Page 43 - Petelin, Ana, et al. 2019. Eds. Zdravje otrok in mladostnikov / Health of Children and Adolescents. Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 43
The first years of the life are the most important for the development of the use of probiotics in the preschool period 41
the gut microbiota, and this is one of the reasons to devote enough attention
to this period. Gut microbiota can be strengthened by the daily intake of pro-
biotics that have a beneficial effect on the host’s health when consumed in suf-
ficient concentrations (Hashemi et al., 2016). Most children attend kindergar-
ten or other forms of child care where they are often exposed to the daily risk
of contagious infectious diseases. Probiotics can offer a number of potential
health benefits primarily by maintaining the balance and composition of the
gut microbiota. Therefore, probiotics are often used therapeutically, in cases
such as, relieving constipation, preventing and treating childhood diarrhea,
upper respiratory infections, irritable bowel syndrome, and preventing food
allergies and atopic diseases (Ranadheera et al., 2010; Tripathi and Giri, 2014).
Antibiotics are the most common drugs prescribed to children (Vangay et al.,
2015) resulting in diarrhea as a most common side effect of antibiotic treatment
(Mizock, 2015). Our results show that parents often administrated the probiot-
ics for the first time with the aim to maintain or improve the health condition
of their children, as in the case of antibiotic treatment, digestive problems, al-
lergies and infantile colic. The results also show that probiotics are frequent-
ly added during health conditions such as diarrhea (44.1 %), antibiotic treat-
ment (42.1 %) and constipation (35.4 %). Parents also report the changes they
observed after the use of probiotics, such as changed stool texture (23.3 %), con-
stipation relief (16.3 %), reduced bloating (13.9 %), reduced gas (10.2 %), and re-
duced frequency of diarrhea (6.9 %).
Initially, the probiotics are often administrated to child with dairy prod-
ucts that are considered as ideal vector of probiotic delivery into the digestive
tract (Ranadheera et al., 2010). However, not only dairy products contain pro-
biotics, we can find probiotics in fermented foods such as pickles, sauerkraut
and sour turnip (Beganović at el., 2014). Our results show that the most com-
mon source of probiotics in children is through probiotic foods (36.7 %). Nev-
ertheless, there is a growing trend in the use of probiotic supplements, such as
powders and capsules (Ranadheera et al., 2010).
In order for probiotics to be effective, they must be consumed at least
daily, to have the ability to colonize the gut and have a benefit for the host
(Binns and Lee, 2010). Our results show that children consume daily on aver-
age 141.7 ml/day of liquid probiotic and 18.4 g/day of solid probiotic foods. This
is achieved by combining various probiotic foods.
Conclusions
The results of our study showed that parents are very familiar with the con-
cept and the use of probiotics. This is evident through children’s daily probiotic
consumption in the preschool period through probiotic foods or supplements.
Some parents begin with the use of probiotics even before a preschool period,
during pregnancy and shortly after birth of a child. Consumption of probiot-
ics is often associated with different health conditions, and our results show
the gut microbiota, and this is one of the reasons to devote enough attention
to this period. Gut microbiota can be strengthened by the daily intake of pro-
biotics that have a beneficial effect on the host’s health when consumed in suf-
ficient concentrations (Hashemi et al., 2016). Most children attend kindergar-
ten or other forms of child care where they are often exposed to the daily risk
of contagious infectious diseases. Probiotics can offer a number of potential
health benefits primarily by maintaining the balance and composition of the
gut microbiota. Therefore, probiotics are often used therapeutically, in cases
such as, relieving constipation, preventing and treating childhood diarrhea,
upper respiratory infections, irritable bowel syndrome, and preventing food
allergies and atopic diseases (Ranadheera et al., 2010; Tripathi and Giri, 2014).
Antibiotics are the most common drugs prescribed to children (Vangay et al.,
2015) resulting in diarrhea as a most common side effect of antibiotic treatment
(Mizock, 2015). Our results show that parents often administrated the probiot-
ics for the first time with the aim to maintain or improve the health condition
of their children, as in the case of antibiotic treatment, digestive problems, al-
lergies and infantile colic. The results also show that probiotics are frequent-
ly added during health conditions such as diarrhea (44.1 %), antibiotic treat-
ment (42.1 %) and constipation (35.4 %). Parents also report the changes they
observed after the use of probiotics, such as changed stool texture (23.3 %), con-
stipation relief (16.3 %), reduced bloating (13.9 %), reduced gas (10.2 %), and re-
duced frequency of diarrhea (6.9 %).
Initially, the probiotics are often administrated to child with dairy prod-
ucts that are considered as ideal vector of probiotic delivery into the digestive
tract (Ranadheera et al., 2010). However, not only dairy products contain pro-
biotics, we can find probiotics in fermented foods such as pickles, sauerkraut
and sour turnip (Beganović at el., 2014). Our results show that the most com-
mon source of probiotics in children is through probiotic foods (36.7 %). Nev-
ertheless, there is a growing trend in the use of probiotic supplements, such as
powders and capsules (Ranadheera et al., 2010).
In order for probiotics to be effective, they must be consumed at least
daily, to have the ability to colonize the gut and have a benefit for the host
(Binns and Lee, 2010). Our results show that children consume daily on aver-
age 141.7 ml/day of liquid probiotic and 18.4 g/day of solid probiotic foods. This
is achieved by combining various probiotic foods.
Conclusions
The results of our study showed that parents are very familiar with the con-
cept and the use of probiotics. This is evident through children’s daily probiotic
consumption in the preschool period through probiotic foods or supplements.
Some parents begin with the use of probiotics even before a preschool period,
during pregnancy and shortly after birth of a child. Consumption of probiot-
ics is often associated with different health conditions, and our results show
