ZOOM Study
“Zooming into the Old Order Mennonites (ZOOM)” Farming Lifestyle Allergy Birth Cohort
This NIH-funded birth cohort study was launched in 2017. The 2 populations of interest are:
- Old Order Mennonites (OOM) who reside in Penn Yan, Finger Lakes region, Western NY
- Rochester urban/suburban families where the infant is at increased risk for atopic diseases based on a first-degree family member with allergic disease
The goals of this study are to assess whether there are differences in infant microbiome and systemic and mucosal immune system development between infants at low and those at high risk for development of allergic diseases based on their lifestyle.
The OOM of the Western NY
- are of Swiss-German ancestry
- practice traditional single family farming
- use horse and buggy for transportation
- consume unpasteurized farm milk
- have high rate of home births and long period of breastfeeding
- infrequent antibiotic use
- have a low rate of allergic diseases (Martina C. et al . Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2016, Phillips J et al. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2020)
Our pilot study also showed that the OOM infants have a different gut microbiome composition infancy, dominated by Bifidobacterium infantis.
Study design, follow-up is ongoing.
