What role does diet play in eczema?
This is a somewhat controversial question as not even all doctors seem to agree. However, many people with eczema say that certain foods seem to make their eczema worse. To establish a link between certain foods and eczema it may be useful to keep a diary of what foods are eaten and the severity of the eczema. If for example it turned out that chocolate exacerbated the condition then the obvious solution would be to avoid chocolate and see if this helped. In general, however, it is not advisable to exclude certain foods from the diet except under medical supervision as it would be easy to eliminate vital nutrients. This is particularly important when dealing with eczema in children. There does seem to be evidence that breast-fed babies are less likely to develop infantile eczema than those fed on formulas based on cows milk.
