Infant formulae are increasingly supplemented with probiotics, prebiotics, or synbiotics despite uncertainties regarding their efficacy. The present article, developed by the Committee on Nutrition of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, systematically reviews published evidence related to the safety and health effects of the administration of formula...

Canthaxanthin (Cxn) is a fat-soluble red carotenoid pigment and is reported to be immunomodulatory. Broiler breeder hens were fed 0 ppm (Control), 6 ppm or 12 ppm Cxn to determine the effect of maternal dietary Cxn on chicks hatched from hens at 31 (Early), 45 (Mid) and 57 (Late) wk of age. Whole blood was obtained at 1 and 4 d of age to assess the number of cells able to engulf at least one Es...

Objective: To assess if prebiotics at different concentrations can accelerate the growth of selected probiotic bacterial strains. Materials and methods: Enterococcus (E.) faecium NCIMB 10415 E1707 was chosen as it is the most common probiotic strain used for small animals. In addition, E. faecium NCIMB 30183, Bifidobacterium (B.) longum NCIMB 30182 and B. infantis NCIMB 30181 were tested. They ...

AIMS Probiotic milk-based formulations were spray-dried with various combinations of prebiotic substances in an effort to generate synbiotic powder products. METHODS AND RESULTS To examine the effect of growth phase and inclusion of a prebiotic substance in the feed media on probiotic viability during spray-drying, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG was spray-dried in lag, early log and stationary ph...

Background The aging process leads to a potential decline in immune function and adversely affects the gut microbiota. To date, many in vitro and in vivo studies focused on the application of synbiotics (prebiotics combined with probiotics) as a promising dietary approach to affect gut microbiota composition and improved functioning of the immune system. However, studies using synbiotic prepara...

The term “probiotic” is used and misused to identify a growing number of nutritional supplements for horses. In order to understand the varying claims and uses of probiotics, it is critical to define the term as succinctly as possible. To begin, we divide the word into its prefix and root word. The prefix “pro” is a descriptor meaning “supporting or being in favor of,” while “biotic” relates to...

Along with the recent changes in animal feed supply circumstances, many enzyme and probiotic feed supplements have been introduced and applied to pigs and chicken diets. Therefore, both selection of the appropriate feed supplements and their proper supplementation becomes critical to justify the supplementation. Meta-analysis was proposed as an appropriate tool to assess the large amount of rel...