What is eczema?
Eczema encompasses a number of skin conditions that may present as a dry, scaly rash or weepy, oozing blisters. It is a type of dermatitis that literally means "inflamed skin." Chronic eczema causes dry, red, flaky patches on the skin, most frequently involving the face; neck; scalp; arms; elbows; wrists; and knees. Eczema is divided into two main types: contact and atopic.
Contact Dermatits
This occurs when an irritating substances comes into contact with the skin. The most common irritants are cosmetics or cleaning products, wool, lanolin, rubber, metals such as nickel, gold, and silver. It is characterised by similar symptoms as eczema but does not involve the same inherited factors or links with asthma or hay fever.
Atopic Eczema
This type of eczema is often caused by several factors. The most common factors tend to be food sensitivities; environmental allergens such as pollen, dust or animal fur; gut dysbiosis (disruption of the normal bacterial flora of the gut); poor metabolism of Essential Fatty Acids (EFA); family history or allergies (eczema, asthma, dermatitis or hayfever); stress and being bottle fed as baby.
How can poor nutrition make eczema worse?
1.Antioxidants are compounds that are important for skin health as they protect it from damage caused by the sun’s rays, pollution and toxins from our food or from cleaning products and cosmetics. The most important antioxidants for skin health are vitamins A, C, E and the mineral zinc. A lack of these nutrients in the diet can leave it more susceptible to free radical damage.
2. Essential fatty acids from nuts, seeds and oily fish are also important for good skin health as they keep the membranes of the cell flexible and therefore allowing nutrients to pass into and toxins to flow out of the cell easily. Essential fats also help to reduce inflammation in the skin.
3. Toxins in the body must be processed by the liver and eliminated via the bowels. If the liver is sluggish or the bowels are blocked, it is difficult for toxins to be neutralised and excreted in the correct manner. When this happens, toxins are sometimes eliminated via the skin as this is another way for the body to get rid of unwanted matter. Therefore, maintaining a healthy liver and clear bowel can help reduce the toxic load on the skin.
4. Food intolerance or sensitivities can sometimes be a cause of eczema or dermatitis as the immune system is triggered in the presence of a food it does not recognise or deems non-self. This can encourage inflammation that appears in the form of eczema.
Which types of food can help alleviate eczema?
High fibre foods such as complex carbohydrates from whole grains, fruit and vegetables such as root or green leafy vegetables, peppers, apples, berries and pears help get the bowels moving and help to bind toxins in the gut, reducing the burden on the liver and also providing the skin with important antioxidant nutrients to protect it and help it repair.
Oily fish such as mackerel, herring, salmon, sardine or anchovies plus nuts and seeds such as walnuts, linseed, Brazil nuts or pumpkin seeds contain essential fatty acids.
Legumes such as lentils, beans and pulses are better and alternative sources of protein to protein from meat as they do not create so much inflammation in the body.
Water- this is key to good skin health. It helps eliminate toxins from the skin and helps to rehydrate, allowing improved exchange of nutrients into the cells. Herbal teas such as green, peppermint, nettle or camomile should replace tea, coffee and fizzy, sugary drinks.
Onions, Jerusalem artichokes and garlic are rich in a non-digestible fibre called inulin, which helps to maintain a healthy gut by feeding the beneficial bacteria. Inulin is also anti-bacterial so this helps keep skin bacteria at bay. Presence of a certain strain of skin bacteria namely, Staphylococcus aureus, is common amongst eczema sufferers.
Which types of food can aggravate eczema?
Avoid refined carbohydrates and sugars. These can upset the processing of essential fatty acids, which is often already a problem for people with atopic eczema.
Avoid saturated fats from red meat and dairy products as these encourage inflammation. Red meat is also difficult to digest and therefore may cause digestive problems which can exacerbate skin conditions.
Avoid hydrogenated or trans fats usually found in some margarines, confectionary, pastries, biscuits and some fast or processed ready meals. Trans fats also block the processing of essential fatty acids but they also weaken the cells in the skin so they cannot function optimally.
Reduce the intake of stimulating drinks such as tea and coffee as these affect the adrenal glands and encourage the stress response, which can be a contributory factor.
