Thursday, June 17, 2010

Probiotics Benefits Kids with Atopic Dermatitis

A study presented last Friday at the New York Academy of Sciences symposium Probiotics: From Bench to Market has found that supplementation with probiotics for two months had significant benefits for children with atopic dermatitis.

AD, also known as eczema, is one of the first signs of allergy during the early days of life and is said to be due to delayed development of the immune system. It is a common inflammatory skin disorder, which occurs in early childhood and may persists into adult life. According to the American Academy of Dermatologists it affects between 10 to 20 per cent of all infants, but almost half of these kids will 'grow out' of eczema between the ages of five and 15.

Current treatments focus on alleviating symptoms, but probiotics have been studied for over 20 years for their therapeutic benefits for the condition.

Researchers led Dr SV Gerasimov from Lviv National Medical University, Ukraine studied 90 children, aged one to three, with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis (AD)

One group received twice daily doses of 5bn CFU/gram of a mixture of Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1 and Bifidobacterium lactis UABLA-12 with FOS (fructooligosaccharide)

The second group received a placebo.

After four weeks, both groups demonstrated a decrease in SCORAD indexes (scoring of atopic dermatitis), which was the primary outcome measure used to track improvements. The decrease in the group taking probiotics was almost 34 per cent after eight weeks, while the placebo group demonstrated a decrease of 19 per cent.

Secondary outcomes included corresponding lymphocyte subset changes in peripheral blood. The researchers said that more investigation is needed for the efficacy of probiotic therapy in adults with AD.

(The original article entitled "Probiotics again linked to dermatitis benefits in kids" was written by Lorraine Heller of CosmeticsDesign.Com.)

Talk to our pharmacist about AD, EZERRA and suitable Probiotics for your kid.

No comments:

Post a Comment