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Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (R.S.), Bruce Rappaport School of Medicine, Technion-Institute of Technology, Haifa, ISRAEL
Department of Neonatology (I.R.M.), Bruce Rappaport School of Medicine, Technion-Institute of Technology, Haifa, ISRAEL
Department of Pediatrics A (A.E., N.S.), Bruce Rappaport School of Medicine, Technion-Institute of Technology, Haifa, ISRAEL
Meyer Childrens Hospital of Haifa, Primary Pediatric Clinic, Tamra, Western Galilee (I.R.M., N.S.), Bruce Rappaport School of Medicine, Technion-Institute of Technology, Haifa, ISRAEL
Address reprint requests to: Raanan Shamir, MD, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Meyer Childrens Hospital of Haifa, Rambam Medical Center, POB 9602, Haifa 31096, ISRAEL. E-mail: shamirr{at}netvision.net.il
| ABSTRACT |
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Methods: In a double blind prospective study, 65 children aged 612 months were randomized to receive 6 x 109 colony forming units of Streptococcus thermophilus, Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus (2 x 109 of each strain), 10 mg of zinc/day, and 0.3 grams of fructo-oligosaccharides in the supplemented group (n = 33) or placebo (n = 32), given in a soy protein based rice cereal. For each child, age, sex, weight, degree of dehydration, the presence of fever or vomiting, stool frequency and consistency were recorded daily until diarrhea resolution.
Results: Diarrhea resolution occurred after 1.43 ± 0.71 days in the supplemented group vs. 1.96 ± 1.24 in the control group (p = 0.017). In the subset of children who presented with vomiting, time to vomiting resolution was 0.27 ± 0.59 vs. 0.81 ± 0.91 days in the supplemented and control groups, respectively (p = 0.06). On day 3, there was only 1 child with watery stools in the supplemented group versus 10 children in the control group (p = 0.02).
Conclusions: In our series, the feeding of a cereal containing Streptococcus thermophilus, Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus and zinc, reduced the severity and duration of acute gastroenteritis in young children. However, whether this combination is better than either the addition of probiotics or zinc alone is yet to be determined.
Key words: Acute gastroenteritis, probiotics, Streptococcus thermophilus, Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, zinc
| INTRODUCTION |
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Two meta-analyses have demonstrated a therapeutic effect of probiotics, mainly Lactobacillus GG, on acute diarrhea caused by rota virus [6, 7]. This treatment usually reduces the duration of diarrhea by a few hours [6, 7]. Possible explanations for the observed effects include inhibition of adhesion of pathogens, enhanced mucosal integrity, beneficial effects on the dysregulated immune response, production of antimicrobial substances, and intestinal receptor modification [610].
In addition to probiotics, intervention trials have demonstrated that the addition of oral zinc can also reduce the duration and severity of acute diarrhea in children [7, 11, 12]. The rationale for the beneficial effect of zinc supplementation is based on the depletion of zinc due to diarrhea [11, 13] and the deleterious effects of zinc deficiency on the immune system, leading to more severe enteric infections [14]. In support of zinc supplementation is that there is no evidence that zinc cause harm when given to non-septic immunocompetent children [15].
On the other hand, results of zinc supplementation studies were not consistent, with a very modest effect observed when zinc was added to an ORS solution [16].
Since zinc and probiotics work via different mechanisms it is possible that adding both would have a synergistic effect. One study, in rhesus monkeys, showed a prophylactic effect of the combination of probiotics and zinc [17]. However, the combination of probiotics and zinc in the treatment of acute diarrheal illness in children has not been tested.
Our study aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of a new diet enriched with zinc and probiotic bacteria in the treatment of acute diarrhea in young children.
| PATIENTS AND METHODS |
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For each child age, sex, weight, degree of dehydration, the presence of fever or vomiting, number of bowel movements and stool consistency (watery, loose or solid) were recorded. Children were seen every day, and weight, degree of dehydration, presence of fever or vomiting, number of bowel movements and stool consistency were recorded. Diarrhea resolution was established when stool consistency ceased to be watery, or when the number of bowel movements was lower than 3 in 24 hours. Due to the ambulatory setting of the study, after diarrhea resolution, parents were instructed to return to the clinic if diarrhea resumed, and daily telephone calls were made to ensure that there are no relapses.
The Institutional Ethics Committee approved the study. All parents gave informed consent for their childs participation in the study.
Methods
Children diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis were instructed to drink an ORS solution according to previously established guidelines [3, 18]. In short, oral rehydration with ORS was calculated to replace the estimated fluid deficit, and given over 4 hours. After that, parents were instructed to continue ORS supplementation with 10 ml/kg of fluids for each watery stool or vomitus. In addition, rapid introduction of feedings were practiced (three hours after the beginning of ORS). After randomization (see patients section) patients were assigned to group 1 or 2 in a double blind manner (cereals were sealed as cereal 1 and 2 by the manufacturer). Both groups were instructed to consume 600 ml of cereals (Baby-Biocal, Remedia, Israel) with or without added probiotics and zinc, in a lactose free, soy protein-based formula (Remedia Tsimchit, Remedia, Israel). The instructions were to provide the rest of the infants feeding regimen with the regular diet used before the episode of diarrhea. The composition of the soy based formula is shown in Table 1, as well as the nutrient composition of the study and control formula and the probiotic content of the study formula. The viability of the probiotic strains was examined after six months of storage and determined to be 7 x 109 colony forming units/100 g cereal. All cereals used in this study were consumed within 6 months of addition of the probiotics.
