The causes of the incredibly tormenting atopic dermatitis in children are unknown. However, epidemiological studies have shown that some children have insufficient intestinal flora, which can be relieved by administering probiotics.
Atopic dermatitis or neurodermatitis is the most common allergic disease affecting 12-15 % of children. When the rash “blossoms”, it is very painful for the child due to the intensity of the eczema and sleep disturbances. There is no cure.
Infants are most often affected
Neurodermatitis is a chronic inflammation of the skin that causes itching and dry skin. The hereditary disease is not contagious and has various unknown trigger factors.
Atopic dermatitis is also known as atopic eczema or endogenous eczema and is most common in infants. It often affects the flexor sides of arms and legs. Overall, it causes a considerable disturbance of the quality of life due to agonizing skin symptoms (itching, burning, dryness of the skin), lack of sleep, restrictions in school and leisure time, psychological stress caused by the disease, but also stress caused by the therapy.
Highly hereditary
Hereditary factors play the largest role with 70%, triggering factors account for 30%. Triggers can be, among other things: Water (hot showers/long bathing), soap and cosmetics, mechanical irritation, unsuitable clothing (light and smooth fabrics are good), sports (sweat), workplace/school, scratching or air pollution, especially from smoking. Other allergies often occur at the same time.
Depending on the severity of the leading symptoms on the skin (redness, swelling papules, crusts, scratches and coarsening of the skin), the disease is divided into four stages.
The microbiome of healthy children contained more bifidobacteria and lacotbacilli than that of children with neurodermatitis.
The answer is in the intestine
In the search for causes or at least similarities of the affected children, epidemiological data show considerable differences in the intestinal flora of neurodermatitis children and healthy children. This suggests that this could play a role in the development of this disease.
Healthy children have fewer clostridia in their intestines, but significantly more bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. The lack of the latter two bacteria can be countered through the use of probiotics. These are preparations containing viable lactobacilli, for example.
Helping bacilli
In a study conducted at the University of Lviv in Ukraine, 90 one- to four-year-old children were given a high-dose probiotic twice daily for 4 weeks. It contained Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium lactis in a concentration of 10 billion reproductive germs per gram combined with prebiotic oligofructose. The control group received a placebo, i.e. a drug-free sham preparation.
The probiotics group had an alleviation rate of 34 % compared to 19 % for placebo.
Clear research results
After four weeks, improvements in eczema were observed in both groups, including the placebo group. This should come as no surprise, as atopic dermatitis can always lead to spontaneous improvements, which in the present case could fall within the observation period. The clear result was visible after 8 weeks, when the palliation rate was 34 % in the probiotics group and only 19 % in the control group.
This proves that children with atopic dermatitis must have insufficient intestinal colonization and in these cases the administration of probiotics is a valuable treatment element.
In individual cases, the bacterial intestinal flora does not need to be tested beforehand, as the administration of probiotics is generally considered harmless. Their areas of application are more than varied, e.g. in sports, iron deficiency or for smokers.
