Effect of long term consumption of probiotic milk on infections in children attending day care centres: double blind, randomised

Abstract

Objective To examine whether long term consumption of a probiotic milk could reduce gastrointestinal and respiratory infections in children in day care centres. Design Randomised, double blind, placebo controlled study over seven months. Setting 18 day care centres in Helsinki, Finland. Participants 571 healthy children aged 1-6 years: 282 (mean (SD) age 4.6 (1.5) years) in the intervention group and 289 (mean (SD) age 4.4 (1.5) years) in the control group. Intervention Milk with or without Lactobacillus GG. Average daily consumption of milk in both groups was 260 ml. Main outcome measures Number of days with respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms, absences from day care because of illness, respiratory tract infections diagnosed by a doctor, and course of antibiotics. Results Children in the Lactobacillus group had fewer days of absence from day care because of illness (4.9 (95% confidence interval 4.4 to 5.5) v 5.8 (5.3 to 6.4) days, 16% difference, P = 0.03; age adjusted 5.1 (4.6 to 5.6) v 5.7 (5.2 to 6.3) days, 11% difference, P = 0.09). There was also a relative reduction of 17% in the number of children suffering from respiratory infections with complications and lower respiratory tract infections (unadjusted absolute % reduction − 8.6 ( − 17.2 to − 0.1), P = 0.05; age adjusted odds ratio 0.75 (0.52 to 1.09), P = 0.13) and a 19% relative reduction in antibiotic treatments for respiratory infection (unadjusted absolute % reduction − 9.6 ( − 18.2 to − 1.0), P = 0.03; adjusted odds ratio 0.72 (0.50 to 1.03), P = 0.08) in the Lactobacillus group. Conclusions Lactobacillus GG may reduce respiratory infections and their severity among children in day care. The effects of the probiotic Lactobacillus GG were modest but consistently in the same direction.

Lactobacillus acidophilus 74-2 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp lactis DGCC 420 modulate unspecific cellular immune response in healthy adults

“…Indicating a stimulation of the immune system, these outcomes can be important for several population groups, for example elderly, stressed workers and children that are susceptible for infections. An enhancement of the immune system induced by probiotic bacteria can reduce duration and severity of infectious diseases (Schiffrin et al, 1997;Hatakka et al, 2001;Turchet et al, 2003). The expression of the specific cellular surface markers (CDs) remained unaffected through this study.…”

Study to investigate the potential of probiotics in children attending school

“…A previous study reported a mean (s.d.) of 5.8 (4.5) days of illnesses among Finnish children aged 1 to 6 years, during a 7-month follow-up (Hatakka et al, 2001). Using this latter estimate of the mean and the estimate of 4.5 for the s.d.…”

“…Despite their popularity, there is a need for controlled studies on specific probiotic strains, in settings and modalities that are similar to how probiotics are actually consumed in the United States (Pedone et al, 1999;Hatakka et al, 2001;Weizman et al, 2005;Lin et al, 2009). We have previously found that providing an intervention in the form of a yogurt drink greatly increases compliance, and presents parents with a simple alternative to traditional probiotic supplemental pills or capsules (Merenstein et al, 2009).…”

Probiotics and health: An evidence-based review

“…Children also represent a main target of studies that investigate the effects of probiotics on human health, because of the importance of limiting the spread of diseases especially during wintertime, reducing missed days at school, and decreasing the need of antibiotics [43][44][45].…”