Early Neutral Prebiotic Oligosaccharide Supplementation Reduces the Incidence of Some Allergic Manifestations in the First 5 Years of Life
Background
Neutral prebiotic oligosaccharides have shown to reduce the incidence of atopic dermatitis (AD) and allergy-associated symptoms during the first 2 years of life. In this study, we determine the protective effect of prebiotic the supplemented formula as compared to placebo-controlled formula against allergic manifestations and infections during the first five years of life.
Method
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in healthy term infants with a high risk of atopy. They were divided into two groups and received either prebiotic-supplemented (8 g/L scGOS/lcFOS) or placebo-supplemented (8 g/L maltodextrin) hypoallergenic formula during the first 6 months of life. Blind follow-up was conducted for the first five years of life to determine the incidence of allergic manifestations and infections.
Results
At the end of the five-year follow-up, the cumulative incidences of any allergic manifestation(30.9%), atopic dermatitis (19.1 %), rhinoconjunctivitis and allergic urticaria (4.8 %) were significantly lower in the scGOS/lcFOS group compared to the placebo group (66, 38, 16% respectively). There was no difference in the cumulative incidence of recurrent wheezing.
Conclusion
Infants in the scGOS/lcFOS group had significantly lower incidence of allergic Manifestations and infections as compared to the placebo group.