Probiotic Advisor

The benefits of exercise on gut health are profound! Read the full 2025 study by searching for PMID: 40450658 in your browser.

Fascinating strain sharing story within a daycare setting!

Weekly infant stool sampling within a daycare cohort allowed the capture of the story of a specific Akkermansia muciniphila strain within this population. The story begins with the strain being shared between mother and infant. This infant loses the strain after a course of antibiotics. The infant then regains the strain from their mother (reseeded). Within the daycare setting this strain is then passed from the first infant to a second infant. The second infant then passes this strain onto their mother and subsequently their father and it becomes the dominant Akkermansia strain in the second infant’s family over the pre-existing Akkermansia strains held by the parents.
This story demonstrates the microbiome resilience associated with breastfeeding for the first infant and also helps us see how infants may pick up microbes from close contacts. Infant diet will then help to select who persists within the infant gut (Akkermansia utilises human milk oligosaccharides). How amazing to also to hear of the Akkermansia strain being shared from infant to adult!

We heard this this interesting story at the IMHC Congress, Seoul from Ricci et al (2026). Baby-to-baby strain transmission shapes the developing gut microbiome. Nature, 651(8104), 191-200. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09983-z