Natural Green Spaces, Sensitization to Allergens, and the Role of Gut Microbiota during Infancy
Vienna Buchholz, Sarah L. Bridgman, Charlene C. Nielsen, Mireia Gascón, Hein M. Tun, Elinor Simons, Stuart E. Turvey, Padmaja Subbarao, Tim K. Takaro, Jeffrey R. Brook, James A. Scott, Piush J. Mandhane, Anita L. Kozyrskyj
Abstract
Our findings highlight the importance of preserving natural green space in urban settings to prevent sensitization to environmental allergens and promote early-life gut microbiota pathways to this health benefit. These findings support a mediating role of gut microbiome compositions in health and disease susceptibility. This study used unique, accurate, and comprehensive methodology to classify natural space exposure via a high-resolution topographical map of foliage subtypes within the City of Edmonton limits. These methods are improvements from other methods previously used to classify natural space exposure, such as the normalized density vegetation index from satellite imagery, which is not able to distinguish anthropogenic from green space. The use of these methods and the associations found between natural green space exposure and atopic sensitization outcomes support their use in future studies. Our findings also provide many avenues for future research including longer term follow up of this cohort and investigation of a causal role of reduced Actinobacteria diversity on atopic sensitization development.