SynthesisNutrients2022
Health Effects of Infant Formula Supplemented with Probiotics or Synbiotics in Infants and Toddlers: Systematic Review with Network Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Nutrients, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effectiveness and safety study of formula containing probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics on fullterm infants' growth - a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled study.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- The effects of prebiotic, probiotic or synbiotic supplementation on overweight/obesity indicators: an umbrella review of the trials' meta-analyses.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Pooled it
- Lactobacillus acidophilus for infant colic and microbiota modulation: a randomized clinical trial.BMC pediatrics · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Can Bifidobacterium infantis M-63 reshape the weaning gut?Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Bioactive-Supplemented Infant Formulas and Early Gut-Immune-Endocrine Development: A Narrative Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Production and functional applications of fructooligosaccharides and their core bioactive components.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Review
- Programming the Infant Gut: How Maternal and Early Life Nutrition Shape the Infant Microbiome and Long-term Health-A Narrative Review.Molecular nutrition & food research · 2026Review
- Beyond breastfeeding: a One Health Decalogue for nurturing the infant microbiota.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Microbiota-Modulating Strategies in Neonates Undergoing Surgery for Congenital Gastrointestinal Conditions: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Infants < 90 days of age with late-onset sepsis display disturbances of the microbiome-immunity interplay.Infection · 2025Article
- The Impact of Probiotic Supplementation on the Development of the Infant Gut Microbiota: An Exploratory Follow-Up of a Randomised Controlled Trial.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Evaluation of Faecal Microbiota Following Probiotics in Infants of Mothers with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Trial: Protocol for Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Randomized Trial.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Global Research Trends in Childhood Asthma and the Microbiome: A Bibliometric Analysis of 2000 to 2024.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025Article
- Life at the borderlands: microbiomes of interfaces critical to One Health.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2024Review
- Acute Infectious Diarrhea.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Supplementation of infant and follow-up formula with probiotics or synbiotics has become a common practice. In 2011 and 2017, the evidence regarding the impact of these interventions was analysed systematically. Recently new evidence was published. To evaluate through a systematic review with network meta-analysis the evidence on the impact of infant formula supplemented with probiotics or synbiotics for healthy infants and 36-month-old toddlers. RCTs published between 1999-2019 for infant formulas supplemented with probiotics alone or synbiotics in healthy infants and toddlers were identified. Data analysis included clinical (gastrointestinal symptoms, risk reduction of infectious diseases, use of antibiotics, weight/height gain and frequency of adverse events) and non-clinical outcomes (changes in faecal microbiota and immune parameters). A random effect model was used. Hedges' standard mean difference (SMD) and risk ratio (RR) were calculated. Rank analysis was performed to evaluate the superiority of each intervention. Twenty-six randomised controlled trials with 35 direct comparisons involving 1957 children receiving probiotic-supplemented formula and 1898 receiving control formula were reviewed. The mean duration of intervention was 5.6 ± 2.84 months. Certain strains demonstrated a reduction in episodes of colic, number of days with fever and use of antibiotics; however, there was considerable heterogeneity which reduced the level of certainty of effect. No significant effects were observed on weight, height or changes in faecal proportions of
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.