Pregnant women and infants at risk of allergies can benefit from probiotics
Pregnant women and infants at risk of allergies can benefit from ingesting populations of live bacteria known as probiotics.
In 2015 the World Allergy Organisation recommended probiotics during pregnancy, during lactation and in infants for those with a family history of allergy.
Probiotics can prevent eczema in children by promoting healthy intestinal microbiota.
But it could also prevent infection in newborns, and decrease diarrhoea and lessen the side effects from antibiotics in babies, said Associate Professor John Sinn, a neonatologist and allergist from Royal North Shore Hospital.
“Then, of course, the child goes to childcare,” Professor Sinn said.
“There is some evidence from randomised studies again that show probiotics decrease the chance of getting viral infections that babies come home with including upper respiratory tract infection as well as gastroenteritis.”
In this five-minute video, Professor Sinn addresses these questions:
– Do probiotics have a role in infant diet?
– How to administer probiotics to infants?
