Characteristics of Prebiotics-Induced Effects on Diarrhea in Children

Diarrhea is one of the top five causes of morbidity and mortality in children. Disturbances in the gut microbiota are considered to be the most important risk factor for diarrhea. Prebiotics have been shown to treat diarrhea by regulating the balance of the gut microbiota in vivo. In this study, we used an in vitro fermentation system to avoid the interference of host-gut microbial interactions during in vivo studies to investigate the effect of fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) on the composition and metabolism of gut microbiota in 40 pediatric diarrhea patients.