The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently warned parents about giving probiotics to infants. These micro-organisms are indeed potentially dangerous for premature babies.
Probiotics often make the headlines in health magazines, which highlight the many benefits of these living microorganisms naturallyt present in the human intestinal flora. However, it is essential to note that each individual has a unique microbiota. What about young children? During childbirth, the digestive system of the newborn, until now sterile, is colonized by billions of bacteria and the infant will therefore acquire a microbiota throughout the first years of his life. To combat baby’s health concerns, some parents give them probiotics, for example to combat infantile colic and constipation. Thursday October 26, 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) however warned about the administration of these live bacteria and yeasts to toddlers in certain cases.
As reported by New York Postthe experts who spoke in the said report indicated that certain probiotics were potentially dangerous for premature babiesexposing these “at risk of invasive, life-threatening disease or infection caused by bacteria or yeast in probiotics”. In the document, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said the agency was particularly concerned about probiotics. illegally traded as products intended to treat or prevent certain diseases in hospital settings, such as necrotizing enterocolitisa fatal intestinal disease usually affecting babies born preterm.
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Probiotics and young age: the opinion of a pediatrician
According to pediatrician Emmanuelle Rondeleux, interviewed by our colleagues at Doctissimo, taking probiotic products by healthy baby is not contraindicated: “There is no risk of overdose, because the excess probiotics are eliminated through the stools.” The specialist still agrees with the opinion of the Food and Drug Administration concerning the special case of babies born prematurely : “You should be careful, especially in premature babies and babies with immunodeficiency, because probiotics are living organisms.”
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