Developmental Origins of Mind Lab

HELMi (Finnish Health and Early Life Microbiota) is a longitudinal birth cohort which consists of 1055 healthy term infants born in 2016-2018 and their families. Participating families were required mainly at the capital region of Finland. The purpose of this cohort is to increase understanding of the impact of the environmental, lifestyle and genetic factors on the early life gut microbiota and child’s well-being. Gut microbiota is examined by analyzing frequent fecal samples collected from the child during the first 0-24 months (9 different timepoints).

In this particular research group, the focus is on examining how early gut microbiota may influence a child's later socio-emotional development. Information on children’s socio-emotional development has been collected using ITSEA (Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment) and ASQ:SE-2 (Ages and Stages: Socio-Emotional) questionnaires, for example. This study is valuable because previous studies examining the link between gut microbiota and socio-emotional development have mainly focused on children with neurodevelopmental disorders. This study focuses on healthy children. In addition, most of the previous research is cross-sectional, whereas the HELMi cohort enables longitudinal research on the associations between the gut microbiota and socio-emotional development, thus providing a broader understanding of the topic.