Winter months are particularly challenging when colds and flu can quickly disrupt routines. Children get sick often, especially those in daycare or at school. As a result, parents need more time off work as they must manage the extra expense and the stress of caring for a sick child. Investing in a probiotic for your child’s long-term health is a simple yet effective way to reduce the stress of constant illness and missed work, writes Sr Ann Richardson: RN RM, Specialist Nurse Practitioner, Author and Parent Coach.
Probiotics are a natural, non-invasive way to support the gut microbiome, maintain health, reduce the need for antibiotics and promote faster recovery if antibiotics are needed. Investing in a probiotic for your child’s long-term health is a simple yet effective way to reduce the stress of constant illness and missed work.
When choosing the right probiotic to strengthen your child’s immunity, look for one that contains ingredients such as:
| Ingredient | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Howaru Bifidobacterium Lactis, Bifidobacterium Longum Spp. Bi-05 |
Supports healthy gut bacteria |
| Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Vitamin B3 Vitamin B6 Vitamin B12 |
Supports energy production, nervous system and brain function Regulates the activity of immune cells to help the body respond to viral threats Maintains healthy skin, hair and nails |
| Vitamin D3 |
Important for muscle and bone strength Supports the immune system |
| Vitamin E |
Protects cells from damage caused by free radicals Supports the immune system Prevents blood clots Helps to maintain healthy skin and eyes |
| Folic Acid | Promotes the production of healthy red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body |
**As recommended by the World Gastro guidelines
The Biotic Shield
The immune system is a complex network of specialised organs, cells and molecules that help protect against diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and toxins. Immune resilience is important to reduce the risk and/or incidence of infections, allergies and certain diseases.
Did you know that the gut is the largest immune organ and hosts 70-80% of the human body’s immune cells, and therefore, the gut microbiota (a collection of “good and healthy” bacteria that live in our gut) is essential for proper immune, metabolic and cognitive development in infants and children. The establishment of a healthy gut microbiome is a process that occurs over time and is shaped by ongoing environmental factors from infancy. This healthy balance plays a key role in immunoregulation and normal development, especially so in childhood.
A healthy gut microbiota is a balanced one, meaning it is a delicately balanced ecosystem between good and beneficial bacteria and potentially harmful (pathogenic) ones. Maintaining this balance is important as dysbiosis (an imbalance) is associated with the development or pathogenesis of many long-term diseases.
The development and maintenance of this balanced microbial community in the gut is widely recognised to play an essential role in contributing to short and long-term health, disease prevention, and avoiding the excessive use of antibiotics for infections.
A healthy gut microbiome plays an important role in regulating digestion, immunity and energy production. It plays a crucial role in the following:
- Immune function, which is your body’s defence system identifying and fighting off germs, viruses, and other threats to keep you healthy.
- Stress responses, which is how gut bacteria communicate with the brain via the gut–brain axis and circadian-regulated HPA axis to modulate the body’s hormonal and neural reaction to stress, keeping stress hormones balanced and enhancing resilience.
- Neuroplasticity in the brain is the brain’s lifelong ability to reorganise and form new neural connections in response to learning, experience and injury.
- Energy metabolism is how the body turns the foods you eat into the fuel that powers every cell, movement and thought.
- Gene expression is the process that reads the instructions in a gene and uses them to build a functional molecule, like a protein, that carries out vital tasks in your cells.
Many factors can impact the development and colonisation of the gut microbiome, and these include:
- Increased rates of birth by C-section instead of natural birth, which bathes a newborn in her mother’s own vaginal and gut bacteria (friendly microbes that seed the baby’s first gut community).
- Westernised diet and lifestyle (with the associated development of obesity)
- Excessive hygiene practices
- Exposure to air pollution
- Increased early use of proton pump inhibitors, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics
The impact of antibiotics
Antibiotics are chemical substances produced by a living organism, generally a microorganism, that are detrimental to other microorganisms and therefore useful in preventing or treating disease, including bacteria and fungi.
Developmental pathways may be affected by antibiotic-related gut microbiota disruptions, which can influence the development of many other body systems and organs, such as essential fatty tissue and the brain via the “gut-brain” axis. This may result in weaker cognitive, behavioural and emotional outcomes beyond childhood.
In the presence of severe infection, antibiotics are an important treatment regimen. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that dysbiosis (an imbalance) of gut microbial from infancy may not only be associated with increased risk of gastrointestinal colic pain and discomfort, but may also be associated with an increased risk of infections, childhood diseases and allergies.
Concurrent use of probiotics and antibiotics is beneficial to prevent and treat antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. While there are mixed opinions about whether taking probiotics at the same time could make the probiotic less effective, your health care provider may recommend taking a probiotic one to two hours after an antibiotic.
What else can be done?
Children who are exposed to multiple courses of antibiotics are at risk of immune-related disorders and an increased susceptibility to develop non-communicable diseases, like asthma, allergies and inflammatory bowel disease.
In addition to probiotics, nutritional strategies offer a good opportunity to rebalance the compromised microbiota in early life. A nutritionally complete diet is important to ensure adequate intake of nutrients such as iron, zinc and vitamins C, D and E. To keep your gut buddies happy, focus on fibre-rich foods like fruits, veggies and whole grains, add fermented goodies such as yoghurt or kefir, and don’t forget regular exercise, good sleep and plenty of water, because these all play a part in nurturing your gut community. Additionally, carbohydrates (including lactose) and lipids are important sources of energy, and proteins are essential for growth and development.
It is important to remember that probiotics can be the best solution for boosting your child’s immunity during the winter months and beyond.
As parents, we can easily manage a daily intake of probiotics to support gut health, improve digestion, and strengthen the immune system, making it an essential part of a proactive approach to health.
References:
- Bailey MJJ et al. Gut Microbes: 2020. Exposure to air pollutants and the gut microbiota: a potential link between exposure, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32347153/
- Gallego C et.al. Microorganisms: 2021. Available from: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/6
- Houghteling PD, Walker WA: J Paediatric Gastroenterol Nutrition: 2015. Why is initial bacterial colonization of the intestine important to infants’ and children’s health? Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25313849/
- Kamphorst K et.al. BMJ Paediatric Open: 2021. Early life antibiotics and childhood gastrointestinal disorders: a systematic review. Available from: https://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/bmjpo/5/1/e001028.full.pdf
- Korpela K et.al. Microbiome: 2017. Childhood BMI in relation to microbiota in infancy and lifetime antibiotic use. Available from: https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-017-0245-y
- Korpela K et.al. Paediatric Research: 2020. Microbiome of the first stool after birth and infantile colic. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32053826/
- Martin R et.al. Beneficial microbiomes: 2010. Early life: gut microbiota and immune development in infancy. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51562000_Early_life_gut_microbiota_and_immune_development_in_infancy
- Oezer R et.al. Br J Nutrition: 2010. Functional milks and dairy beverages. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1471-0307.2009.00547.x
- Roswaal J, et al. Cell Host and Microbe: 2021. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1931312821001001
- Wu HJ, Wu E. Gut microbiomes: 2012. The role of gut microbiota in immune homeostasis and autoimmunity. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221853536_The_role_of_gut_microbiota_in_immune_homeostasis_and_autoimmunity
- Rodgers B; Kirley K; Mounsey A: J Fam Pract. 2013 62(3): 148-150
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