Effectiveness and Safety of a Probiotic-Mixture for the Treatment of Infantile Colic: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial with Fecal Real-Time PCR and NMR-Based Metabolomics Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: To investigate the effectiveness and the safety of a probiotic-mixture (Vivomixx® , Visbiome® , DeSimone Formulation® ; Danisco-DuPont, Madison, WI, USA) for the treatment of infantile colic in breastfed infants, compared with a placebo.

METHODS: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in exclusively breastfed infants with colic, randomly assigned to receive a probiotic-mixture or a placebo for 21 days. A structured diary of gastrointestinal events of the infants was given to the parents to complete. Samples of feces were also collected to evaluate microbial content and metabolome using fecal real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based analysis. Study registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01869426).

RESULTS: Fifty-three exclusively-breastfed infants completed three weeks of treatment with a probiotic-mixture ( n = 27) or a placebo ( n = 26). Infants receiving the probiotic-mixture had less minutes of crying per day throughout the study by the end of treatment period (68.4 min/day vs. 98.7 min/day; p = 0.001). A higher rate of infants from the probiotic-mixture group responded to treatment (defined by reduction of crying times of ≥50% from baseline), on day 14, 12 vs. 5 ( p = 0.04) and on day 21, 26 vs. 17 ( p = 0.001). A higher quality of life, assessed by a 10-cm visual analogue scale, was reported by parents of the probiotic-mixture group on day 14, 7.1 ± 1.2 vs. 7.7 ± 0.9 ( p = 0.02); and on day 21, 6.7 ± 1.6 vs. 5.9 ± 1.0 ( p = 0.001). No differences between groups were found regarding anthropometric data, bowel movements, stool consistency or microbiota composition. Probiotics were found to affect the fecal molecular profile. No adverse events were reported.

CONCLUSIONS: Administration of a probiotic-mixture appears safe and reduces inconsolable crying in exclusively breastfed infants.