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Early-Life Nutritional Supplements, Household Environments, and Air Pollution Associated With Children's Helicobacter pylori Infection: A Chinese Multicenter Mother-Child Study
Original title: Early‐Life Nutritional Supplements, Household Environments, and Air Pollution Associated With Children's Helicobacter pylori Infection: A Chinese Multicenter Mother‐Child Study
Summary
A large study of Chinese families found that what moms eat during pregnancy (like prenatal vitamins) and what kids take early on (zinc, vitamins B and C, cod-liver oil) may lower their risk of a common stomach bacteria infection called H. pylori, which can cause ulcers and stomach problems later in life. On the flip side, certain home materials—especially plastic toys and synthetic carpet flooring—along with outdoor air pollution, were linked to higher infection risk, suggesting that both nutrition and everyday environmental exposures (including plastics) starting even before birth can shape a child's long-term gut
ABSTRACT Nutritional additives and environmental pollution are linked with Helicobacter pylori infection (HPI), but the combined effects in early life on childhood HPI during and after the COVID‐19 epidemic are unclear. We aim to explore the associations between early‐life intake of nutritional additives, household environmental factors (HEFs), and outdoor air pollutant (OAP) exposure and their interactions on childhood HPI during and after the COVID‐19 epidemic. We collected 20,730 questionnaires through a mother‐child retrospective cohort study from five Chinese cities, covering data on individual characteristics, nutritional additives, health outcomes, and HEFs. Individual OAP exposure was calculated through data from environmental monitoring reports and the inverse distance weighting (IDW) method. Multilevel logistic regression models were conducted to establish the impacts of early‐life nutritional additives, HEFs, and OAP exposures on childhood HPI during and after the COVID‐19 epidemic. Childhood HPI was negatively associated with maternal intake of nutritional additives in utero, with OR (95% CI) = 0.79 (0.62–1.00), and childhood intake of zinc, vitamins B and C, and cod‐liver oil, with ORs (95% CIs) = 0.69 (0.54–0.89) and 0.78 (0.63–0.98). Furthermore, HPI was negatively associated with the use of ceramic tile/stone/cement flooring, mosquito coil/repellents, and incense, with ORs (95% CIs) = 0.72 (0.56–0.92), 0.79 (0.63–0.97), and 0.61 (0.44–0.84), whereas it was positively associated with laminate/PVC/chemical fiber carpet flooring and wool/hemp carpet flooring, water/latex/lime/cement/seaweed mud, and plastic toys, with ORs (95% CIs) = 1.24 (1.01–1.53) and 4.71 (1.94–11.42). Additionally, outdoor PM 2.5‐10 and SO 2 exposure before and during pregnancy increased HPI risk, with ORs (95% CIs) = 1.08 (1.01–1.16) and 1.17 (1.01–1.34). Nutritional additive intake during pregnancy and after birth mitigated the adverse effects of HEFs and OAPs on HPI risk. During and after the COVID‐19 epidemic, early‐life nutritional additives, HEFs, and OAP exposures independently and interactively affect children's HPI, supporting the “(Pre‐)Fetal origins of childhood HPI” hypothesis through the “gut–uterine axis” and “nutrition–environment interaction.”