Dairy, Calcium and Eczema

We've all learned that dairy can aggravate eczema, so we all pretty much just avoided it. We'll after my skin was great for a long time, I decided to experiment with myself and just start drinking a ton of milk. I wanted to see how badly it would break me out.  I thought for sure I would get a good case of patchy eczema; but, instead, my skin got so much smoother, more hydrated, a better color that I couldn't believe it.  It was the only thing I changed in my diet, and my skin took a big leap forward in improvement.  Figure that one out? 

It was the calcium ... welcome to the wide world of calcium and how it helps skin so much so that the Winter Dry Skin isn't even a problem for me, but see, also, the Milk Allergy Letter below. Grains and dairy head the list of food allergies, since grain and dairy agriculture wasn't developed until 10,000 years ago and it takes about 20,000 years for the human body to adapt.

Read these links:

• Bion Research
• Drink Milk to Glo and for Winter Woes
• More on Calcium and Milk and Sources of Calcium from Harvard
• A Woman who Keeps Her Eczema Under Control with Milk
• A Milk Diet that "Cures" Eczema
• Four Ways Milk Causes Acne
  

From American Chronicle:  Calcium is a regulator of every organ in the body.  The skin guards its calcium level very carefully and the calcium integrity of the upper epidermis regulates at least four major skin functions.  Calcium regulates the lipid barrier process. High calcium content in the upper epidermis helps maintain continual and efficient barrier functions. Calcium can significantly reduce dryness.

I do drink milk now, and my skin likes it alot.  Just need to keep pH balance in check with the Acid/Alkaline Diet.

To Drink Milk or Not to Drink Milk, that is the Question

There are a lot of sites out there when you google "diary oily skin" that say avoid dairy and red meat, because they are loaded with saturated fat and will make your skin oily ... Researchers have theorized that the hormones in cow's milk also stimulate the oil glands to produce more oil (nearly all milk and milk products are derived from pregnant cows).

Milk Allergy Letters

Hello Christina,

I did a phone consultation with you back in the summer. I had tried many things from your book and nothing was working. I had taken my 7 year old daughter to the children's doctor several times and also to a dermatologist. Nothing they tried worked either. In late august I finally found a naturopathic doctor and took her there. She told us our daughter had a milk allergy. So, we eliminated milk from her diet and she is now 90% clear of her eczema. She has not had any new spots break out at all. She just has two small areas where the skin is still healing and will itch at times. She has improved so much, I just can't believe milk had caused her all those problems. What makes me just furious is that none of the regular doctors never cared enough to help her. She was so bad she had all of her skin just torn up from the itching. Her sheets would have blood on them in the mornings from the scratching all night long. I don't know how the doctors could just ignore something like that.

Anyways, I just wanted to say thanks for your great website, which led me to going to a naturopathic doctor. My daughter is well on her way to recovery.

Thanks and have a great day!
Patty

Christina,

I talked to you over the summer about my 2-year old daughter Molly who suffered from TERRIBLE eczema.  I brought her to Children's Hospital in Boston and the top doctors gave her all kinds of steroid cream to douse her with.  You and a "naturalist doctor" told me to take her off of dairy - only cows milk.  Worked like a charm.  She is now 3 1/2 years old and 99.9% better since having been off of milk.  Thanks for all your help and words of wisdom.  Top docs at Children's don't have as much knowledge as you have.

Thank you,
Carolyn