Probiotics during breastfeeding reduce allergic rhinitis risk in children

Delhi: Administration of Lactobacillus reuteri, a supplemental probiotic, to breastfed newborns reduces the risk of allergic rhinitis later in life, suggests a recent study. The results of the study were presented at the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) 2020 Digital Congress.

According to the authors, probiotic addition to a child's diet changes microbiota composition. 

Lilijana Besednjak-Kocijančič, from the Primary Paediatric Health Centre in Nova Gorica, Slovenia, and colleagues assessed 316 healthy-weight newborns who had parents with test-confirmed allergy.

All infants were breastfed for 4 to 6 months. The 115 infants in the probiotic group received five drops of L reuteri daily from the age of 4 weeks to 12 weeks. The 201 children in the control group were breastfed without any supplements. All children were followed by the same pediatrician until they were 9 years of age. 

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Key findings of the study include:

"Breastfed newborns who receive a supplemental probiotic — Lactobacillus reuteri — are less likely to develop allergic rhinitis later in life," concluded the authors.

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The benefit of another probiotic, NVP-1703 — a mix of Bifidobacterium longum IM55 and Lactobacillus plantarum IM76 — in adults with allergic rhinitis was shown in separate study presented at EAACI by Min-Gyu Kang, MD, from Chungbuk National University Hospital in Cheongju, South Korea. 

References:

European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) 2020 Digital Congress.