Effects of zinc deficiency on gut microbiota of school-age children

As an essential trace element in organisms, zinc also has potential relationship with intestinal microbiota. Zinc deficiency could lead to dynamic variation in microbial composition and function in mice, chick, and human. However, how the zinc deficiency affect the gut microbiota of school-age remained unclear. Thus, this study aims to reveal the effect of zinc deficiency on the composition and function of gut microbiota using amplicon sequencing of school-age children that may offer potential ways to for address zinc deficiency, which paves the way for improving the nutritional and health conditions of school-age children.

锌作为生物体内必需的微量元素，与肠道菌群存在潜在关联。现有研究显示，锌缺乏可导致小鼠、雏鸡及人类的菌群组成与功能发生动态变化。然而，锌缺乏如何影响学龄儿童的肠道菌群，目前仍不明确。为此，本研究拟通过对学龄儿童开展扩增子测序，揭示锌缺乏对其肠道菌群组成与功能的影响，以期为锌缺乏问题的干预提供潜在思路，进而为改善学龄儿童的营养与健康状况奠定基础。