Probiotics formula reduces risk of sepsis in infants

Researchers have found that giving newborn babies in India a special probiotics formula reduced the risk of of sepsis by 40%, at only US$1 per child.

The finding, which could impact infant health worldwide, was the culmination of 15 years of research.

Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are good for health, especially a healthy digestive system. Synbiotics are combinations of probiotics with a fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) supplement that promotes growth and sustains colonisation of the probiotic strain. FOS, naturally found in breast milk and such plants as onion, chicory, garlic, asparagus, banana, artichoke and others, is food for the probiotic bacteria.

The special mixture used in the study included a probiotic called Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC-202195, combined with FOS, and was developed by Dr Panigrahi of the Center for Global Health and Development, and colleagues at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health. Their findings were recently published in the journal Nature.

The research team enrolled more than 4500 newborns from 149 villages in the Indian province of Odisha and followed them for their first 60 days.

During their first days of life, the newborns were administered the oral preparation for seven days.

Results of the randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study showed that sepsis and deaths in the first two months of infancy were reduced by 40%, twice the anticipated reduction of 20%. The synbiotic treatment also lowered respiratory tract infections.

The effectiveness demonstrated in Dr Panigrahi’s study was so successful the study was halted early.

The probiotic formula could be a “very cheap oral sepsis vaccine”, he said. Given that sepsis infections result in around one million infant deaths worldwide each year, mostly in developing countries, this finding has serious implications for preventing sepsis-related infant mortality.

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