A major clinical trial examining the potential to address clinical parameters of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) among infants was published today in Science Translational Medicine. The study was selected as the cover article in this issue.
The researchers found that infants with SAM had lower levels of a key infant gut microbe, B. infantis. Probiotic supplementation with this organism using a well characterized strain of the organism, improved weight gain and reduced inflammation among infants with SAM.
The work represents a large collaborative effort between researchers at Washington University in St Louis, the International Centre For Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, the University of Nevada Reno, the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, and Evolve Biosystems, Inc (Davis, CA). The study was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation, Evolve Biosystems, and the National Institutes of Health.
Many thanks to the patients and their families, the clinical study staff, and the researchers who made this important finding!
The Frese Lab 