Eczema… Wow do I loathe you! Since October is national Eczema awareness month I felt compelled to write about it. What is it? Clinically speaking, eczema, also called atopic dermatitis is an inflammatory skin condition which can cause irritation, rash, extreme itch, swelling and even oozing/crusting skin. As someone who suffered from it on an off essentially my whole life, I speak for many when I say it’s a condition which is debilitating- the make you want to hide in a cave, but also painful kind of feeling. We’re talking wearing long sleeves & pants, not wanting to go to the beach, or put your hair up type of life disturbance. I’ve had patients state they suffered sleep loss or even became insomniacs due to intense itching at night! Once the skin barrier is affected due to endless scratching and rubbing, it is left open to infection and changing of your skin’s delicate microbiome.
The big question I get a lot is “Can changing what I eat cure it?” Adverse reactions with foods can make up over 80% eczema cases and therefore finding out which food you react to can be key in healing eczema. Food is one of several triggers, but environmental factors, contact allergies, systemic (bodily) stress, and genes also may play roles in atopic dermatitis. Dysbiosis – an imbalance of microbes in the digestive system, can produce inflammatory markers and “endotoxins” which can lead to the permeable or “leaky” intestinal lining, allowing more intact proteins to cross our digestive tract, reacting with our immune system.
Our development and environment play large roles in our early commensal microbiome. Zhang et al. found in 2019 that children ages 6 months to 3 years of age with low Bifidobacterium were more likely to suffer from eczema than otherwise healthy children. This is one of many studies discussing specific imbalances within the normal human flora, potentially highlighting how altering our microbiome through what we eat, our environment, and even supplements may help improve the condition.
From a nutrition standpoint, enhancing digestion and absorption of essential fats, reducing likelihood of nutritional deficiencies, optimizing digestive health, eating whole, clean, organic foods is a start in healing from eczema. Common allergies include cow’s milk, gluten, eggs, soy, nuts and shellfish, but in reality it can be so many other foods causing issues. Aside from testing, elimination diets and identifying if your digestive health could be involved in triggering eczema may be helpful in your journey to heal or reduce flare ups. I speak from experience when I say this has been essential both personally as well as in my practice when working with patients who come wanting a more whole person, root cause analysis of their situation. If you need help navigating through your elimination diet, or would like to know about how I test my patients or programs offered to address dermatologic disorders, email me at Marissa@integrativenutritiontherapeutics.com for more information!
References:
- Lobionda, S et al. The Role of Gut Microbiota in Intestinal Inflammation with Respect to Diet and Extrinsic Stressors. Microorganisms 2019 Aug; 7(8): 271.
- Zhang, Yu et al. Variations in early gut microbiome are associated with childhood eczema. FEMS Microbiology Letters, Volume 366, Issue 9, May 2019
