Prebiotics for reducing the risk of obesity later in life
The invention proposes a nutritional composition comprising selected oligosaccharides that reduces the abundance of Streptococcus bacteria in the gut of infants or young mammals. The infants are preferably infants in needs presenting a relatively high count of Streptococcus . Ultimately the reduction of streptococcus and the related microbiota balance affects and lowers the risk of adiposity or obesity later in life.
1. A method for reducing a count of Streptococcus bacteria in the gut in a formula-fed infant having a higher than average risk of developing a condition later in life selected from the group consisting of excessive adiposity, overweight and obesity, the method comprising administering a synthetic nutritional composition comprising prebiotic oligosaccharides to the infant, wherein the prebiotic oligosaccharides comprise N-acetylated oligosaccharides, Sialylated oligosaccharides, and Galacto-oligosaccharides,
wherein the infant to whom the synthetic nutritional composition is administered has a count of Streptococcus bacteria in the gut, before the administering of the synthetic nutritional composition, that is at least 10% higher than the average count of Streptococcus bacteria in healthy vaginally-born breast fed infants of the same age,
wherein the N-acetylated oligosaccharides are 0.0015 to 0.005 g/100 kcal of the synthetic nutritional composition, the Galacto-oligosaccharides are 0.70 to 1.5 g/100 kcal of the synthetic nutritional composition, and the Sialylated oligosaccharides are 0.0045 to 0.0085 g/100 kcal of the synthetic nutritional composition.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the reduction of the count of Streptococcus bacteria in the gut is a reduction of at least 20% with respect to the average abundance observed in the same population of infants before taking said composition.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the count of Streptococcus bacteria in the gut of the infant before the administering of the synthetic nutritional composition to the infant is at least 30% higher than the average count of Streptococcus bacteria in a population of healthy vaginally-born breast-fed infants of the same age.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the infant was born by C-section.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the synthetic nutritional composition is administered to the infant in an amount effective to reduce a risk of obesity later in life as characterized by an BMI index of 30 or more at the age of 18.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the synthetic nutritional composition comprises a probiotic further enhancing the reduction of the count of streptococcus bacteria in the gut.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the probiotic is selected from the group consisting of: Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium lactis, Bifidobacterium animalis, Bifidobacterium breve, Bifidobacterium infantis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus paracasei, Lactobacillus johnsonii, Lactobacillus salivarius , and combinations thereof.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the synthetic nutritional composition comprises a protein source, a lipid source, and a carbohydrate source, the carbohydrate source comprising lactose or maltodextrin or a combination thereof.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the protein source is selected from the group consisting of hydrolysed proteins, extensively hydrolysed proteins, sweet whey, modified sweet whey with low cGMP, milk-derived proteins with a whey:casein ratio of 60:40 to 100:0, and combinations thereof.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the synthetic nutritional composition has a formulation selected from the group consisting of (i) a dry powder comprising at least 1 g of the oligosaccharides/100 kcal of the dry powder and (ii) a ready to drink liquid comprising at least 1 g of the oligosaccharides/100 ml of the ready to drink liquid.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein the synthetic nutritional composition is administered to the infant during a time period comprising the first four weeks of life of the infant and provides at least 50% of the total caloric intake of the infant during the time period.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein the synthetic nutritional composition is administered to the infant during a time period comprising the first six months of life of the infant and provides at least 90% of the total caloric intake of the infant during the time period.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein the count of Streptococcus bacteria in the gut of the infant before the administering of the synthetic nutritional composition to the infant is at least 50% higher than the average count of Streptococcus bacteria in a population of healthy vaginally-born breast-fed infants of the same age.
14. The method of claim 6 wherein the synthetic nutritional composition comprises between 10 5 and 10 12 cfu of the probiotic per gram of the synthetic nutritional composition.
15. The method of claim 1 wherein the prebiotic oligosaccharides consist of the N-acetylated oligosaccharides, the Galacto-oligosaccharides and the Sialylated oligosaccharides.
16. The method of claim 6 wherein the synthetic nutritional composition comprises between 10 6 and 10 8 cfu of the probiotic per gram of the synthetic nutritional composition.
17. The method of claim 6 wherein the synthetic nutritional composition comprises between 10 5 and 10 6 cfu of the probiotic per gram of the synthetic nutritional composition.