The Link Between Sugar and Eczema

My little boy has suffered with eczema since he was a baby. We have done everything we can to control it naturally by using certain creams and watching his diet. I noticed that when he would have sugar even in small amounts he would suffer from some of the worst break outs. I also noticed he would break out when he would eat dairy products and sometimes processed foods. He seemed to always do best with whole natural foods. I always wondered why sugar seemed to trigger his eczema so I decided to investigate it for myself and I will share the results with you in this article.

Eczema is triggered by a response from the immune system and sugar actually impairs our immune system. Too much sugar can throw the body out of balance and result in yeast overgrowth. The bacteria that create the eczema rash loves to feed on sugar. Our body is not designed to take in large amounts of sugar on a daily basis. However, the standard American diet is loaded with sugar and processed foods. This makes you wonder if the food industry is trying to kill us. Our diet directly affects our health and high sugar diets can also make a person more susceptible to cancer because cancer also thrives on sugar.

We know that sugar can depress the immune system, but sugar also upsets the body's natural mineral balance. The body needs minerals in order to control inflammation. Children who have eczema especially need calcium, but they can quickly become deficient because doctors advise patients to stay away from dairy as that is also a trigger. The best way around this is to make sure that your child is getting enough calcium from another source such as raw carrot juice, or a liquid calcium supplement on a daily basis. Calcium is very important because it also helps to calm inflammation and keep eczema at bay.

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Fish Oil

I also give my son salmon oil or cod liver oil almost daily. Dr. Linda Page, author of Healthy Healing, says that the Omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil can greatly reduce inflammation, which can help to control eczema.

Avoid Chlorine

It has also been helpful to limit my son's exposure to chlorine. The water supply contains large amounts of chlorine so we try to limit his baths to once each week. This is not always easy because he does get dirty but we try to give him sponge baths in between regular baths. Recently we got a chlorine filter on our shower, but we still try to limit his exposure to water regardless because water also dries out his skin. You can find chlorine filters online or at home depot.