Functional Foods For Babies: What Are They? They Are Useful?
Functional foods are foods that, regardless of their nutritional value, exert positive effects on health by improving or reducing the risk of disease. There are certain functional foods intended for the infant population. Find out what functional foods are for babies and what effects they have on their health.
What are functional foods for babies?
A functional food can be:
- A natural food.
- A food to which a component has been added or removed by technology or biotechnology.
- In which the nature of one or more components has been varied.
- A product in which the bioavailability of one or more elements has been changed.
- Any combination of the above options.
In this group of functional foods there are probiotics and prebiotics, the most present in infant nutrition. These two groups of nutrients modify the intestinal flora with positive effects on the baby’s health.
There is also a combination of probiotics and prebiotics, and symbiotics are an example of this. All of these stimulate the selective growth of a limited number of bacteria in the colon.
Probiotics
This group includes live microorganisms (bacteria and yeasts) which exert positive effects on health. They are present in foods such as yogurt, other fermented dairy products, or even fermented meat products.
The most commonly used microorganisms are lactic acid bacteria ( Lactobacillus, Streptococcus and Bifidobacterium ). The mechanisms on which they have positive effects are:
- Improved colon microbiota balance and prevention of rotavirus diarrhea in infants.
- Competence with pathogenic microorganisms thanks to receptors and assemblage points.
- Production of cytokines (proteins capable of coordinating the response of the immune system).
- Increased response of secretory IgA.
There is currently a great deal of interest in demonstrating a relationship between probiotics and the following actions:
- The prevention and treatment of atopic eczema.
- Treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.
- The prevention of food allergies.
Yogurt
It is an excellent product to increase the intake of calcium and other nutrients, especially in infants and children with insufficient consumption of breast milk or formula.
Yogurt is a type of fermented milk, acidified and coagulated following the action of L. bulgaricus and Str. Thermophilus. The addition of Lactobacillus casei or other lactobacilli to yogurt seems to increase the fecal proportion of the same, underlying the positive effects on the baby’s health.
Formula milk supplemented with probiotics
On the market there are different types of formula milk for babies, which we can classify on the basis of the addition of prebiotics or probiotics, or both.
The European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) approves the addition of probiotics to the continuity formulas, but not to the initiation formulas, since they are different species than the intestinal flora of the child; following this, and due to the immature state of the newborn’s immune system, there are only formulas of continuity with the addition of probiotics.
Prebiotics among functional foods for children
Another group of functional foods for children is prebiotics. These are substances that are not digestible by humans and which, being part of food, can bring benefits by selective stimulation of the growth or activity of a group of intestinal bacteria.
Inulin and fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) are industrially derived from chicory, but are also present in wheat, onion, bananas, garlic and leeks. FOS play a decisive role in the development of the intestinal bacterial flora. Their fermentation in the colon produces short-chain fatty acids such as acetic, propionic and butyric acid:
- They are a source of energy for colonocytes, cells that form the epithelial tissue of the colon.
- They improve the bioavailability of calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron.
Infant formulas supplemented with prebiotics
Breast milk contains high amounts of complex galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) which act as natural prebiotics, promoting the development of bifidobacteria. There are therefore infant formulas with prebiotics to mimic the composition of breast milk.
The formulas with FOS and GOS favor the growth of the bifidobacteria and lactobacilli of the newborn, in the upper and lower part of the colon. Since flora development is different for each child, it is possible to include these nutrients in initiation, continuity and growth formulas.
