Over the years, we have increasingly heard that environmental toxins can negatively affect our health. It is also known that they can alter our gastrointestinal microbiota. Industrialization has led to the widespread use of pesticides, transgenic seeds and chemical fertilizers. When babies are born, they need to develop a diverse and rapid maturing ecosystem in order to establish optimal gut symbiosis and to mature their immune system. Unfortunately, this early colonization process can be disrupted via contaminated food, contaminated air, contaminated human milk with heavy metals or water contaminants. When this happens, babies can develop many clinical conditions like asthma, skin diseases, psychiatric disorders and others (Naspolini et al, 2022).

For this reason, it is very important to try to incorporate the best atmosphere for a new born baby. This includes the mother conducting a heavy metal cleanse before she conceives to minimize the passage of toxins through her placenta and breast milk to the baby. It also includes excluding toxic cleaning products from the house, eating organic when possible, looking for clean skin care products, etc. It is known that the greater the pollutant exposure of the baby, the larger the microbiome change. We want to give our babies a great fighting chance when they are born, so changing these simple things in our homes can make a great difference!

Naspolini, N. F., Meyer, A., Moreira, J. C., Sun, H., Froes-Asmus, C. I. R., & Dominguez-Bello, M. G. (2022). Environmental pollutant exposure associated with altered early-life gut microbiome: Results from a birth cohort study. Environmental Research, 205, 112545.