Khalaf Hussein Hasan
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Duhok, Iraq
Title: Gut health in early life ( the importance of Gut microbiota and nutrition)
Biography
Biography: Khalaf Hussein Hasan
Abstract
The role of Gut/Gut microbiota in the health and wellbeing is a hot topic for ongoing researches. How does gut health in infancy influence overall health in later life and how do our resident gut microbes affect health, immunity, and mental wellbeing?
Gut health in early life is a central for overall growth, development and wellbeing in later life.
Hippocrates (360-470 BC) said that “all diseases begins in the GUT”. The gastrointestinal tract is an Organ system responsible for consuming and digesting food, absorbing nutrients, and expelling waste thereafter. It starts with the mouth and end with anus. It contains 70-80% of the body’s immune system, hundred millions of neurons, ninety five percent of the body’s serotonin and about 100 trillion bacteria.
The GUT has three main functions: absorption and digestion, Gut immune function and Gut-brain crosstalk.
The Gut contain about 100 trillion bacteria1 (approximately 2 kg body weight), one thousand different bacterial species, bacteria cells constitute 90% of total number of cells in human body (remaining 10% are human cells) and the human microbiome are 1,000,000 + genes vs only 23,000 human genes and the bacterial composition is unique per individual and influenced by host genotype.
Many factors affect the Gut microbiota composition including: diet, life style, hygiene, stress, environment and the use of antibiotics.
There is a bidirectional signaling between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain ; the brain influences gut microbiota and gut microbiota influences brain, mood and behaviour.
Healthy gut microbiota is essential for normal gut physiology, appropriate signally along gut-brain axis and maintenance of good health.