Probiotics' Preventive Effect on Pediatric Food Allergy: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

ObjectiveTo investigate the preventive effect of probiotics on pediatric food allergy.MethodsFrom MEDLINE bibliographical database, we searched and reviewed all randomized controlled trials on the preventive effects of probiotics on pediatric food allergies up to September 2013 and excluded the studies that do not meet inclusion criteria and extracted the data. Meta-analysis for the results of homogenous studies was performed using RevMan 5.0 and the co-effect was pooled by using fixed-effects model of relative risk (RR) ratios.ResultsTen trials published between 2007 and 2012 including 2701 cases were included. Meta-analysis based on included data showed that the preventive effect of prenatal and postnatal probiotic supplementation on food allergies was not significant with the RR=0.88 (95% CI: 0.76-1.03).ConclusionPresent evidences cannot show in unequivocal terms that prenatal and postnatal probiotic supplementation will prevent food allergic diseases.