Prenatal Pb exposure is associated with reduced abundance of beneficial gut microbial cliques in late childhood: an investigation using Microbial Co-occurrence Analysis (MiCA).

Using a novel combination of machine-learning and causal-inference, MiCA identified a significant association between second-trimester Pb exposure and reduced abundance of a probiotic microbial clique within the gut microbiome in late childhood. Pb exposure levels at the guidelines for child Pb poisoning in the United States, and Mexico are not sufficient to protect against the potential loss of probiotic benefits.