Original Articles: Brief CommunicationProbiotics during pregnancy and breast-feeding might confer immunomodulatory protection against atopic disease in the infant☆,☆☆
Section snippets
Subjects and methods
This study was conducted as a part of a double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial evaluating the preventive potential of probiotics in allergy, as described in detail elsewhere.6 In all, 159 pregnant women from atopic families were randomized to receive either Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG (ATCC 53103; daily dose, 2 × 1010 colony forming units; Valio Ltd, Helsinki, Finland), or placebo (microcrystalline cellulose; Valio Ltd) during the 4 weeks before giving birth (mean, 28 days; 95% CI,
Results
The infants born to mothers receiving probiotics and those born to mothers receiving placebo were comparable with respect to mode of delivery, maternal atopic disease, and whether there were older siblings in the family, as well as mean duration of exclusive and total breast-feeding (Table I).
The concentration of TGF-β2 in the breast milk of mothers receiving probiotics was higher (2885 pg/mL [95% CI, 1624-4146]) than that in the breast milk of mothers receiving placebo (1340 pg/mL [95% CI,
Discussion
Probiotics were shown here to confer protection from atopic eczema for the infant when administered to the mother before delivery and during breast-feeding. Infants with an elevated cord blood IgE concentration, considered to reflect atopic sensitization in utero, were most likely to benefit from these agents, inasmuch as probiotics increased the amount of TGF-β2 in breast milk. This suggests that probiotics exert their effect on the early immunologic mechanisms involved in the development of
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Cited by (0)
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Supported by the Academy of Finland.
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Reprint requests: Samuli Rautava, MD, Department of Paediatrics, University of Turku, PO Box 52, FIN-20521, Turku, Finland.