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| RESULTS |
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Season of gastroenteritis occurrence was similar in both groups. Most of the cases occurred between May and July (12 in the supplemented group and 12 in controls) and between November and February (14 in the supplemented group and 12 in controls).
Clinical characteristics of the study groups are shown in Table 3. The mean duration of diarrhea was 0.62 days (14 hours and 53 minutes) shorter in the supplemented group compared to the control group (p = 0.017). On daily follow up for 7 days after diarrhea resolution, none of the children in both study arms had a repeated diarrheal episode.
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| DISCUSSION |
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Administration of several probiotics species, namely VSL#3, that contains three species of Bifidobacteriae, four strains of lactic acid bacteria and one strain of Streptococcus, has been demonstrated to be useful in the treatment of adults with various gastrointestinal disorders including prevention of acute pouchitis [19], prevention of flare-ups in chronic pouchitis [20], irritable bowel syndrome [21], and radiotherapy induced diarrhea [22]. Although the concept of using a mixture of probiotic bacteria was successful in gastrointestinal inflammation, this combination has not been studied in acute gastroenteritis, and it is unknown whether specific bacteria contained in the VSL#3 combination are responsible for the observed effect. Since we did not compare the effect of adding one probiotic bacteria to that of a combination of probiotic species, the rationale for a combination of species for the treatment of acute gastroenteritis is yet to be evaluated.
In hospitalized children, the combination of Bifidobacterium lactis and Streptococcus thermophilus was proved useful in the prevention of acute gastroenteritis [23]. In another study in hospitalized children with a wide age range (6 to 60 months), supplementation of the formula with Bifidobacterium infantis and Lactobacillus acidophilus reduced the duration of diarrhea by 0.5 days [24].
In the present study we were able to demonstrate, in a primary care setting, that the addition of 6 x 109 colony forming units of Streptococcus thermophilus, Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus (2 x 109 of each strain) and 10 mg/day of zinc significantly reduced the duration of acute gastroenteritis in children aged 612 months (by close to 15 hours) and induced quicker resumption of normal stool consistency. At this stage, it is impossible to ascertain whether the observed effects were induced by the combination of probiotics or by any one of the strains in the mixture that was added to the formula. Furthermore, the presence of minimal amounts of oligosaccharides in the study formula may have contributed to the beneficial effects, since the addition of oligosaccharides to infant formula has a dose-dependent stimulating effect on Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli [25].
Oligosaccharides have been shown to increase stool frequency and decrease stool consistency [26], but such effect was not demonstrated at a dosage as employed in our study [25]. Furthermore, since stools became harder in the supplemented group without a significant effect on the number of stools, it is unlikely that the observed effects on stool frequency and consistency were related to the oligosaccharides. One explanation for harder stools without a change in the number of stools could be that the treatment influenced electrolytes and fluids absorption and excretion rather than intestinal motility or immune responses.
In acute gastroenteritis, zinc supplementation reduces the duration and severity of the disease [11, 12]. Furthermore, zinc supplementation for 4 months reduces the incidence of severe and prolonged diarrhea in children [27]. On the other hand, the addition of probiotics to infant formula in rhesus monkeys decreased the severity of experimentally induced diarrhea, but no additional benefit was obtained adding zinc to the probiotics [17]. Moreover, a study in young children in Peru reported that morbidity was greater following supplementation with zinc plus multivitamins and minerals than with supplementation with zinc alone [28]. Since a cereal containing only zinc was not included in our study, the potential specific (beneficial or detrimental) contribution of zinc to our results remains uncertain.
There are several limitations to our study. The sample size was small, due to the primary care setting, there was no isolation of pathogens, and all participants consumed a soy protein based formula and rice. Although stools were not examined for pathogens, the study and the control groups were recruited from the same villages with presented at the same season, suggesting a similar distribution of causative agents. Thus, our results demonstrate the efficiency of the investigated preparation in an ambulatory setting, but the efficiency related to specific pathogens can not be established. Soy protein and rice had probably no effect on the outcome since they were equally consumed by both groups. Despite the small sample size, we were able to demonstrate a significant effect of feeding a formula supplemented with a mixture of probiotics and zinc, although our study design precludes the possibility to determine whether one ingredient or a combination of ingredients was responsible for earlier resolution of diarrhea and improvement in stool consistency.
In summary, the supplementation of a Streptococcus thermophilus, Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus and zinc combination to a soy-protein based rice cereal, can shorten the severity and duration of mild acute gastroenteritis in children six to twelve months of age. However, whether this combination is better than adding only probiotics or only zinc is yet to be determined.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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Received March 24, 2004. Accepted March 20, 2005.
| REFERENCES |
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