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Comment by teekert | Hacker News Reader

I’ve heard and believed most of them (I am a biologist). Yesterday I came across the 1 kg of microbiome statement in Nemo in Amsterdam (a science/do museum for kids). So I consider them prevalent fwiw.

I actually thought it proven that the microbiota was seeded during vaginal birth and may lead to more issues for caesarean section delivered kids. I guess it all just sounded so logical. I know I know, that’s the most dangerous thing.

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The microbiome is seeded during vaginal birth, the point the article makes is that this is only a temporary microbiome, and is unlikely to have any reflection in the microbiome vry long after birth and none after weaning.

While this is a better understanding than the parent comment, it's not quite right either.

The microbiome acquired at birth and early childhood is EXTREMELY robust to change throughout the rest of a lifetime. As an adult, it's frustratingly difficult / next to impossible to meaningfully change your microbiome. Even if you completely change your diet and you move across the world, your microbiome will be closer to what it was when you were 5 than it will be to anyone in your vicinity. This is a simplification, but the effect is spectacular.

What the authors here claim is not that the microbiome is very plastic throughout your life-- merely that it retains some plasticity in very early childhood.

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