Originally published September 4 2005
Live bacteria supplement helps babies with eczema
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A live bacteria called Lactobacillus GG -- now sold in the U.S. as Culturelle -- halved the chance of at-risk babies developing eczema, Australian researchers recently found.
A live-bacteria supplement helps babies with eczema, Australian researchers report.
The normal human gut is crawling with good bacteria that help us in many ways -- not all of which are fully known.
When taken in the form of nutritional supplements or functional foods, good bacteria are called probiotics.
Finnish researchers reported in 2001 that bacteria called Lactobacillus GG -- now sold in the U.S. as Culturelle -- halved the chance of at-risk babies developing eczema.
That study found that probiotics could prevent eczema.
Now researchers led by Susan L. Prescott, MD, of the University of Western Australia, report that a different probiotic from the same group of bacteria -- Lactobacillus fermentum VRI-033 PCC -- can treat eczema in small children.
They report their findings in the Aug. 22 issue of Archives of Disease in Childhood.
"This is the first study to show a benefit following administration of probiotics in children with moderately severe [eczema]," Prescott and colleagues write.
Half the kids were given two daily doses of the probiotic dissolved in water.
Eight weeks after stopping treatment, nearly all the treated children (92%) improved -- more than the 63% of untreated kids who improved.
Eczema became mild in more than half (54%) of the treated children and in 30% of the kids who got placebo.
But the results of this and other studies consistently show that some probiotics do have an effect on childhood eczema, says Jon A. Vanderhoof, MD, chief of pediatric gastroenterology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha.
"There are certain probiotics that may be useful in the treatment of eczema," Vanderhoof tells WebMD.
"This hasn't gotten to the point of knowing which bacteria strains are best, but a couple of them might be beneficial.
Use of a clinically proven probiotic might be a clinically useful treatment, especially in a small infant."
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