Probiotics can restore gut microbiome in breastfed infants, study shows (B. infantis)

Medical Xpress / American Society for Microbiology / mSphere ^ | Dec. 22, 2025 | Jennifer Smilowitz, Ph.D. et al

[ConservativeMind]

In recent years, scientists have learned that the key beneficial infant gut bacteria Bifidobacterium infantis are disappearing from infants. A new study finds that supplementing exclusively breastfed infants with a probiotic, B. infantis EVC001, between 2 and 4 months of age can successfully restore beneficial bacteria in their gut.

A healthy early-life gut microbiome is linked to gut health, immune education and development, and overall infant health. Unlike many probiotics, B. infantis is uniquely adapted to thrive on human milk oligosaccharides, the natural sugars found in breast milk, allowing it to persist rather than simply pass through the gut.

The researchers conducted the REMEDI study to test whether the benefits they had previously observed in a study on newborns fed B. infantis alongside human milk could be replicated in older, exclusively breastfed infants with more established gut microbiomes that could potentially be resistant to changes.

The researchers tested how different doses of the B. infantis probiotic (high, medium and low, as well as a placebo) impacted the gut bacteria of exclusively breastfed infants. The infants provided stool samples before, during and after taking the supplement, and the researchers analyzed these to see how their microbiomes responded.

The researchers tested whether lower doses of B. infantis, which are commercially available, produced similar effects as the newborn study which used a high dose of the B. infantis probiotic.

The researchers found that B. infantis could successfully increase beneficial gut bacteria in older, exclusively breastfed infants, even after the newborn period. All doses tested worked, and the beneficial bacteria remained present even after supplementation stopped.

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TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: babies; gitract; gut; infants; probiotics

[ConservativeMind]

B. infantis EVC001 is available in multiple probiotics available for newborns.

It is one found in colic formulations. Do note it appears to need human breastmilk.

[ConservativeMind]

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[metmom]

The infants provided stool samples before, during and after taking the supplement, and the researchers analyzed these to see how their microbiomes responded.

They did, eh? How thoughtful of them.

Did they collect the samples from their diapers themselves and turn them in?

Honestly, the way some articles are written is ludicrous.