved knowledge could open doors to smarter ways to treat and prevent diseases and conditions, like iron deficiency anaemia, in at-risk infants.”
Usually, iron supplements are given in the form of drops or fortified foods to boost iron levels but, are associated with unpleasant side effects such as diarrhoea.
The side effects are more prominent in infants, where the gut microbiota is more easily colonised by opportunistic bacteria that feed off the iron supplements.
If probiotic supplements containing good bacteria, such as Bifidobacterium, can outcompete bad bacteria for iron in the gut, the side effects of iron fortification could be reduced.
The probiotics would make anaemia treatments more tolerable for babies and young children.
While bacteria employ various mechanisms to acquire iron, little is known about these processes in beneficial members of the gut microbiota.
The new research is designed to understand these mechanisms, potentially using beneficial microbes to improve anaemia treatments in infants.
It will focus on the transmembrane proteins involved in iron uptake, how these systems support good bacteria under different iron levels and the effects of iron supplementation on infants’ gut.
