Probiotics -- live microorganisms similar to the healthy bacteria we have in our bodies -- are found in dietary supplements and some foods. Most children do not eat enough probiotic-rich foods to receive significant doses of probiotics to have an impact on the treatment or prevention of illness or to help balance a body compromised by antibiotics, according to pediatrician Joanna Dolgoff in her 2009 article, "A Pediatrician's Guide to Probiotics for Kids." To give their children a significant amount of probiotics, some parents turn to fortified foods or dietary supplements made especially for children.
Chewable
Chewable probiotic products are appropriate for children ages 2 and older. There are many available at health food and grocery stores and online, but you should check with your pediatrician before giving your child any medication, vitamins or supplements.
Buddy Bear natural probiotic chewables are orange flavored and provide 1 billion active cultures, including acidophilus and bifidus that help with digestive and immune health.
FloraBear for Kids is also orange-flavored and provides 1 billion live bifidobacteria and lactobacilli bacterial cultures to help children maintain intestinal and urinary tract bacterial balance. FloraBear also provides ifidobacteria infantis, to replenish a probiotic already in a healthy child's digestive tract.
Primadophilus for Kids are designed for children ages 2 to 12. They are chewable, cherry-flavored and contain a blend of bifidobacterium longum, lactobacillus acidophilus and L. rhamnosus.
Powder
Garden Of Life Primal Defense for Kids is a banana-flavored probiotic powder that helps to maintain normal bowel function and a healthy immune system by supporting absorption and assimilation of nutrients in the digestive tract and intestines. This product is meant for children 3 and older whose doctor recommends a probiotic.
Nature's Way Primadophilus for Children is a powder to be mixed in drinks or soft foods. It contains strains of freeze-dried microorganisms lactobacillus acidophilus, bifidobacterium longum, bifidobacterium infantis and lactobacillus rhamnosus.
On his "Ask Dr. Sears" website, Pediatrician William Sears recommends Culturelle Kids Packets, a dairy-free formula that contains no artificial coloring, preservatives, sucrose or corn syrup. This children's product contains the lactobacillus strain Lactobacillus GG, a probiotic studied in kids and found to be safe and effective for infants and children, according to a U.S. National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus report.
Other Forms
An active ingredient in Biogaia Probiotic Straws is Lactobacillus reuteri Protectis, known as an indigenous probiotic, because its natural habitat is the human body. Its 100 million live and active probiotic cells reinforce depleted good bacteria in a child's body. "The Wall Street Journal" online article "Bug Crazy: Assessing The Benefits of Probiotics" explains that BioGaia's dietary supplements in the straw are intended to be ingested with a juice such as the probiotic-rich Nestle's Boost Kid Essentials boxed dairy drink. The probiotic oil droplet inside the straw is released when liquid is sipped through the straw.
Yogurt and Other Food Products
Probiotics from both foods and pills can be effective as long as they have been tested and you know they provide high enough numbers of strains of bacteria to be beneficial. Foods claiming to be fortified with live probiotics include granola and granola bars, frozen yogurt, cereal, cookies, juice and gum.
Fermented dairy products such as yogurt and kefir naturally contain healthy bacteria, but the Live Active Culture Seal on yogurt does not specify the amounts of live probiotic bacteria. The 2006 article "Probiotics: Research is Promising, But Few Products Can Be Trusted" mentions two food products that received high ratings from Consumer Reports and Dr. Mary Ellen Sanders, president of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics and research professor at California Polytechnic State University. Dr. Sanders says DanActive yogurt drink and Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt may have suitable amounts of probiotic live cultures to be beneficial.
References
- Content For Reprint: A Pediatrician's Guide to Probiotics for Kids
- Ask Dr. Sears: Food Digestion
- Medline Plus: Lactobacillus
- Wall Street Journal Online: Bug Crazy: Assessing The Benefits of Probiotics
- US Probiotics: Are Probiotics Better When You Get Them From Foods or From Pills?
- Center for Medical Consumers: Probiotics: Research is Promising, But Few Products Can Be Trusted
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