Skin problems may not be life threatening, but because they are very visible they can make a serious dent to your confidence and impact your quality of life. Eczema is one of the most common chronic skin complaints. Did you know that the name eczema is derived form a Greek word meaning 'to boil'? It seems to perfectly describe the inflamed, red skin which is often intensely itchy.

The conventional treatment involves use of topical creams - in other words dealing with the outward symptoms. However, the safety of the long term use of some of the steroid creams is questionable - corticosteroids are known to affect growth, weaken bones, suppress the adrenal glands and cause many other problems.

The good news is that there is another way to deal with eczema. Nutritional therapy can help eczema by correcting underlying imbalances for a more sustained solution. I find that most of the clients who come to see me for support for eczema have some physiological 'weak spots'. They tend to have more allergies and an immune system which is creating higher levels of inflammation in the body. The other problem area is a disordered fat metabolism which makes their skin dryer and less able to hold moisture.

One eczema client I saw recently also complaint about frequent bloating and digestive disturbances, and suffered from hay fever during the summer months. Well functioning immune system can be the key to controlling eczema symptoms, and as up 80% of your immunity is gut related, the first step we took was to start working on improving the health of her digestion and gut bacterial balance.

We also supplemented with some targeted essential fatty acids, and supported her fat digestion through enzymes that help break down fats. The improvements in her digestive symptoms correlated with the reduced severity of her eczema. We are now able to control her symptoms through balanced diet and regular fatty acid supplementation.

We also identified that stress was one of the triggers for increased eczema symptoms. Stress tends to reduce the digestive capacity and disturb the beneficial bacterial balance in the gut. Knowing this link, we decided that during stressful periods my client should take extra digestive support and supplemental friendly bacteria to counteract these effects.

If you are suffering from skin problems (or just the stress part!), do get in touch to see if nutrition could offer you some solutions!