Probiotic Drink Cuts Infection Rates In Clinical Trial Among Young Schoolchildren

May 19, 2010: 05:16 AM EST

A clinical trial involving 638 healthy schoolchildren, ages three to six, found 19 percent fewer incidences of common infections among kids who consumed the yogurt-like drink DanActive (containing the probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei DN-114 001) each day for 90 consecutive days, compared to those fed a placebo without a probiotic. The DanActive drinkers had 24 percent fewer gastrointestinal infections, and 18 percent fewer upper respiratory tract infections. “Children in school or daycare are especially susceptible to these illnesses,” said one of the researchers, who acknowledged some “mixed results.” “We did find some differences in infection rates, but this did not translate to fewer missed school days or a change in daily activity.”

D Merenstein, M Murphy, et al. , "Use of a fermented dairy probiotic drink containing Lactobacillus casei (DN-114 001) to decrease the rate of illness in kids: the DRINK study A patient-oriented, double-blind, cluster-randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trial*", European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, May 19, 2010, © Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited.

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