SUMMARY OF NEW FINDINGS

OF DOCTORAL THESIS

Topic name: " Effectiveness of Lactobacillus casei  Shirota  on nutritional status, digestion and acute respiratory infections in children 3-5 years old in  4  communes of  Thanh Hoa province "  

Code : 9720401;  Major : Nutrition                         

PhD student :     Pham Thi Thu

Scientific supervisor : 1. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Sang

                   2. Associate Professor, Dr. Truong Tuyet Mai

Training facility : Institute of Nutrition

New conclusions of the thesis:

Malnutrition is a serious public health problem worldwide, mainly occurring in Africa and Asia. Malnutrition in children under 5 years old not only slows down their physical and mental development but also increases the risk of acute respiratory infections, diarrhea or prolonged constipation, creating a vicious cycle that affects the growth and development of children, even leading to death.

One of the methods to support the treatment of constipation, diarrhea, enhance the body's resistance and bring long-term effectiveness is to use probiotics.  Lactobacillus casei  Shirota is a beneficial bacteria strain that has been researched and used in Japan since 1935.  Lactobacillus casei  Shirota has been researched for its effectiveness related to nutritional status, digestion, constipation and acute respiratory infections to provide scientific and practical bases to contribute to improving health and reducing the rate of malnutrition in children.

A controlled community intervention study, with close supervision by a supervisor, with families of children in the intervention group encouraged to use 1 box of product containing 6.5 billion  Lactobacillus casei  Shirota (65ml/box) daily for 12 weeks in addition to their normal diet at home and daycare.

This is the first domestic project to determine the nutritional status, digestion and acute respiratory infections in children aged 3-5 years in 4 communes of Thanh Hoa province in 2017 with the rates of underweight, stunting and wasting being 11.2%; 15.7% and 2.0% respectively. The project has demonstrated the effectiveness of  Lactobacillus casei  Shirota on the incidence of constipation in children aged 3-5 years after 12 weeks of intervention, in the intervention group the incidence of constipation was significantly lower than in the control group (1.3% compared to 10.4%). The results of the research also showed the effectiveness of  Lactobacillus casei  Shirota in improving constipation in children aged 3 to 5 years with functional constipation.

Download Thesis (Full text) and Thesis (Abstract) at the following links:

Thesis (Full text)

Thesis (Abstract)