Adequate nourishment is important for physical growth and mental development during infancy. It is also a phase of maximum brain development wherein insufficient food intake would lead to irreversible damage (Rai, 2011). Assessing the nutritional status of rural infants is pivotal, as about 67% of Indian population still live in rural areas (data world bank, 2018). In India, research prioritization in Maternal, Newborn, Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN) themes have traditionally involved only a handful of experts mainly hailing from major cities (Narendra K. Arora, 2017). This gives the opportunity to review infant nutritional status in a rural population.

Development of the gut microbiota during infancy functions as an important determinant of future health status (Yang, 2016). Dietary habits regulate what we are “feeding” our microbiota (Kashtanova, 2016), as the nutrient provided acts as a substrate for microbial metabolism. Diet composition and feeding practices during the first years of life may impact the diversity and functional capacity of the gut microbiome with potential downstream effects on infant development and disease risk (Johnson & Versalovic, 2012). Gut microbiome is now believed to affect the body mass index (BMI), as well as cognitive and neurological developments. Studying the growth trajectory and developmental milestones will provide a clear picture of the inter-relationship among nutrition, gut microbiome, BMI and development in an infant.

Malnutrition is also linked with impaired immunity with consequently increased risk to infections and cytokine activation (Uday A. Paia, 2018). Studying the frequency of acute respiratory infections (ARI) and acute diarrheal diseases (ADD), which are the most common illnesses in infancy, will aid in co-relating the impact of nutrition and composition of gut microbiome on the health profile of infants.

The study aims to evaluate the impact of infant nutrition in terms of feeding practices and nutrition composition on infant health with reference to multidimensional aspects including growth trajectory, development milestones, gut microbiome and disease pattern.