Regular Consumption of Fortified Growing-up Milk Attenuates Upper Respiratory Tract Infection among Young Children in Indonesia: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Introduction
A Growing-up Milk (GUM) supplemented with short-chain Galacto-oligosaccharides (scGOS), long-chain Fructo-oligosaccharides (lcFOS), and omega-3 Long-chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (n-3 LCPUFAs) could support the development of the immune system to prevent the Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (URTI) and associated morbidities. It is of interest to assess whether a daily consumption of scGOS/lcFOS/n-3 LCPUFAs-fortified GUM for a minimum of 6 months reduces URTI incidences within the subsequent 3 months among young children in Indonesia.

Methods
A total of 154 children aged 18 to 36 months were recruited in this retrospective cohort study and categorized into exposed and non-exposed groups (78 and 76 children, respectively). A guided interview was conducted with each subject’s parent. Demographic and clinical information was collected, including incidence of URTI within the past three months, duration of URTI, as well as the frequency of medical visits when contracting URTI. The bivariate analysis via chi-square test as well as the multivariate analysis via binary logistic regression were performed.

Results
The overall characteristics were similar between groups with certain distinctions. The bivariate analysis indicated the exposed group to have better protection against URTI within the past 3 months as compared to the non-exposed group (RR=0.62; 95% CI=0.41-0.92; P<0.05). The multivariate analysis reinforced the finding by reporting that the exposed group was indeed protected against URTI (adjusted RR=0.42; 95% CI=0.21-0.85; P<0.05).

Conclusion
A routine consumption of scGOS/lcFOS/n-3 LCPUFAs-fortified GUM for a minimum of 6 months among Indonesian young children protected against URTI up to 58%, suggesting that fortified GUM consumption supports proper development of the immune system.