Maternal probiotic supplementation during pregnancy and breast-feeding reduces the risk of eczema in the infant

Gut microbiota: a source of novel tools to reduce the risk of human disease?

“…In addition, probiotic bacteria consumed by the lactating mother have been detected in breast milk and infant feces (79). The importance of these phenomena are also underscored by the results from a clinical trial which demonstrated that probiotics administered to the pregnant and brest-feeding mother significantly reduced the occurrence of atopic eczema in high-risk infants (80). However, even the potential effect of probiotics, there are still some points to be targeted as the identification of probiotic-strain, the dose, the time and duration of treatment.…”

Homage to the ‘H’ in developmental origins of health and disease

“…Of these, 237 completed the first-year follow-up and 178 were re-examined at 3 years of age to determine whether breastfeeding was associated with a reduced incidence of otitis media 98 Breastfeeding of varying lengths Breastfed children demonstrated protection for several years against diseases such as HI type B, respiratory tract infections, otitis media, and diarrhea [99][100][101][102] A comprehensive review of 132 studies with 56 being deemed conclusive 99 A comprehensive review of various articles 100 A meta-analyses of 12 prospective articles identified via the 1966-1999 MEDLINE database 101 A meta-analyses of 89 articles from PubMed, CINAHL and EMBASE databases that included a search string of breastfeeding and allergic outcomes 102 Breastfeeding of varying lengths Breastfeeding appeared to against allergic diseases, such as asthma 105,106 A parallel, double-blind placebo-controlled trial of 241 mother-infant (males and females) pairs where 205 infants completed the follow-up studies and were included in the final analyses 105 Study included 1828 school age children (males and females) ranging from 9 to 12 years of age 106 Breastfeeding and maternal probiotic supplementation…”

Does a prenatal bacterial microbiota exist?

“…12 Two other studies highlighted the similarity of the bacterial spectrum detected in placental tissue with the human oral microbiome or the skin microbiota. 7,8 Another way to reveal a contamination bias is to use different purification methods with the same samples. A defined bacterial community is expected to display a similar composition irrespective of the method and reagents used.…”

“…4 Recently, maternal-fetal transmission of commensal bacteria and the existence of a placental microbiome have been suggested. [5][6][7][8][9][10] Colonization of the healthy placental and/or fetal tissue with a diverse group of metabolically active bacteria would; however, fundamentally challenge our current thinking of the development of the fetus within a sterile, protected environment. It would require new concepts to explain how bacteria can persist within host tissue but remain anatomically restricted to prevent systemic spread within the fetal organism and how preterm birth, a condition causally linked to bacterial infection of the amniotic tissue, is prevented.…”

“…Rautava et al detected bacterial DNA mainly from the genus Lactobacillus as well as the mostly obligate anaerobic growing genera Bifidobacterium, Bacteroides and Clostridium in 29 of 29 placental samples after elective cesarean section. 7 The group of Versalovic performed a metagenomic approach on placental specimen collected under sterile conditions from 320 individuals after vaginal delivery or cesarean section and described a low-abundance microbiome including the phyla Firmicutes, Tenericutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroides and Fusobacteria. 8 A recent study by Bassols et al, examined placental tissue of 22 vaginally delivered neonates from mothers with or without gestational diabetes aseptically collected and prepared after childbirth in the delivery or operating room.…”