Probiotics and prebiotics, alongside foundational lifestyle factors, can provide support for a healthy microbial ecosystem.
Over the past decade, research has illuminated the significant role of the microbiome in a developing child and how factors like diet, exercise, environment, use of antibiotics, sleep, and hygiene can impact critical windows of development and inform their systemic health through adulthood. Alongside these factors, probiotics for adults, adolescents, and children have tremendous potential to modulate and support one’s health. Still, appropriate skepticism and confusion remain due to the plethora of unvalidated benefits marketed today.
The best solution for you and your child depends on what benefits you’re looking for. While it’s true that today, most parents and caregivers are looking for a probiotic to support (or optimize) gastrointestinal function and digestive health, it’s important to first identify that probiotics are a science and that specific strains are studied for specific outcomes, even within those areas of impact. For example, certain strains have been studied in children to impact antibiotic-associated diarrhea, whereas others have been studied to support bowel movement frequency and ease of pooping. With approximately 11% of young children experiencing antibiotic-associated diarrhea, up to 29% of the pediatric population worldwide classified as clinically constipated, and 50% of children with constipation still having problems after 5 years of treatment, along with countless other children simply experiencing anxiety or strain related to pooping, there are millions of children on Earth who can benefit from the digestive and GI impact of clinically validated probiotics.
But as the field of probiotics has advanced alongside our understanding of the critical role that the microbiome plays in a child’s developing immune and systemic health, we can now look to probiotics for benefits beyond digestion, especially the specific strains studied to support gut-immune function, gut barrier integrity, and even respiratory and skin health.
An additional consideration is that our modern living practices and daily choices—such as more time spent indoors (and away from natural environments), poor diet, lack of fiber, antibiotic overuse, and other environmental factors—can disrupt the microbiome, especially in critical windows of development for children. For these reasons, and alongside critical levers like diet and nutrition, specific probiotics can be an impactful way to nurture and support your child’s microbiome and systemic health beyond digestion.
PDS-08™ Pediatric Daily Synbiotic is formulated with probiotic strains that have been clinically studied to support gastrointestinal health, gut barrier integrity, gut-immune function, dermatological health, and respiratory health.