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WASHINGTON — Two new studies are offering some of the clearest snapshots yet of how babies build up protective gut bacteria, adding to evidence that antibiotics and birth by C-section may disrupt that development.

Intestinal bacteria are underappreciated. They do far more than help digest food — they also play roles in the immune system. The types and amounts of gut bacteria that people harbour are thought to influence obesity, digestive diseases, even autoimmune disorders like asthma and allergies.

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But very little is known about how babies first develop their own unique set of bugs, what’s called the gut microbiome. Wednesday’s studies closely tracked infants through toddlerhood and concluded that the first two to three years of life are a critical period for budding microbiomes.

Still, “what happens when you don’t have the right bugs at the right age during that critical period? We don’t know the answer,” cautioned Dr. Martin Blaser of New York University, who led one of the studies.