Eczema

Some causative factors

• Contact allergy
• Essential fatty acid deficiency
• Food allergy
• Zinc deficiency.

Promising nutritional research

Of 179 patients with eczema, 111 showed improvement after several weeks’ supplementation with 8 capsules a day of evening primrose oil. Medications were reduced in many cases. Stewart JCM et al: Treatment of severe and moderately severe atopic dermatitis with evening primrose oil (Epogam): a multi-centre study. J Nutr Med 2:9-15, 1991.

An analysis of nine controlled trials of evening primrose oil (Epogam) against eczema found that Epogam was significantly more effective than placebo, particularly against itching. Morse PF et al: Meta-analysis of placebo-controlled studies of the efficacy of Epogam in the treatment of atopic eczema. Relationship between plasma essential fatty acid changes and clinical response. Br J Dermatol 121(1):75-90, 1989.

In a double-blind multicentre study on 145 eczema patients randomly assigned to fish oil or corn oil supplements there was a 30% improvement in clinical score in the fish oil group and a 24% improvement in the corn oil group. Soyland E et al: Dietary supplementation with very long-chain n-3 fatty acids in patients with atopic dermatitis. A double-blind multicentre study. Br J Dermatol 130(6):757-64, 1994.

In a double-blind study for 12 weeks, fish oil supplementation resulted in improvements in scaling and itching. Bjorneboe A et al: Effect of dietary supplementation with eicosapentaenoic acid in the treatment of atopic dermatitis. Br J Dermatol 117(4):463-9, 1987.

Information compiled by Linda Lazarides
Naturopathic Nutritionist, Author, Educator

• Books by Linda Lazarides
• Practitioner training course

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