Monday, October 12, 2009

Probiotics for eczema in children

Treating pregnant mothers, and then their infants, with select strains of probiotics may help prevent the skin condition eczema in children with a family history of allergies, particularly during the first 3 months of life, according to study in Allergy.

Eczema is an inflammatory skin condition thought to be related to allergies. Researchers gave more than 150 pregnant women with a family history of allergic diseases either a mixture of three probiotic bacteria or a placebo - inactive pill - during the last six weeks of pregnancy. They also gave the same treatment to the women's children for 12 months.

Neither the women nor their doctors knew whether they were receiving the probiotics or inactive pills.

They were able to follow up with 102 of the children born to the mothers who took part in the study. During the first 3 months of life, the parents of six in 50 of the subjects who received probiotics reported eczema in their children, compared to 15 or 52 of the placebo group.

Put another way, it would be necessary to treat approximately 6 mothers and children to prevent one case of eczema at the age of three months and 12 months, and closer to 7 children at two years.

One of the paper's 9 authors is employed by Winclove Bio Industries B.V., Amsterdam, which manufactures the probiotic supplements used in the study.

1 comment:

smilinggreenmom said...

I am so glad to have found your post on Eczema. There seems to be so much more information coming out now on how probiotics can help so many with this condition. Our son suffered for the first three years of his life with horrible Eczema all over his body. It was so hard to see this as his mom and to know that we were trying everything we could think of to help him. No meds or creams could help. We were told about a probiotic called Vidazorb chewable probiotics and decided it was worth a try. Within just a few weeks our baby looked so much better! We were so hopeful and continued giving him his Zorbee and even offering him more food. He not only tolerated the new foods, but he kept looking and feeling better! It has been a miracle for our family and I am so glad that more and more people are learning about this too!