Jul 13 / Star Khechara

Filaggrin foods: treating eczema with diet and nutrition

Treating the root causes of skin disorders using integrative nutritional dermatology is our passion here at Skin Nutrition Institute and if you've ever suffered with Eczema you'll know exactly how desperately itchy and painful it it. Nothing is as horrifying  as scratching yourself into bleeding ribbons only to discover none of the standard eczema treatments work. It's horrible.

Plant-based nutrition and functional foods for eczema have a sound scientific base so there's no need for any of your clients to suffer.

Filaggrin

Filaggrin is an essential skin barrier protein binding other proteins together (such as Keratin )to form a strong and flexible skin barrier.

In eczema and other skin-barrier disruptive skin disorders found in drier skin, there is a downregulation of the gene that codes for Filaggrin. Loss of function of Filaggrin gene is also associated with food allergy. Filaggrin production can be increased with the amino acid: Histidine

An adult human needs 8-12mg of Histidine per kg of bodyweight per day [5]

Foods for Filaggrin formation

  • Curcumin (Turmeric)
  • Resveratrol (red grapes)
  • Quercetin (in apples and onions)


Have all been shown to indirectly activate a signalling pathway (APR) that upregulates Filaggrin gene expression [6]

  • Spirulina and seaweeds contain high amounts of Histidine, as do bananas, raisins and other dried fruits.

References

  1. Venkataraman D, Soto-Ramírez N, Kurukulaaratchy RJ, Holloway JW, Karmaus W, Ewart SL, Arshad SH, Erlewyn-Lajeunesse M. Filaggrin loss-of-function mutations are associated with food allergy in childhood and adolescence. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2014 Oct;134(4):876-882.e4Ionescu
  2. JG. Personalized anti-inflammatory diets for allergic and skin disorders. EPMA J. 2014 Feb 11;5(Suppl 1):A160
  3. Catherine Drislane, MB, Alan D. Irvine, MD, DSc “The role of filaggrin in atopic dermatitis and allergic disease” Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology VOLUME 124, ISSUE 1, P36-43, JANUARY 01, 2020
  4. Tan SP, Brown SB, Griffiths CEM, Weller RB, Gibbs NK. Feeding filaggrin: effects of L-histidine supplementation in atopic dermatitis. Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol. 2017;10:403-411
  5. Moro J, Tomé D, Schmidely P, Demersay TC, Azzout-Marniche D. Histidine: A Systematic Review on Metabolism and Physiological Effects in Human and Different Animal Species. Nutrients. 2020 May 14;12(5):1414.
  6. Mohammadi-Bardbori A, Bengtsson J, Rannug U, Rannug A, Wincent E. Quercetin, resveratrol, and curcumin are indirect activators of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR). Chem Res Toxicol. 2012 Sep 17;25(9):1878-84.
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Article by Star Khechara

Professional agehacker, author, speaker, founder of skin nutrition institute
About me
Skincare formulator and beauty author turned skin-nutrition educator: Star distilled her 20+ years of skin-health knowledge into the world’s first international accredited skin-nutrition school to teach skin therapists, facialists, face yoga practitioners and estheticians how to help their clients feed the skin from within for cellular-level rejuvenation and vibrant beauty. 
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