Prebiotics and nucleotides in infant nutrition; review of the evidence

Abstract

Most of the initiation and maintenance pediatric formulas commercialized in Spain contain prebiotics and/or nucleotides aiming at achieving beneficial effects on prevention of different pathologies and immune protection, similar to human breast milk. However, according to the current legislation, its inclusion is optional since sufficient scientific evidences supporting its mandatory inclusion is lacking. To systematically review the scientific evidence from randomized clinical studies with a control group allowing determining the beneficial role for infant health derived from the inclusion of prebiotics and/or nucleotides in pediatric formulas. We looked for and selected both original papers and reviews in Spanish and English language of placebo controlled randomized clinical studies published in the databases MEDLINE/PubMed, Scielo, Science Direct, and Scopus, until October of 2011. We found 43 randomized clinical trials meeting the inclusion criteria. More long-term randomized studies with higher number of patients, and standardized supplemental amounts and experimental conditions are needed to establish healthy statements with stronger scientific support regarding the addition of a mixture of prebiotics (GOS/FOS) and/or nucleotides in pediatric formulas. The current trend to include them in pediatric formulas may be justified based on the currently available evidence, as well as their safety and their presence in human breast milk.