WIKIMEDIA, MENNONITE CHURCH USA ARCHIVESSeveral studies in the last five years have found that babies born via C-section tend to have altered microbiomes and face more health risks than babies born vaginally. But in some analyses of infant microbiomes, researchers failed to take into consideration the underlying reasons why a Cesarean section was performed, researchers reported in a review article published last week (November 24) in EMBO Reports. This suggests that “exposures and events throughout pregnancy that may ultimately result in a Cesarean or follow thereafter—but not the surgery itself—may be the true drivers of variation in the microbiome and risk of atopic disease, obesity, or metabolic disorders later in life,” the authors wrote.

Moreover, a closer look at prior studies investigating microbiome differences between infants delivered vaginally and via C-section revealed varying results. “When we dug into the literature in greater detail, we found that other investigators were not seeing a strong difference in the...