Atopic dermatitis diet may help you to improve your condition. It’s a fact that people with atopic dermatitis are often prone to food allergies, and food allergies worsen the course of their dermatitis. Furthermore, it’s important that a person with atopic eczema receives proper nutrition in order to better control their condition.

Many people report increased itching and redness after consuming the foodstuffs which they are allergic to (according to skin test results). The problem here is that a flare up does not always start immediately. There often is a latent period within which nothing happens, and the response happens much later. The response may be delayed for up to a few days. It’s hard to say anything about this matter for sure, since there are other triggers that may be responsible for a flare up, and not the food.

Food related allergies may not just affect the skin, but also the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts.

The most common food allergens are: eggs, milk, seafood, peanuts, wheat, and soy. An atopic dermatitis diet (i.e., avoiding the wrong foods) often helps to improve the condition of the dermatitis.

It’s also important to note that the most often victims of such a food related reaction are children (10-20%). As years go by, people generally become less sensitive to such food related aggravations, and only about 10% of adults are estimated to experience the worsening of their atopic eczema due to food allergies.

However, it’s still a good idea to try to restrict the suspected foods. For example, you may stop the suspected foods altogether, and then introduce them one by one, and test each one of them for 1-2 weeks. If you cannot restrict all these foods at the same time, try doing the opposite: eliminate each one of them for 1-2 weeks and see if your condition gets better within that time.

It’s important to remember that if you stop eating all of these foods for a long period of time, you may not be receiving proper nutrition, which is also not good. This is especially important if it’s a child with atopic dermatitis, since children need proper nutrition in order to develop properly.

Are there any foods that you might want to add to your diet in order to improve your condition? Yes, there are such foods. These are the sources of Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA – omega-6 fatty acid). The best sources of this acid are Evening Primrose oil and Borage oil. Deficiency of this essential fatty acid may have a very bad impact on atopic dermatitis, and restoring this acid, on the contrary, often leads to improvement (as suggested by some studies).

You may want to try an atopic dermatitis diet, and see for yourself if eliminating some foods and adding others will help your condition.

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