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Probiotics limit infant skin problems

Children who take a probiotics supplement are less likely to develop atopic dermatitis, according to a new systematic review.

"I'm hoping researchers will continue to study these supplements to see if their findings can contribute to new therapeutic options for infants predisposed" to eczema, said Negar Foolad, the lead author of the study and a graduate student at the University of California, Davis.

According to Foolad's study, published online in the Archives of Dermatology, one in five kids experiences eczema.

To assess that available data on the role of nutritional supplements in preventing or reducing the symptoms of eczema, Foolad and her colleagues - one of whom is a consultant to companies that market such supplements - collected the results of 21 studies, including 11 000 participants.

Some people in the studies were infants and others were pregnant or breast feeding mothers.

Ten of the studies compared probiotics with a placebo.

A few studies in which children at risk for developing eczema were given the bacteria Lactobacillus rhapsodic GG or Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain HN001 found that the kids' chances of developing the skin condition were cut in half compared to kids given the placebo supplement.

In addition, several other studies that gave mixtures of probiotics to children also found the risk for eczema was at least halved.

What the study found

"It is intriguing to learn that probiotics, which can only be present inside the intestine, are able to remotely affect the skin," said Dr Sonia Michail, an associate professor at the University of Southern California and the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.

Not all probiotics seemed to work, however. And when Foolad and her colleagues looked at studies of other kinds of supplements, results were mixed.

Of the studies Foolad's group reviewed on prebiotics - dietary components that promote the growth of good bacteria in the intestine - two found that the supplements helped reduce eczema, while one found no change in the severity of the skin condition among kids who already had it.

Similarly, with studies of special types of infant formula - either hydrolyzed or amino acid-based - some found a reduction in the number of cases of eczema, while others found no differences in the severity of the skin rash.

A few studies supplemented children or moms with omega-6 fatty acids, and the jury remains out on whether they can prevent eczema.

"It's hard to come to a conclusion about prebiotics and amino acid based (infant) formulas and black currant seed oil because there weren't a lot of studies" on them, Foolad said.

Dr Michail pointed out that the best evidence for now lies with supplements of the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG.

"Even though research has shown some benefit for nutritional supplementation in (atopic dermatitis), however, supplements have not been widely used for management" of the condition, she said.

Also, she noted, the benefits of the probiotics are modest, and the long term effects of supplementing children with the bacteria have not been studied adequately.

(Reuters Health, December 2012)

Read More:

Probiotics during pregnancy may ward off eczema

Eczema in infancy predicts hay fever in childhood

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