Early life gut microbiota profiles linked to synbiotic formula effects: a randomized clinical trial in European infants.

Background: Microbial colonization of the gastrointestinal tract after birth is an essential event that influences infant health with life-long consequences. Therefore, it is important to investigate strategies to positively modulate colonization in early life.

Objectives: This randomized, controlled intervention study included 540 infants to investigate the effects of a synbiotic intervention formula (IF) containing Limosilactobacillus fermentum CECT5716 and galacto-oligosaccharides on the fecal microbiome.

Blood lead levels in 2018/2019 compared to 1987/1988 in the German population-based KORA study.

Introduction: Lead exposure remains of continuing concern due to its known and suspected impacts on human health and has been designated as a priority substance for investigation in human biomonitoring studies by the EU. The aims of this study were to measure blood lead levels (BLL) in a population based cohort of middle-aged individuals without major current exposures to lead, and to compare these to historical blood lead levels obtained thirty years earlier.

Methods: The population-based KORA study from 1984 to 2001 included inhabitants of the Augsburg Region, Germany.