Effect of the specific infant formula mixture of oligosaccharides on local immunity and development of allergic and infectious disease in young children: randomized study

Abstract

AimThe aim of our open prospective randomized nutritional intervention study was to evaluate the effect of feeding with a standard infant formula enriched with the specific mixture of oligosaccharides on local digestive immunity system and further development of allergic and infectious diseases in young children. Material and methodsDepending on the type of feeding the infants were divided into 3 groups (with random allocation to one of the formula feeding groups): 80 infants who were breastfed, 80 infants consuming the formula supplemented with oligosaccharides, 80 infants fed with a standard formula. ResultsBreastfed infants had the highest content of Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli in feces (9.047±1.075 and 7.26±0.65CFU/g accordingly). In infants fed with formula supplemented with scGOS/lcFOS fecal concentrations of Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli were similar to those in breastfed infants (8.92±1.011 and 7.22±0.74CFU/g accordingly). It was found that infants fed with breast milk and supplemented formula had significantly less allergic reactions to food products compared to the babies from the third group (3.92% and 4.84% vs. 16.98% accordingly; p<0,05). ConclusionsThe mixture of prebiotic oligosaccharides (scGOS/lcFOS – 9:1; 8g/L) has a similar to breast milk positive impact on the factors of local digestive immunity system in formula-fed infants. This effect may reduce the risk of allergic and infectious diseases in children aged up to 18 months of life, compared with babies fed with the standard formula without oligosaccharides.