Kwashiorkor Children have lost Anaerobes-Methanogenic Gut Prokaryotes Mutualism

Severe acute malnutrition, including marasmus and kawashiorkor is the worldwide leading cause of death in children under five (1). Kwashiorkor was previously associated with oxidative stress (2-4) and gut microbiota alteration (5;6). In addition to ready-to-use therapeutic food, anti-oxidants and antibiotics improves recovery and survival (3;7) but probiotics were ineffective (8). The instrumental role of the gut microbiota was recently demonstrated (6) but the cause underlying therapeutic failures and the precise link between oxidative stress and gut microbiota alteration remain unknown. Here we show that marasmus and kwashiorkor are associated with an oxidized and acidic gut environment.