Probiotics and mastitis: evidence-based marketing?
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COMMENTARY
Open Access
Probiotics and mastitis: evidence-based marketing? Lisa H. Amir1*, Laura Griffin2, Meabh Cullinane1 and Suzanne M. Garland3,4,5
Abstract Probiotics are defined as live micro-organisms, which when administered in adequate amounts, confer health benefits on the host. Scientists have isolated various strains of Lactobacilli from human milk (such as Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus salivarius), and the presence of these organisms is thought to be protective against breast infections, or mastitis. Trials of probiotics for treating mastitis in dairy cows have had mixed results: some successful and others unsuccessful. To date, only one trial of probiotics to treat mastitis in women and one trial to prevent mastitis have been published. Although trials of probiotics to prevent mastitis in breastfeeding women are still in progress, health professionals in Australia are receiving marketing of these products. High quality randomised controlled trials are needed to assess the effectiveness of probiotics for the prevention and/or treatment of mastitis. Keywords: Probiotics, Mastitis, Treatment, Microbiome
Background Human microbiome and probiotics
Over 100 trillion microbes live within our bodies (tenfold greater than there are host cells), and they are vital in maintaining our health [1]. The recent surge in research about the human microbiome has demonstrated the huge variability of organisms living on and within the human body. Concerns about the way that the human microbiome may be negatively affected by modern life – the direct relationship between courses of antibiotics in childhood and the risk of inflammatory bowel disease, for example [2] – have led to investigations into the role of “good bacteria” or probiotics to reduce our vulnerability to pathogenic organisms [3]. In the past, human milk was considered a sterile fluid, and any organisms identified in milk were considered skin contaminants [4]. Now we understand that mothers’ milk contains a vast array of organisms, although the roles of these organisms have yet to be clarified. Probiotics are defined as live micro-organisms, which when administered in adequate amounts, confer health benefits on the host [5]. A pertinent example is the use
of probiotics in very low birth weight preterm infants to reduce morbidity. In a large randomised blinded controlled Australian study using a probiotic mixture (Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis BB-02, Streptococcus thermophilus TH-4 and B. animalis subsp. lactis BB-12) fed orally until term corrected age or discharge from hospital, to infants
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