in Pediatric News, December 2006 :-(    I quote :

Prebiotic Formula Prevents Dermatitis in Infants

At 6 months, infants who consumed formula enriched with prebiotic 
oligosaccharides similar to those in human milk had less than half the 
incidence of atopic dermatitis - and better indicators of digestive health 
as well - compared with infants consuming control [read regular] formula, 
according to a new study done at an Italian hospital.

Dr. Guido Moro of Macedonia Melloni Maternity Hospital in Milan and his 
collegues conducted a randomized double blind trial that initially enrolled 
259 infants who were at risk for atopy and were delivered at that 
institution, which recommended breast-feeding for all mothers.

Infants who started formula feeding no later than two weeks after birth, and 
met other criteria were randomized to a feeding protocol of formula 
containing prebiotics (0.8g/100 ml of galactooligosaccharides and 
fructooligosaccharides) similar to those in human milk or to anither formula 
containing a placebo (Arch.Dis. Child.2006.[Epub doi 
10.1136/adc.2006.098251]).

After six months only 10% (10 of 102 completers) of the infants on the 
prebiotic formula developed atopic dermatitis (AD) vs. 23% (24 0f 104) of 
the infants on the placebo formula.  AD was diagnosed using the Scoring 
Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index.

The investigators also analyzed parent-collected samples of the infants' 
stool to assess levels of the two dominant intestinal flora: bifidobacteria 
and lactobacilli.  For the former, the investigators found consistently 
higher measures in the infants consuming the enriched formula.

Although these findings show that AD incidence can be influenced by 
prebiotic oligosaccharides, they 'do not allow conclusions concerning the 
mechanism of the effect that was observed on AD," the investigators 
cautioned.

From me - gee where was the control group of completely breastfed babies? 
and maybe if they spent as much money on helping mothers breastfeed we 
wouldn't need fancy expensive formulas!  And what about the conclusion that 
23 % of formula fed babies will get atopic disease?  Pat in SNJ 

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