Eczema is a common skin allergy; its symptoms include: itching, redness, dryness and thickening of skins. If it gets serious, the skins may crack and exudate. The prevalence of Eczema has been escalating in recent years；during the past few decades in the western world, although the actual causes were not completely clear, it has been believed that food allergy is one of the possibilities.

Research Reports

During the periods of pregnancy and breast-feeding, pregnant women need to supplement with probiotici， and this may help to reduce the risk of Eczema in infants, according to a new research in the Nethelands.

The subjects were 241 pregnant women; one group had one intake of probiotici daily, and another just took placebo. All the subjects had had medical record of allergy, and therefore the risks of their babies having Eczema and other allergies were particularly high. After the research, the group taking placebo had a 71% chance of suffering from Eczema at least once; comparatively, the rate of the occurrence of the diaease in mothers who had taken probiotici was 29%. In addition, the rate of babies suffering from chronic Eczema in the placebo group was 26%, while that in the probiotici group were 10% and 6% respectively.

Nevertheless, when the babies reach the age of two, whether the mothers took probiotici or not will make no difference to their babies’ reactions to various sources of allergy, like milk, wheat, hazelnuts, dust mites and dogs’/cats fur, etc. The babies underwent the “skin prick tests” to identify the sources of allergy, and approximately ¼ indicated positive reactions. A lot of people advocate the effect of probiotici in preventing allergy because of this report.

As a matter of fact, this famous Dutch research published a follow-up report in 2007, but a lot of people have neglected it. The report indicates that these children were followed through to the age of 7, and it was found that their rate of having Atopic Dermatitis was ⅓ lower, but that of Asthma was 3 times higher, while Allergic Rhinitis doubles.

The Efficacy of Probiotici Is Still in the Research Stage

Although the use of probiotici in preventing and healing allergies may be theoretically feasible, it is currently still in a research stage; its actual role is yet to be clarified. According to the evident medical points of view, it is now not advisable to use probiotici to prevent or heal allergies. It is suggested that pregnant women and babies should consult doctors or related professionals before taking health supplements.