Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. A probiotic, when given to pregnant women 4 weeks prior to anticipated delivery, significantly improved immune cytokines in the nursing newborns.

pregnancy and lactationResearch has become more common showing the benefits of women supplementing with probiotics during their pregnancy to improve digestive health in both themselves and their newborns 1. Interest has increased regarding certain proteins involved with inflammation, such as IL-6 (which increases inflammation and promotes immune system strength), IL-10 (which decreases inflammation) 2, an immunity protein called sIgA, known to “serve as a first line of defense” in the newborn’s digestive tract 3, and another protein called TGF-Beta-1 which “has a crucial effect on the development of the immature gastrointestinal tract by influencing sIgA production” 4.

A 2016 study 5 involved 66 nursing women aged 27 to 37. They took either a probiotic supplement (33 women) or a placebo (33 women) daily four weeks before their expected delivery date until four weeks after delivery (8 weeks total). Before and after the study, the women provided blood samples that measured for several proteins marking inflammation and immunity. According to the researchers, the probiotic supplement was “a high-concentration multi-strain probiotic supplement consisting of packets containing 900 billion viable lyophilized bacteria of four different strains of lactobacilli…three strains of bifidobacteria…and one strain of Streptococcus thermophiles”.

The researchers found the probiotic supplement to have “a significant impact”, specifically:

  • At birth, newborns in the probiotic group had 50% higher levels of sIgA than the placebo group (1.05 versus 0.70 log mg/g, p < 0.05)
  • At birth, newborns in the probiotic group had 7.4% higher levels of IL-10 than the placebo group (2.32 versus 2.16, p < 0.05).
  • At birth, newborns in the probiotic group had 145% higher levels of IL-6 than the placebo group (2.16 versus 0.88 log pictograms/mg, p < 0.05).
  • After 30 days of breastfeeding, TGF-Beta-1 levels in the newborns increased by 18.7% (2.61 to 3.10) versus a 6.3% decrease in the placebo group (2.58 to 2.42, p < 0.05).

Although they concluded that “maternal supplementation with this specific high-concentration probiotic preparation modulates cytokines in the mammary gland and a sIgA synthesis in newborn gut mucosa,” the researchers did not make a formal recommendation for probiotics for pregnant women. Rather, they stated that “further research in this field is needed to confirm our results and to identify mothers who could have benefits from perinatal supplementation.”

Source: Baldassarre Marie E., Di Mauro Antonio, Mastromarino Paola, et al.  Administration of a Multi-Strain Probiotic Product to Women in the Perinatal Period Differentially Affects the Breast Milk Cytokine Profile and May Have Beneficial Effects on Neonatal Gastrointestinal Functional Symptoms. A Randomized Clinical Trial. Nutrients 2016, 8, 677; doi:10.3390/nu8110677

© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution. (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Click here to read the full text study.

Posted February 9, 2017.

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com.

References:

  1. Rautava S, Luoto R, Salminen S, Isolauri E. Microbial contact during pregnancy, intestinal colonization and human disease. Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 2012;9(10):565-576.
  2. Kole A, Maloy KJ. Control of intestinal inflammation by interleukin-10. Interleukin-10 in Health and Disease: Springer; 2014:19-38.
  3. Corthésy B. Role of secretory IgA in infection and maintenance of homeostasis. Autoimmunity reviews. 2013;12(6):661-665.
  4. Kalliomäki M, Ouwehand A, Arvilommi H, Kero P, Isolauri E. Transforming growth factor-β in breast milk: a potential regulator of atopic disease at an early age. Journal of allergy and clinical immunology. 1999;104(6):1251-1257.
  5. Baldassarre ME, Di Mauro A, Mastromarino P, et al. Administration of a Multi-Strain Probiotic Product to Women in the Perinatal Period Differentially Affects the Breast Milk Cytokine Profile and May Have Beneficial Effects on Neonatal Gastrointestinal Functional Symptoms. A Randomized Clinical Trial. Nutrients. 2016;8(11):677.