Aim: Effects of supplementing prebiotic oligosaccharides to formula for healthy infants were studied in this placebo controlled, randomised, double blind study.
Methods: Ninety-seven infants were included into the study; among them 42 breast-fed infants, 14 infants fed formula supplemented with 0.4 g/100ml oligosaccharides (9 to 1 mixture of galacto- and fructooligosaccharides) and 13 infants fed control formula were followed-up throughout the 12-week-long study period. The groups receiving formula were compared with statistical methods, whereas data of breast-fed infants served as reference values.
Results: Infants fed the two formulae did not differ in nutrient intakes, growth, occurrence rate of feeding difficulties and atopic manifestations, or in calcium excretion. The intestinal flora did not differ between the two formula fed groups at the beginning of the study. In contrast, numbers of Bifidobacteriae were significantly higher in infants receiving the formula supplemented with prebiotic oligosaccharides both at the 14th day (9 x 1011 versus 5 x 1010, colony forming units/g faeces, median, p < 0.05) and 28th day (9 x 1012 versus 5 x 1010, p < 0.05) of the study.
Conclusion: In this study, supplementation of infant formula with prebiotic oligosaccharides resulted in ameliorating the difference in intestinal flora between formula fed and breast-fed healthy infants.