July 24, 2003 – Probiotics Mark Markedly Protects Small Children Against Atopic Eczema, New Study Says.
Finnish researchers studied1 107 children whose mothers had taken either a very specific strain of the lactobacillus bacterium – Lactobacillus GG – during the last weeks of their pregnancy and during the six months after giving birth, or a placebo. All of the children were breastfed, and all of the participants had a family history of atopic eczema, a form of the disease that researchers believe is hereditary.
Researchers found that exposure to these probiotics reduced the risk of developing eczema by 40% before the age of four. Previous studies had for their part established the reduction in risk to 50% before the age of two (see the article in PasseportSanté.net on this subject, dated April 26, 2001).
However, probiotics did not appear to offer any protection against asthma or allergic rhinitis.
Researchers believe it would be premature for mothers to start taking probiotics or giving them to their children. They now intend to continue their research to find out if the protective effect is maintained beyond the age of four.
They also point out that only Lactobacillus GG was used in this study and that all probiotics are different. Some, if misused, can have a negative effect on the development of the immune system.
Jean-Benoit Legault – PasseportSanté.net
According to BBC News; May 30, 2003.
1. Kalliomaki M, Salminen S, Poussa T, Arvilommi H, Isolauri E. Probiotics and prevention of atopic disease: 4-year follow-up of a randomized placebo-controlled trial.Lancet 2003 May 31; 361 (9372): 1869-71. [Consulté le 24 juillet 2003].