Diet and the faecal microflora of infants, children and adults in rural Nigeria and urban U.K.

The faecal microflora of breast-fed infants, weaned children and adults has been examined in rural Nigeria and urban U.K. Breast-fed infants had a similar anaerobic flora dominated by bifidobacteria but bacteroides were isolated in less than a quarter of either community. Weaned children in both communities had greater numbers of bacteroides and clostridia than breast-fed infants. Even higher numbers of bacteroides and clostridia were present in U.K. adults but not in Nigerian adults. Numbers of bacteroides and clostridia were greater in a group of Nigerian infants drinking cow's milk than those receiving breast milk alone and lower in a group of weaned children with diarrhoea compared with uninfected subjects.