Fish cuts eczema risk in kids

[Posted: Thu 25/09/2008]

Feeding a child fish in early infancy may reduce their risk of developing eczema, the results of a new study indicate.

Eczema is a group of skin complaints that can occur anywhere on the body. An estimated one in 10 people are affected at some point in their lives and symptoms can include an itchy, scaly red rash.

According to a team of Swedish researchers, the prevalence of atopic eczema – the most common type of eczema – has risen sharply in developed countries in recent decades. Environmental and dietary factors are thought to play a part.

They questioned the parents of almost 5,000 six-month-old babies in 2003 about their child’s diet and any evidence of allergic eczema. The parents were then questioned again when the children turned one.

The study found that at six months of age, 13% of families said that their youngest child had already developed eczema. By the time the children were one, 20% had the condition.

The average age at which symptoms first appeared was four months.

The researchers noted that genes had a significant impact. Children with a sibling or mother who had the condition were almost twice as likely to be affected by the age of 12 months.

They also noted that breastfeeding, the age at which dairy products were introduced into the diet and having a furry pet in the house had no impact on risk.

However the introduction of fish into the diet before the age of nine months cut the risk of developing the disease by 25%. This was irrespective of the type of fish eaten.

Furthermore, having a pet bird in the home was also associated with a significant reduction in risk.

“One in five infants suffer from eczema during the first year of life. Familial eczema increased the risk, while early fish introduction and bird keeping decreased it. Breast feeding and time of milk and egg introduction did not affect the risk,” the researchers concluded.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Archives of Disease in Childhood.

For more information on eczema, see our Eczema Clinic at…
http://www.irishhealth.com/clin/eczema/