Protexin considers long-term kids’ health research on synbiotics

The baby colic research – published in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health​ – was independently conducted by researchers in Australia and Iran. Findings of the randomized, double-blind trial suggested Bio-Kult Infantis “significantly improved” ​colic symptoms such as crying time and remedied colic faster than the placebo.

Speaking to NutraIngredients about the findings, Protexin’s medical advisor Dr Mayur Joshi said the findings came as a pleasant surprise to the company.

“It’s pleasing because now we have an area - a basis - to do a bit more research if we want to,”​ he said.

Joshi said the company was in discussions about how it could push forward in light of the published trial. “What I would want to do follows two lines. One is taking the research down the lines of incidences and looking at prevention, perhaps taking it during pregnancy and then giving it to a new-born, for example. And another direction is looking at more long-term studies.”​

Research longer than the 30-day trial on baby colic, and on a larger scale, would enable the company to identify a mean difference in the time of recovery in babies treated with the synbiotic, rather than simply resolution numbers, he said.

“Something along those lines would then take the results forward into a larger trial… We’re not a massive pharma company, so we don’t have a huge research budget but it’s something we’re discussing.”​

Research beyond baby colic…​

However, Joshi said if Protexin did go ahead with larger, long-term research, the focus would be more far-reaching than baby colic.

“Because it’s [Bio-Kult Infantis] based on an older product, we know it’s got efficacy in different areas, but we want to show it in this product,”​ he said.

However, Protexin would limit its focus to gut health in children, he said. Acute diarrhoea or infections, for example, could be research areas.

“Probiotics are associated with gut health, so that’s the area I want to make sure we build up our data on and be really robust in.”​

The power of synbiotics?​

Asked if synbiotics held more promise in colic treatment than single probiotic strains, Joshi said: “Broadly speaking, a multi-strain can be used for more general things, like colic… But with synbiotics and the inclusion of prebiotics, I would say it is product or mixture specific. Just because this synbiotic has had a good effect doesn’t mean you can’t have a probiotic-only product that can’t have an effect.”​

However, going forward Protexin would be looking closer about specific strains of prebiotics used in conjunction with probiotics, he said.

The full research on Bio-Kult Infantis used in baby colic management can be found below.

Source: Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health​​
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1111/jpc.12640
“Synbiotic in the management of infantile colic: A randomized controlled trial”​
Authors: H. Kianifar, H. Ahanchian, Z. Grover, S. Jafari, Z. Noorbakhsh, A. Khakshour, M. Sedaghat and M. Kiani