Benefits of Probiotics for Baby’s Health

According to specialists, knowing which are the best probiotics for the baby's health is essential to prevent diseases and strengthen the body. For this reason, it is common to hear about functional foods for babies. Various studies have confirmed the beneficial effects that certain probiotics have on the baby's health and children's well-being. What are these benefits for baby's health about? What are probiotics used for? In what children's foods can we find them? Here we will tell you.

The intestinal microbiota are microorganisms that are found naturally in the intestine and that begin to develop from birth. Most of them are beneficial bacteria for the baby's body and health, the best known being bifidobacteria and lactobacilli.

For the baby's health, it is vital to maintain a healthy intestinal microbiota, as it plays an important role in digestion, helps prevent infections and promotes the development of the baby's immune system. In infants born by caesarean section, the process of acquiring a healthy intestinal microbiota is slower. Also, at 6 months of age, there is a disruption of the intestinal microbiota as your little one is exploring and exposed to a different environment. There is also a disruption of the microbiota with the introduction of solids (complementary feeding) as the pattern of the diet has changed from liquid feeding to introduction of solids.

For this reason, giving a diet that contains probiotics helps with your infant’s proper gut development and health, because it reduces episodes of diarrhoea, the risk of suffering from allergies and strengthens your infant’s immune system.

Probiotics are selected live microorganisms, beneficial bacteria that have to be added to food so that they are incorporated into the intestinal microbiota in order to stimulate the defences and help maintain the baby's digestive health.

Probiotics for baby health

The best-known groups of beneficial bacteria found in the intestine are bifidobacteria and lactobacilli; but not any of them can be considered probiotics. To be so, they must meet a series of requirements, among which is being harmless, that is, not harming the baby's health.

Various studies carried out by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have determined which probiotics produce the greatest benefits for the baby's health, recommending the benefits of probiotic strains of bifidobacteria (B. longum and B. lactis) and lactobacilli (L. rhamnosus).

These probiotics have direct benefits on the digestive system and the baby's health, such as helping to strengthen the baby's immune system and health, reducing the appearance of allergies and gastrointestinal infections. They also reinforce the protection of the intestine, allowing pathogenic microorganisms (viruses and/or bacteria) to be eliminated more quickly, especially those that cause diarrhoea. Additionally, some probiotics help relieve constipation.

Innovation in probiotics

The Nestlé Research Center, the largest private food research center in the world, has carried out various studies and analyses of these strains of probiotics to find greater benefits for the baby's health. This has allowed them to be isolated and characterized to incorporate them into foods. Thus, products with the highest quality and solid scientific support have been developed that can be found under the Bifidus BLTM seal. For more than 150 years, the company has worked to deliver excellent and innovative foods, suitable for baby's health.