Costalos C, Kapiki A, Apostolou M, Papathoma E
Department of Neonatal Medicine, Alexandra Regional General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Early Hum Dev. 2008 Jan;84(1):45-9. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2007.03.001. Epub 2007 Apr 11.
The intestinal flora of breast-fed infants is generally dominated by bifidobacteria which have beneficial properties. Their presence is due to various compounds of breast milk including prebiotic substances.
This prospective, double blind, study compared the growth, acceptability and the proportion of bifidobacteria and clostridia in the stool flora of bottle-fed infants randomized to receive a formula with a specific mixture of 0.4 g/100 ml prebiotic galacto- and long-chain fructooligosaccharides or the same formula without added prebiotics.
Within 0-14 days after birth at term, healthy bottle-fed infants were enrolled to receive either a prebiotic formula or a standard formula. At recruitment anthropometric measurements were done. These were repeated at the age of 6 and 12 weeks. Stool samples were taken at inclusion and at the age of 6 weeks. The number of bifidobacteria and clostridia was determined by fluorescent in situ hybridization.
There was good tolerance of the prebiotic formula. Somatic growth was similar in the two groups. Stool frequency was significantly higher in the prebiotic group (P=0.031). Infants in the prebiotic group had also softer stools as compared to the control group (P=0.026). Baseline values of microorganisms at study entry were similar. The percentage of faecal clostridia at the completion of the study was significantly lower in the prebiotic group (P=0.042), while the proportion of faecal bifidobacteria was higher in the prebiotic group as compared to the control group. However this difference did not reach statistical significance (P=0.262). The percentage of E. coli was lower in the prebiotic group but again this did not reach statistical significance (P=0.312).
An infant formula containing prebiotic oligosaccharides is well tolerated, leads to normal somatic growth and suppresses the numbers of clostridia in the faeces with a trend for higher percentage of stool bifidobacteria and lower percentage of E. coli.
母乳喂养婴儿的肠道菌群通常以具有有益特性的双歧杆菌为主。其存在归因于母乳中的各种成分，包括益生元物质。
这项前瞻性、双盲研究比较了随机接受含0.4 g/100 ml益生元半乳糖和长链低聚果糖特定混合物配方奶粉或不含添加益生元的相同配方奶粉的人工喂养婴儿粪便菌群中双歧杆菌和梭菌的生长、可接受性及比例。
足月出生后0至14天内，招募健康的人工喂养婴儿，使其接受益生元配方奶粉或标准配方奶粉。招募时进行人体测量。在6周和12周龄时重复测量。在纳入研究时和6周龄时采集粪便样本。通过荧光原位杂交法测定双歧杆菌和梭菌的数量。
益生元配方奶粉耐受性良好。两组的身体生长情况相似。益生元组的排便频率显著更高（P = 0.031）。与对照组相比，益生元组婴儿的粪便也更软（P = 0.026）。研究开始时微生物的基线值相似。研究结束时，益生元组粪便中梭菌的百分比显著更低（P = 0.042），而与对照组相比，益生元组粪便中双歧杆菌的比例更高。然而，这种差异未达到统计学显著性（P = 0.262）。益生元组大肠杆菌的百分比更低，但同样未达到统计学显著性（P = 0.312）。
含益生元低聚糖的婴儿配方奶粉耐受性良好，能实现正常的身体生长，并抑制粪便中梭菌的数量，粪便双歧杆菌百分比有升高趋势，大肠杆菌百分比有降低趋势。
