Prof Dr Yvan Vandenplas, Associate Editor of Nutrients, trained in medicine with specialty training in paediatrics at the Free University of Brussels. From the completion of his paediatric training in 1986, he moved seamlessly into an appointment in 1987 as head of the University Hospital Brussels unit for paediatric gastroenterology and nutrition. He served as Chair of Paediatrics there from 1994 to 2021.

When he stepped down from that position, what had marked every other caesura in his professional life occurred once again: he was simply too good to let wander away. He now serves as consultant and emeritus professor within the same complex of institutions in which he has spent fifty highly productive years.

Prof Vandenplas has led the recent work of the ESPGHAN Special Interest Group on Gut Microbiota and Modifications, addressing the supplementation of infant formula with biotics, including prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics, synbiotics, and manufactured human milk oligosaccharides. These efforts have resulted in a series of technical reviews and recommendations that are poised to serve as practical clinical guidelines; the bibliographic list appears below.

He challenges listeners: with this literature as your guide, would you recommend adding “biotics” to infant formula—and why or why not? Which biotics would you choose? And with regard to human milk oligosaccharides, do you believe a “more-is-better” shotgun approach is preferable, or should specific oligosaccharides be selected and modified to address allergy risk or to mirror shifts in breast milk composition as the infant ages?

In short, the future is already here, and caregivers would do well to keep pace.

Titles

Recommendations on the Health Outcomes of Infant Formula Supplemented with Bioticsby the European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) Special Interest Group on Gut Microbiota and Modifications

Technical Review by the ESPGHAN Special Interest Group on Gut Microbiota and Modifications on the Health Outcomes of Infant Formula Supplemented with Postbiotics

Literature

Dinleyici EC et al. Technical review by the ESPGHAN special interest group on gut microbiota and modifications on the health outcomes of infant formula supplemented with probiotics. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2025 May 12. doi: 10.1002/jpn3.70068. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40356343.

Hojsak I et al. Technical review by the ESPGHAN special interest group on gut microbiota and modifications on the health outcomes of infant formula supplemented with manufactured human milk oligosaccharides. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2025 Mar 24. doi: 10.1002/jpn3.70032. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40123480.

Mihatsch W et al. Technical review by the ESPGHAN special interest group on gut microbiota and modifications on the health outcomes of infant formula supplemented with prebiotics. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2025 May 19. doi: 10.1002/jpn3.70064. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40384260.

Salvatore S et al. Technical review by the ESPGHAN special interest group on gut microbiota and modifications on the health outcomes of infant formula supplemented with synbiotics. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2025 Mar 21. doi: 10.1002/jpn3.70031. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40114538.

Dr. Vandenplas´s favourite song: Louis Neefs - Wat Een Leven

ESPGHAN favourite Songs can be found on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0YIHKjxITLEm9XNyHyypTo