Healthy Infants

This is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled nutritional study aimed at investigating growth, tolerance, and functional biomarkers in healthy infants receiving dietary supplements from birth to 2.5 months of age

This is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled nutritional study of healthy term infants. The primary objective of the trial is to demonstrate a favorable change in fecal microbiome composition in infants receiving a dietary supplement compared to infants receiving a placebo supplement.

The probiotics Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BLa80 and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus LRa05 have potential to enhance infant health and development based on previous research conducted on human infants. Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BLa80 was isolated from healthy breast milk samples. Ten clinical studies have been conducted using this strain, including randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, involving over 700 clinical subjects, adults and children. Based on the results from these studies, functional benefits associated with ingestion of this probiotic include relief of diarrhea, relief of constipation, improved sleep quality, resistance to H. pylori infection, modulation of gut microbiota, promotion of infant growth and development, gestational diabetes management and emotional management. Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus LRa05 was isolated from healthy baby faeces. Six clinical studies have been conducted, involving randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies using this strain, involving over 500 clinical subjects. Based on the results from these studies, functional benefits associated with ingestion of this probiotic include relief of diarrhea, relief of eczema, resistance to H. pylori infection, modulation of gut microbiota, promotion of infant growth and development, and gestational diabetes management. This proposal describes a three-year collaboration with APC Microbiome Ireland, INFANT Research Centre and WeCare to conduct clinical studies to investigate the effects of probiotics (Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BLa80 and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus LRa050), compared to a placebo, on the growth of infants and toddlers and the development of their gut microbiota. The focus of this study is on infant growth and gut microbiota development in infants up to 6 months old.

This study aims to demonstrate that a dietary supplement, which contains two strains of the probiotic L. reuteri is safe, well tolerated and able to reduce the incidence of colic and excessive crying/fussiness in healthy infants. Additionally, the study aims to investigate if children with this probiotic supplement have better stool characteristics and a more beneficial composition of the fecal and skin flora than children given a placebo during the first 3 months of life.

This is a randomized, controlled, double-blind, intervention trial of healthy male and female term infants to evaluate the efficacy of the 2 HMOs on beneficially modulating the gut microbiota, gut maturation, gut barrier integrity, immune response, and other developmental outcomes in healthy Chinese infants. The trial consists of 2 randomized formula-fed groups, and a non-randomized breastfed reference group.

The aim of this study is to investigate potential health benefits of the experimental formula. The main objective is whether the experimental formula elevates the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium in stool samples after 10 weeks, as compared a standard formula, aka control formula. In addition other markers of gut health, such as stool characteristics, and gut health symptoms will be monitored

The BABIES II study is a single-center, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study in newborns with an 8½ months intervention period from 14 days of age to 9 months of age followed by a 3-months short-term follow-up period until 1 year of age and a possible long-term follow-up until 18 years of age. The study will evaluate the effect of supplementation with a probiotic strain on different health outcomes.

Breastfeeding is recommended for babies from birth to six months old because breast milk provides all the nutrients babies need for growth and development. Breast milk contains sugars called oligosaccharides, which support the development of a healthy gut in babies. The foods that breastfeeding mothers eat might influence the sugars in their breast milk and the natural, friendly bacteria inside their babies' gut-called the gut microbiota-which are important for overall health. Fibre-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and nuts, as well as fermented foods like yogurt and milk kefir, support a healthy gut. The main aim of this study is to find out whether eating foods rich in fibre and fermented foods by breastfeeding mothers can affect the bacteria residing in the gut of their breastfed babies. The study will also explore how this diet affects the mother's gut microbiota, breast milk composition, and gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms for both mothers and babies. The main question of the study is: Does a 2-week diet high in fibre and fermented foods consumed by breastfeeding mothers affect the gut microbiota of their breastfed babies aged 2 to 5 months, compared to mothers following their habitual diet? Participants will: * Be randomly assigned to one of two groups: (1) one group will follow a specific diet high in fibre and fermented foods (25 g of fibre/day + 3 servings of fermented foods/day) in addition to their habitual diet, or (2) the second group will continue with their habitual diet (no specific foods will be provided) (16 g of fibre/day). * Attend a single study visit at the study location. * Provide body measurements (weight and height) of mothers and babies at the. study visit, and provide weight only during each home visit. * Complete gut health questionnaires for both mothers and babies twice during the study. * Complete two sets of 3-day, 24-hour dietary recalls during the study. * Provide stool samples (3 from babies and 2 from mothers) and 2 breast milk samples. Researchers will then compare the stool samples from both mothers and babies to see whether the specific diet makes any difference to the gut microbiota.

The BABIES study is a single-center, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study in newborns with a 4-week intervention period from birth to 28 days of life followed by a 2-week follow-up period (Figure 1). The study will evaluate the seeding ability of supplementation with a probiotic strain. The aim is to investigate the recovery and engraftment of the probiotic strain in infant fecal samples after 4 weeks supplementation using a strain specific quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR).

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn how a mixture of human milk oligosaccharides impacts the development of the infant microbiota, the immune maturation and how the interaction between the microbiota and immune maturation may impact both short and long term health of the infant. The participants will: * Consume the investigational products (active/placebo) for 6 months * Legal guardians/parents to the participant to collect stool samples from the diapers at home * Legal guardians/parents to the participant to report gastrointestinal symptoms, signs of infections in an electronic questionnaire * Visit the clinic for checkups and dried blood sample collection For reference, a group of breastfed infants will be included. They will undergo the same procedures apart from consuming the investigational product (active/placebo). 230 participants (115 in each intervention arm) will be randomized to an intervention and 104 participants will be recruited for the reference group, giving a total sample size of 334 participants. The intervention trial will be reported in two steps, first step covering the intervention phase from birth to 6 months; and step two includes both the intervention phase (0-6 months) and the follow-up period from 6-12 months. Informed consents for the possibility to preform long-term follow-up will be obtained.