Prebiotics and allergy prevention

A prebiotic can be defined as a substance whose purpose is to produce a normal intestinal flora, thus improving the functioning of the immune system, which is important in allergy mechanisms.
Compared to probiotics, it does not contain any microorganisms, but only stimulants that selectively stimulate the growth or activity of one type or a limited number of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. A prebiotic can be a natural dietary ingredient, e.g. garlic, onions, artichokes, starch. Prebiotics are also food additives or dietary supplements.
At this point, it should be noted that natural prebiotics (oligosaccharides) are found in breast milk. Breastfeeding therefore contributes to building up the baby's normal intestinal microflora.
Preventivemeasures can be divided into three forms. Prevention of the occurrence of a disease (in this case allergy) in genetically predisposed children is called primary prevention. The prevention of the occurrence of symptoms in a person who has already had contact with the allergen is called secondary prevention. There is also a third element of prevention - actions aimed at inhibiting the disease and limiting its complications - called phase III prevention. In all diseases, primary prevention plays the most important role, with measures aimed at preventing the development of the disease.

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Prevention according to the World Allergy Organisation (WAO) guidelines

Last year, material was published by the World Allergy Organisation on allergy prevention. In it, you can read, among other things, about the use of prebiotics to reduce the risk of allergic disease. A group of experts showed that the use of prebiotics at 1 year of age compared to a group not taking prebiotics or taking a placebo reduces the risk of allergic diseases such as asthma, food allergy and atopic eczema.
On the basis of these studies, the World Allergy Organisation suggests the use of prebiotics in all infants who are not exclusively fed breast milk, regardless of allergy risk factors. At the same time, it does not recommend the use of prebiotics in exclusively breastfed infants.

The question of whether there are benefits to the use of prebiotics in pregnancy and in breastfeeding women is still being explored. It is important to remember that the source of natural prebiotics is breast milk, which not only contributes to the formation of the baby's normal gut flora, but also contains components of the immune system that play an important role in the development of normal immune mechanisms. In the event of the need for replacement milk, we have modified milk for infants, which contains galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) and fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), which are prebiotics.
The choice of a particular blend should be made in consultation with a paediatrician. It should be remembered that modified milk enriched with a mixture of prebiotics is not a substitute for breast milk.