{"id":590979,"date":"2026-09-05T12:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T12:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/590979\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T12:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T12:36:13","slug":"researchers-trial-gut-boosting-liquid-to-combat-antibiotic-over-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/590979\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers trial gut-boosting liquid to combat antibiotic over-use"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New Zealand clinical trial is testing whether a naturally occurring sugar found in breast milk could protect toddlers’ developing gut microbiomes when antibiotics are needed.<\/p>\n

A recent study <\/a>examined Stats NZ data from 2005 – 2010, and showed 96% of Kiwi children had been given at least one dose of antibiotics by age five. <\/p>\n

“What is tells us is that there is almost certainly a large degree of over prescribing,” said Massey University Professor of Public Health Jeroen Douwes. <\/p>\n

That can lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria forming, which Douwes said over a million people die from each year. <\/p>\n

The study aimed to\u00a0establish\u00a0whether giving toddlers human milk oligos alongside antibiotics would protect them from later obesity,\u00a0asthma\u00a0and eczema.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

The study conducted by Massey and Otago University also examined a potential link to other health conditions like type 1 diabetes. <\/p>\n

Other research<\/a> has explored links to asthma, eczema and inflammatory bowel disease which can be influenced by the gut microbiome. <\/p>\n

Babies are born without a gut microbiome and it develops over the first three years of life. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A recent study examined Stats NZ data from 2005 – 2010, it showed 96% of Kiwi Kids has been given at least one dose of antibiotics by age five. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

In the first trial of its kind, researchers at the Liggins Institute in Auckland were giving toddlers a complex sugar called human milk oligosaccharides, or HMOs. <\/p>\n

The complex sugars were naturally occurring in breast milk. <\/p>\n

Wayne Cutfield was leading the study, and said HMOs are far stronger than a probiotic. <\/p>\n

\"Professor<\/p>\n

Professor Wayne Cutfield is leading the Liggins Institute OAK Study. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

“It’s not food for the baby, but it’s super food for the developing gut and it feeds the developing gut microbiome.”<\/p>\n

Over 40 Auckland families have signed up to be part of the randomised trial, and would either receive the HMOs or a placebo to take alongside any antibiotics prescribed between one to two years of age. <\/p>\n

Auckland mother Nicole Sheary said enrolling her 18-month-old daughter Rosemary in the trial was a no-brainer. <\/p>\n

“The benefits outweigh the risks so there’s a lot of support, they’re very lovely, they help you all through it,” she told 1News. <\/p>\n

Stool samples were collected to see how the gut would respond, and researchers were optimistic the trial had huge potential to reduce the risk of other health conditions. <\/p>\n

Liggins Institute urged other wh\u0101nau to sign up, with findings to be tracked over the next two years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New Zealand clinical trial is testing whether a naturally occurring sugar found in breast milk could protect…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[134,111,43,139,69,147],"class_list":["post-590979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}