Study Suggests Personalized Probiotic Approach for NICU Babies

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Key Points:

  • A new study shows probiotic prescriptions given to premature babies in neonatal units do not give uniform results.
  • The researchers suggest a more personalized medicine approach—customized probiotics according to an analysis of gut flora and other factors.

Two years ago, the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition recommended the use of probiotics for premature babies in neonatal units. While many probiotics are thought to improve the health of the gut microbiome, a new study by researchers at Newcastle University shows probiotics do not give uniform results.

Instead, the researchers are recommending probiotic prescriptions tailored to individual infants’ needs.

In the study published in Nature Microbiology, the Newcastle team examined the gut microbiome of 123 babies born before 32 weeks’ gestation during their first week of life up to day 70. They split the children into three different groups: infants born before probiotics were routinely used; those given the probiotic Infloran; and those given Labinic.

The scientists found probiotic bacteria present in higher numbers in the feces of those infants given probiotics. The team also investigated the factors known to influence gut flora, including mode of birth, mode of feeding, antibiotic use and probiotic ingestion.

In contrast to babies born at term whose gut microbiome is most impacted by breast feeding and vaginal delivery, the single most significant factor in shaping gut flora in preterm babies was the presence of probiotics. Therefore, scientists concluded that probiotics are particularly important to preterm babies in intensive care.

When they carried out further analysis and laboratory tests to examine the impact of the two different probiotics on infant gut epithelial cells, they were surprised to find quite different responses.

“Given probiotics are the deliberate administration of viable bacteria, it was somewhat expected that they would be found to impact the preterm infant gut microbiome,” said study author Christopher Stewart. “What was less expected was the extent of this impact on the preterm infants own gut cells, which we found interacted in a unique way when exposed to feces from infants receiving probiotics.”

Stewart and his team say their study’s findings highlight the need for a personalized medicine approach that NICUs can adopt where infants are given customized probiotics according to an analysis of their gut flora and other factors to determine the mix of bacteria.

Information provided by Newcastle University.

 

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