Scientist - News - 05-03-2009:

Prebiotics reduce infant infections
Beintema, Nienke

A large-scale Italian study has shown a significant beneficial effect of prebiotics in infant formula. Prebiotics-supplemented infants suffered fewer bowel infections than controls, and were less likely to be prescribed antibiotics for any infection.

Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients, such as fibers, that promote the growth of beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, in the gut. Efforts to improve gastrointestinal health, and thus general health, have therefore focused not only on probiotics, but also on prebiotics.

Several studies have shown direct health benefits of prebiotic supplements. A recent study from the University of Naples, Italy, is adding to this growing body of evidence. The results were published in the February issue of the journal Clinical Nutrition. The added value of this study, according to various experts’ reactions online, is exceptional in terms of the large group of study subjects and the statistical significance of the results.

The Italian researchers studied 342 healthy, bottle-fed infants. Half of them received formula supplemented with a mixture of galacto- and fructo-oligosaccharides, and the other half received formula without these prebiotics. For twelve months, the researchers monitored the incidence of intestinal and respiratory tract infections and the prescribed use of antibiotics.

The incidence of gastroenteritis was 59% lower in the supplemented group than in the controls. Although not statistically significant, the number of children with more than three episodes of gasteroenteritis was 38% lower in the prebiotic group. The number of children with multiple antibiotic courses per year was 40% lower in children receiving prebiotics. The Italians conclude that prebiotics reduce intestinal and, possibly, respiratory infections in healthy infants during the first year of age.

Please return to this site to read more on prebiotics: www.gutflora.org will soon publish a wider overview of prebiotic research, including expert views.

More information:
Publication in Clinical Nutrition (February 2009)
Earlier Italian study on prebiotics and eczema in the Archives of Diseases in Childhood (2006)