Strengthening the Immune System (The Body's Internal Battle: Immune Health)

Similarly, a randomized, controlled, double blind nutritional intervention study with parallel groups with a sample size of 104 women, found intake of milk fermented with L. casei during the lactation period modestly contributed to the modulation of the mother’s immunological response after delivery and decreased the incidence of gastrointestinal episodes in the breast-fed child.²⁰ After consuming the L. casei milk, reseachers observed a non-significant increase in T and B lymphocytes and a significant increase in NK cells. A decrease in the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha in maternal milk and fewer gastrointestinal disturbances were also observed in the breast-fed child of the mothers who consumed L. casei. Additionally, the probiotic strain L. casei CRL 431 demonstrated great activity on the immune cells and the enriched population in intestinal epithelial cells, activating mainly cells of the innate immune system in an Argentine study.²¹