Can Gluten Cause Eczema?
So, can gluten intolerance cause eczema? It seems so! While more common in children than adults, if you suffer gluten intolerance (where the body doesn’t process the gluten found in wheat, rye, barley and oats effectively) it could be manifesting itself as any type of allergy including atopic eczema or dermatitis.
How common is eczema which is caused by foods?
Only about 1 in 100 people who have dermatitis have determined that it’s cause if from foods.
The most common eczema caused food intolerance is casein – which is found in milk and other dairy products. But after dairy; yeast, gluten and sugar sensitivities can also cause it.
So how do you know if Gluten is causing your eczema?
Getting to the cause of your (or your child’s) rash is a good idea so that you can avoid these irritants and get on with a much more normal life.
If you suspect food is the culprit, then the best way to do this is by doing an elimination diet.
What’s an elimination diet?
For one week you must completely eliminate one type of food from your diet. Yes this can be easier said than done, but it really is the simplest (and cheapest) way to find out what is causing your eczema. (Much cheaper than expensive doctor allergy tests).
Start with eliminating milk and dairy first. You can swap any usual milk products to soy for this week. If you currently have an rash present you should start to see an improvement within about 2 days if this is the cause of your eczema.
If after a week there is no change in your symptoms then introduce milk back into the diet and for the second week eliminate all yeast products (bread, cakes, beer). Then if still no improvement cut all gluten products: bread, pasta etc and finally in the fourth week cut out all sugars.
And here is an interesting fact: Many people whose dermatitis is caused by gluten do very well on low carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins diet. Interesting.
Many skin conditions often do respond very well to elimination diets and it is a good idea to try it to see if it works for you.
What happens next?
So you’ve found that gluten or another type of food is causing your eczema – does that mean you are destined to avoid that food for the rest of your life.
This really depends on the severity of the condition and also can vary from person to person but often it is the cause that you should avoid that food as much as possible.
