BALTIMORE—Milk does a body good, right? Well milk with prebiotics and probiotics, aka synbiotics, does. Milk fortified with prebiotics and probiotics resulted in significant reduction of dysentery, respiratory morbidity and febrile illness in children aged 1 to 4 years (PLoS ONE 5(8): e12164. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0012164). In the current study, researchers evaluated the efficacy of adding prebiotic oligosaccharide and probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 to milk, in preventing diarrhea, respiratory infections and severe illnesses in children as part of a four-group study design, running two studies simultaneously.
In a community based double-masked, randomized controlled trial, children 1–3 years of age, willing to participate, were randomly allocated to receive either control milk (Co; n=312) or the same milk fortified with 2.4 g/d of prebiotic oligosaccharide and 1.9×107 colony forming unit (CFU)/d of probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 (PP; n=312). Children were followed up for one year providing data for one to four years.
Overall, there was no effect of prebiotic and probiotic on diarrhea. Incidence of dysentery episodes was reduced by 21 percent. Incidence of pneumonia was reduced by 24 percent and severe acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) by 35 percent. Compared to children in Co group, children in PP group had 16 percent and 5 percent reduction in days with severe illness and high fever, respectively.