Prebiotics in baby formula and eczema : mixed picture

By Andrew M. Seaman

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - There's some evidence to suggest that putting prebiotics in baby formula protects children against the skin condition eczema, according to a fresh look at past research.

The theory is that babies who can't breastfeed can drink formula fortified with prebiotics, which are food particles that promote the growth of healthy gut bacteria or flora, and build immunity against some allergens.

"When you change the gut flora your immunity changes as well," said Dr. John Sinn, the review's senior author from The University of Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital in Australia.

The analysis, published on Thursday by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research, is an update to a previous review from 2007 that did not find enough evidence to say whether putting prebiotics in baby formula had any benefits.

Previous research had found that about 8 percent of children will develop a food allergy, 20 percent will develop eczema and up to about 34 percent will develop wheezing or asthma.

For the new analysis, the researchers were able to include four studies that randomly assigned a total of 1,428 babies to either regular formula or formula fortified with prebiotics.

The studies reported whether or not the children developed allergic reactions, such as asthma, eczema or hives between four months and two years of age.

Overall, the prebiotic formula did not prevent babies from developing asthma or hives compared to babies fed regular formula, but there was evidence to suggest it may protect against eczema.

Specifically, about 8 percent of 634 babies fed formula with prebiotics developed eczema, compared to about 12 percent of 586 babies fed regular formula.

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Prebiotics in baby formula and eczema : mixed picture