Children who face adversities – such as separation of parents – are more likely to suffer from gastrointestinal symptoms which can lead to mental health issues in later life, found in a study.
A study published in Journal Development and Psychopathology found that gastrointestinal symptoms in children can affect on brain and behavior as they move toward maturity.
"One common reason children show up at doctors' offices is intestinal complaints," said Nim Tottenham, a professor at Colu
mbia University in the US.
"Our findings indicate that gastrointestinal symptoms in young children could be a red flag to primary care physicians for future emotional health problems," said Tottenham.
Scientists have long mentioned the strong connection between the intestine and the brain. Past researches have shown that twice as many patients are present without IBS, more than half of adults with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have described the history of trauma or abuse.
"The role of trauma in increasing vulnerability to both gastrointestinal and mental health symptoms is well established in adults but rarely studied in childhood," said Bridget Callaghan, a post-doctoral research fellow at Columbia.
Animal studies have shown that adversity-induced changes in gut microbiome – the community of bacteria in the body that controls everything from digestion to the work of the immune system – affects neurological development, but no human studies have done this.
"Our study is among the first to link disruption of a child's gastrointestinal microbiome triggered by early-life adversity with brain activity in regions associated with emotional health," Callaghan said.
Researchers focused on development in children who experienced excessive psychosocial lack due to institutional care before taking international adoption.
Separating a child from parents is considered a powerful predictor of mental health issues in humans.
That experience, when modeled in rodents, induces fear and anxiety, hinders neurodevelopment and alters microbial communities across the lifespan.
The researchers drew upon data from 115 children adopted from orphanages or foster care on or before approximately they were two years old, and from 229 children raised by a biological caregiver.
The children with past caregiving disruptions showed higher levels of symptoms that included stomach aches, constipation, vomiting, and nausea.
From that sample of adoptees, the researchers then selected eight participants, ages seven to 13, from the adversity exposed group and another eight who'd been in the group raised by their biological parents.
Researchers collected behavioral information, stool samples and brain images from all the children. They used gene sequencing to identify the microbes present in the stool samples and examined the abundance and diversity of bacteria in each participant's fecal matter.
Children with a history of initial care interruptions have different intestinal microbiomes with biological carers from birth.
The brain scans of all children also showed that the brain activity patterns were related to some bacteria.
For example, the children raised by parents had increased gut microbiome diversity, which is linked to the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain known to help regulate emotions.
"It is too early to say anything conclusive, but our study indicates that adversity-associated changes in the gut microbiome are related to brain function, including differences in the regions of the brain associated with emotional processing," said Tottenham.
