16 Ridge Park
Purley
Surrey CR8 3PN
020 8647 8309
maryroe@blueyonder.co.uk
24th September 2004
Chloe Rhodes
The Daily Telegraph
Eczema Feature….24th September 2004
Dear Chloe
I read your article on eczema with interest. I would like to put forward some information regarding possible causes of eczema and how I help my clients, as I feel such information could be useful to many people.
I was a medical ward sister in the seventies, but I now work as a food intolerance tester and adviser. I see many clients who have eczema, and over the past 10 years have been refining how I deal with eczema and other symptoms so that I get the best results for my clients.
I have been learning about food intolerances for about twenty years, and working in my present job for ten years. Over the past two years I have been compiling a study into how much I help my clients. These are my results for 56 eczema sufferers seen over a six month period.
20% of clients have completely clear skin when following my advice.
45% of clients see a very good improvement in their skin.
Another 9% see a moderate improvement enough to continue following my advice
2% do not manage to do the diet.
20% do not reply to my questionnaire.
In summary 74% of clients stick to my suggestions because their skin gets much better.
These are all people who have been to their GP, many have seen a skin specialist, some have tried chinese medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture or kinesiology without success.
What methods do I use?
I use a Vega machine and question clients in great detail about their eating habits.. Please see below for why I consider many vega testers are unreliable. Please see my enclosed leaflet for more information of how I work. I was trained in the use of the Vega machine by Health Screening Limited 10 years ago over a period of 6 months. I left HSL 3 years ago because I felt I could do better.
How have I refined what I do?
I read everything I can from many varied publications.
I am doing an on going study into client improvement, and which foods commonly cause which symptoms.
I change my approach re written and spoken advice depending on client feedback.
I routinely test foods that other vega testers and kinesiologists do not. Eg malt, [in some bread and nearly all breakfast cereals], peppermint, [in polos and trebor mints], peppermint flavouring, [in chewing gum], hydrolysed vegetable protein [in stock cubes and some gravies], aspartame, cranberry and anything unusual that a person eats or drinks regularly several times a day. The Vega test kit does not include these foods. Very careful questioning and assessment of clients’ eating habits is of great importance, as a persons’ symptoms will not be relieved if they are still eating or drinking something to which they are intolerant.
Why does the vega machine have a bad press?
Many practitioners have done a weekend course with ‘Noma’. The practical tuition and practice time is only a few hours. These people are then allowed to use these machines. The results they get are worse than meaningless. This brings the reputation of the machine into disrepute.
The study done a few years ago had experienced vega testers testing people with known cat fur or dog hair allergy. I have long suspected that the vega ampoules for testing animal hair etc are unreliable. {we all know of someone who is allergic to one cat but not another} If a client wants testing for animal hair, I ask them to bring a sample from their own animal. That study did not assess how reliable the vega machine is with food intolerance. Scratch and patch testing are not 100% reliable either.
Vega testers do not always test for all the relevant foods [see 3 above]
Doctors do not believe in food intolerance, so would actively advise against it.
Why do doctors not believe in food intolerance?
It is not in their training. Most doctors are unwilling to look at alternatives. They cannot be seen to recommend something they know nothing about.
Very few are willing to believe that it exists until there have been many double blind placebo controlled trials
Some doctors will have seen the result of the trial using vega machines [see above 2]
They do not realise that there is a difference between food intolerance and allergy.
Because allergies remain fixed, doctors find it hard to understand that intolerances can change, and are influenced by other factors [eg hormone fluctuations, stress, fatigue,]
These are some of the patterns that I have noticed with eczema sufferers:
- Food intolerance…………..95% react to cow’s milk products, 10% to yeast, tea or coffee especially if drunk 4 or more times a day., and many to their favourite fruit, juice or squash, especially if eaten or drunk more than twice daily. [children who only drink apple juice, or ribena are typical], 40% of children react to aspartame.
- A reaction to products ……99% of clients were reacting to washing products, even non-bio, and even the product which is recommended by the National Eczema Society [Persil non-bio]. All were reacting to fabric conditioners. My recommendation to use “Surcare” (washing liquid) and NO fabric conditioners had a marked improvement on the condition of their skin. Many people, both adults and children, have NEVER been advised that soap, bubble baths etc could exacerbate their condition. I can use my machine to test any product that the sufferer uses.
- Zinc deficiency ……………90% of clients were zinc deficient. Zinc is needed to maintain a healthy skin. When zinc levels are normal , the persons skin is far less likely to break down. A zinc supplement helps considerably.
- Stress …… ……………….if the above causes are dealt with, the normal stresses of life can be coped with without a bad skin reaction.
What could an eczema sufferer do to help themselves, based on my experience?
1. A [temporary] strict exclusion diet.
Avoid cows milk products, [Please see enclosed leaflet] use alternatives as listed on enclosed sheet.
About 5% of my clients also have intolerance to other animal milks.] Please see enclosed fact sheet.
If the person regularly eats or drinks anything 3 or more times daily, stop that too. Eg favourite fruit, juice or squash….aspartame if regularly uses sweeteners, diet, or sugar free drinks…. tea, coffee….peppermints or chewing gums…..
Mothers of breast fed babies, adjust your diet as well.
Mothers of formula fed babies, daily alternate nanny goat formula milk and a soya based formula milk.
Do diet for at least one month, preferably three. Carry on using alternative milks long term to prevent redeveloping the intolerance. Try out food at 4 day intervals to see if any reaction occurs. If no reaction you are free to have a treat once every 4 days, and after 3 months maybe daily. Please see enclosed results booklet.
2 Products.
Stop using all normal washing powders liquids etc even non-bio.
Wash EVERYTHING in Surcare, obtainable from large supermarkets.
Use NO fabric conditioners including Surcare.
Stop using bubble baths and soaps. If you must use soap, use Simple soap.
If eczema is on scalp or hands use Simple shampoo, and/or Surcare washing up liquid. Use cotton lined rubber gloves when necessary
3 Zinc Supplementation
For older children and adults take a lactose free zinc supplement.
Large man 30 mg daily evenings with food
Women and over 12’s 15 mg daily evenings with food
A few more points I would like to raise about the article
Many of my clients, having given their skin a rest from products and food find that their skin’s sensitivity is much reduced.
I find that when children grow out of eczema they often grow into another manifestation of food intolerance eg headache, migraine, IBS, asthma, glue ear.
Many adults who re-develop eczema as adults, do so following a hormone change [pregnancy, child birth, stopping breast feeding, stopping or starting the pill, menopause] or following an illness, antibiotics, operation or period of stress.
Many of my clients are convinced that they have a problem with house dust mite. At the moment I give no advice re house dust mite and still help many people. Perhaps it’s the fabric conditioner on the sheets and not the house dust mite or teddy in the bed???
I hope that you can make use of this information. Please contact me if you wish.
Yours faithfully
Mary Roe [Registered General Nurse]