Paediatric nutritionist lectures on prebiotics

There is a significant difference between the health of a breastfed and a formula-fed baby but the latter could now be improved through the positive effects of prebiotics, according to UK paediatric nutritionist John Wells.

Prebiotics - a type of carbohydrate that is not digested, enters the large intestine and selectively stimulates bifidus bacteria to grow - are now being introduced into infant milk formulas.

They have a positive effect on intestinal flora, which is important for the health of the baby, explained Mr Wells, senior scientific communications manager at Numico, which specialises in infant feeding products.

Mr Wells was in Malta to talk to doctors and other healthcare professionals about the development of prebiotics and their introduction into infant formulas and weaning foods.

His stay was sponsored by Pemix Ltd, local agents for Nutricia and Milupa (Numico), which also sponsored the two seminars to launch prebiotics in Malta.

Breast milk is always the best way to feed a baby. But scientists have identified a means - through the addition of prebiotics - of changing the flora in the colon of a formula-fed baby to be like that of the breastfed baby, Mr Wells said.

After an extensive 10-year Research and Development Programme, Numico has added prebiotics to a broader range of infant milk formulas and some weaning foods across Europe and the rest of the world.

Mr Wells is recommending the prebiotics as "the natural approach because breast milk itself contains a prebiotics component. It is a case of mimicking the breast milk," he said.

The potential benefits of breastfeeding a baby include a degree of protection against infection, meaning they are less inclined to contracting gastroenteritis, which they are normally prone to because their immune system is not fully developed.

Breastfed babies also have fewer allergy problems than their formula-fed counterparts.

Health Department statistics from August show that just over 53 per cent of mothers were breastfeeding their newborns at the time of discharge from hospital. Despite a slight increase over last year's figures, Malta still ranked second lowest in Europe when it came to breastfeeding. It is wedged between Ireland, which has the lowest breastfeeding rate of 39 per cent, and the UK with 69 per cent, and still has a long way to go to attain the 90 per cent goal established in Malta's Breastfeeding Policy in 2000.

In the UK, because healthcare professionals are educating mothers more and more, in the last 20 years, breastfeeding has either remained static, or is on the rise, Mr Wells said.

However, they quite rapidly fall by the wayside, partly because they want to go back to work, or due to other pressures, Mr Wells said, adding that even two to three weeks is worthwhile.

"Even a week of breastfeeding makes a difference," he insisted.

Many mothers do not want to breastfeed for the recommended six months. If for some reason they cannot, they can still get some of the same benefits through prebiotics, Mr Wells explained.

More recently, his time has been devoted to the study of the inclusion of prebiotics in infant nutrition and their support in the natural defences of infants. But he also served as a volunteer nutritionist in Guyana, South America, where he worked on a World Health Organisation nutritional survey project for two years.

Some of his most notable projects include the nutritional content of home-prepared weaning foods, post-hospital discharge nutrition of premature infants, formula composition and sleep behaviour and the development and clinical evaluation of a high-energy/ high-protein formula for sick infants.

Mr Wells was also invited to join an expert committee, set up by the UK Department of Health, to advise the government on the nutritional assessment of infant formulas.