The objective of this systematic literature review was to evaluate the efficacy of probiotic, prebiotic, and synbiotic interventions compared to control on improving growth outcomes of children living in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Probiotics had a beneficial effect on at least one of the growth outcomes in five out of the eleven included studies. Of these, three studies were conducted in undernourished children, one in healthy children, and one in children without a described health status. No effect of prebiotics on the growth outcomes was seen in the four included studies. Synbiotics had a beneficial effect on growth outcomes in three out of four studies. While a limited number of studies with high heterogeneity indicate that probiotics and synbiotics may have the potential to improve the growth of both undernourished and healthy children living in LMIC, more research is needed to confirm the observed effects.
The study was registered at the international prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO, reg. no. CRD42020212998).
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