Awareness of mothers regarding use of natural probiotics in school going healthy children's diet

Abstract

Probiotics are recently getting popular as immunity enhancers, and being investigated to treat acute infections, including gastroenteritis. Commonly used probiotics have been in practice for ancient periods. This study was thus conducted to evaluate the knowledge of mothers of school-going children regarding the use of probiotics in their children's diet. Our results showed that 23% of women were aware of probiotics and their health benefits out of 200 women surveyed, while 16% had never heard of probiotics. However great majority were taking probiotic-rich food, including yogurt, buttermilk, and cheese, in their diet. The knowledge of the use of probiotics in mothers was significantly associated with mothers' level of education. We conclude that there is limited knowledge of probiotics and their health benefits in mothers, but given the anecdotal evidence and inherited dietary patterns, probiotics are part of the daily diet of the school-going children in our study population.