YOGURT BEVERAGES AS A VEHICLE TO DELIVER HIGH DOSE PROBIOTICS AND PREVENT DAYCARE ABSENCES

This study is for healthy children between the ages of 2 and 4 who attend daycare/school 3-5 days a week. It is designed to determine the effectiveness of a cultured dairy drink supplemented with additional cultures (probiotics) in preventing common infectious diseases. The cultured dairy drink we will be studying will include the probiotic called Bifidobacterium lactis (BB-12) in addition to the cultures that are normally present in yogurt. We want to find out if consuming this cultured dairy drink will help decrease the children's illnesses and absences from school. Children will either receive the cultured dairy drink with BB-12 or a yogurt that does not contain BB-12. Both drinks will be strawberry flavored and provide similar protein, calcium, vitamins and minerals. If this study proves the probiotics supplemented cultured dairy drink to be effective, it will potentially bring tremendous health benefits to children not only in United States but in the world.