Probiotic Supplementation May Prevent Eczema

In a previous article, we have discussed what probiotic foods are and how they boost health by helping us keep a healthy gut microflora. According to the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide, probiotic food consumption my help against th e following conditions:

• digestive disorders, including diarrhea, Crohn’s disease, and irritable bowel syndrome
• urogenital diseases, such as bacterial vaginosis, yeast infection, and urinary tract infection
• allergies and eczema

Let’s zoom in on the last one. There’s a new study published in the the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, supporting previous findings that the consumption of pre-and probitics does prevent the onset of atopic dermatitis (also called neurodermatitis, atopic eczema) in children.

Apparently, supplementing a pregnant women’s — and later, their newborns’– diet with probiotics/prebiotics resulted in a reduction of eczema and atopic eczema cases.

For an overview of the study and the major results, see the feature report from NutraIngredients.