Eczema is described as a common skin inflammation. Its symptoms are redness, itching, small blisters, and a fluid discharge that dries into scales and crusts. It is not a disease unto itself, but a symptom, manifesting itself through the skin, that the body is being irritated by an internal or external source. This is also the definition for an allergic reaction. There are three steps to dealing with it: remove the irritant, remedy a nutritional deficit, and boost the skin's natural immune system.

I remember reading about the case of a women with severe eczema on her hands and forearms, a pattern typical of a chemical reaction. However, this was a women who did not normally come in contact with strong chemicals, soaps of other irritants. Her lifestyle entailed using her hands for holding cocktails, waving people out of her way and playing Mah-Jongg. After talking to her at length, the doctor discovered that she had inherited a beautiful set of Mah-Jongg tiles, made a lacquer made form distant relation of poison ivy! Once she stopped using them, her eczema stopped.

Also linked to eczema is a deficiency of hydrochloric acid, the stomach acid responsible for breaking down food so the intestines can absorb the nutrients, and eliminate what's left. What happens is this: perfectly good food, chock full of vitamins, minerals and other essentials, instead of being broken down, goes right through the stomach in its whole form. The immune system says, "Hey what's this doing here?' and forms antibodies - our body's immune system warriors - which attack it. This is exactly what happens to cause allergy symptoms like watery eyes. The defending army rallies to rid itself of the enemy and your skin receives the war wounds: eczema. Research has shown this connection.

 

In one reported study 106 patients with bad cases of eczema had their stomach acid levels tested. It was found that a full 74 percent were eating without adequate stomach acid and of these, 25 percent had no acid at all!   Researched found a direct link between the amount of stomach acid not available for digestion, and the severity of the eczema. 3 In another study, eight out of 11 patients were found to be low in stomach acid. Of these, seven had other stomach problems that contributed to the severity of the eczema outbreak and the lack of acid. 4  Based on this research, I would suggest having your whole digestive system if you have chronic eczema, because there are many factors that can effect your ability to assimilate nutrients. Remember, it's not what you eat, it's what you absorb!

 

Other signs of low stomach acid include split, peeling nails, hair falling out, and dilated capillaries on cheeks and nose. Dr. Jonathan Wright tells me that he estimates every third adult he sees in his clinic has too little stomach acid.

 

An easy way to encourage your stomach to acidify is to drink a tablespoon of vinegar before eating. Supplementing with Enzymes that contain Betaine hydrochloric acid will help absorb nutrients. Studies show liquid vitamins and minerals before ingestion are considerably more bioavailable to the body than those even present in food. When looking for vitamins and mineral good for, easily absorbable, derived-from-natural blend. Liquid formulations provide the maximum absorption ratios.

 

There is another common denominator to eczema sufferers: a deficiency of essential fatty acids (EFAs). They are called essential because they must come from food. EFAs are the major building blocks of body fat, including that which is contained under your skin. This is not the fat you want to take off, as in weight loss. This is the collagen that keeps pimples, cuts and irritations from leaving scars, pits and crated.  EFAs also produce prostaglandins, which work to reduce inflammation. Without prostaglandins, a simple skin irritation becomes an inflamed, itchy, crusty mess. 

There is one kind of essential fatty acid that is primary in the production of prostaglandins: linoleic acid or gamma linolenic acid (GLA). Researchers studying various deficiencies among bottle-fed infants found that when they received inadequate GLA, they had drying, flaking skin. Infants with cradle cap, a form of eczema, have been found to be deficient in biotin, a B vitamin, and GLA.

The most common, albeit not the best, source of GLA, commonly used in studies, is evening primrose oil. The essential fatty acids in evening primrose oil plus fish oil can reduce the severity of eczema. Clinical trials in England using evening primrose oil were deemed so impressive that it has received approval as an eczema therapy by that country's National Health Service. 5   

Researchers S. Wright and J.L. Burton, as reported in the British medical journal The Lancet, performed a double-blind, crossover study of 60 adults and 39 children with eczema who were treated with evening primrose oil. The fortunate patients not only experienced less itching, but almost half had a significant reduction in the overall severity of their symptoms. 6

Despite these impressive studies, I don't recommend evening primrose oil. That is because there is another supplement source more potent in GLA, and much less expensive. Independent clinical tests show that borage oil contains up to 26 percent GLA. Compare this to evening primrose oil and black currant oil, which contain no more than 18 percent. Not only that, borage oil, which contain no more than 18 percent. Not only that, borage oil coasts less because the borage seed is three times larger than black currant or evening primrose seeds.  Finally, borage is more bioavailable. In other words, the body more readily accepts it?

Fish oil, or omega-3 oil, also helps the body assimilate arachidonic acid, found in animal products such as milk, eggs and meat. Arachidonic acid is what causes the body to defend itself with allergy symptoms. 

There are also nutrients, and foods that contain these nutrients, that have been shown to help eczema. Probably what is happening in these studies, is the nutrients are restoring deficiencies that may have caused or contributed to the problem in the first place. In any case, a regimen containing all the nutrients mentioned on this page may go a long way toward curing eczema, once the source of irritation is eliminated. 

 

If you understand that it is lack of prostaglandins that causes your skin to go from a simple red, irritated rash to what would be considered eczema, you know anything that encourages prostaglandin formation or accomplishes the same thing, is desired for eczema treatment. This is where the vitamins C, B3 (niacin), B6 and the minerals zinc and magnesium come in. They are necessary before EFAs can produce prostaglandins. I would add biotin to this list, based on my knowledge of the benefit of biotin to the hair and skin, as well as that study relating a biotin deficiency to cradle cap. Vitamin A and its precursor, beta carotene, are always good nutritional choices, since they are so important to the skin. A deficiency of vitamin A causes thickening of the skin, commonly found in eczema.

 

Eczema-Ending Nutrients

1 Acta Paedia. Japan, 24:395, p. 82, 1982.

2. David T.J, "Dietary Treatment of a Topic Eczema," Archives of Diseases in Childhood, v. 64, n. 10, p. 1506, Oct 1989.

3. Southern Medical Journal, v. 38, p. 235, 1945

4. Arch. Dermatol, Syph., v, 20, p. 854, 1929.

5. Callejari, Peter E., M.D. and Zurier, Robert B., M.D, "Botanical Lipids: Potential Role in the Modulation of Immunologic Responses and Inflammatory Reactions, " Nutrition and Rheumatic Disease/Rheumatic Disease Clinics of North America, p. 415, May 1991.

6 Wright, S., and Burton, J.L. "Oral Evening Primose-Seed Oil Improves Atopic Eczema, "The Lancet, p. 1120, November 20, 1982.

7. Kennedy, Bob, "Borage Wildflowers: Best Source of Gla, "Total Health, v. 13, n. 1, p. 44, February 1991.

8 Erasmus, Udo, Fats and Oils, The Complete Guide to Fats and Oils in Human Nutrition, Alive Books, Burnaby, BC, Canada, p. 244, 1986.   

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