Hi Spacemom.
If I were you, I would start looking into the connection between probiotics and skin inflammation. As I have posted many times, probiotics are directly related to gut and lung health. This latest clip from pub-med shows how probiotics actually are resonsible for cytokines (the chemicals that tell the body where to send infection fighting T cells.) One of the main cytokines resonsible for an effective fight is gamma interferon.... Because cfers are low in glutathione (our first line of defence in infection and a MAJOR anti-inflammatory) and becasue by products of pseudo actually degrade gamma interferon, we are reaaly in trouble when it comes to inflammation and fighting an infection...even one as small as a pimple.
There are many supplements that I suggest and take myself. But, if you want to take something not seen as alternative, try probiotics. They help maintain gut permeability which is terrible in cfers, and they kelp fight inflammation....will help the skin.
Curr Opin Gastroenterol. 2007 Nov;23(6):679-92. Links
The mechanism of action of probiotics.
Boirivant M, Strober W.
Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-mediated Diseases, Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Probiotics are a heterogeneous group of nonpathologic bacteria that are functionally defined by their ability to allay inflammation when introduced into the inflamed intestine. The purpose of this review is to discuss recent data bearing on the possible mechanisms of action of these bacteria, with a particular focus on the relation of these mechanisms to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease, their main arena of use. RECENT FINDINGS: Studies of probiotic activity in recent years provide evidence that probiotics counter experimental and human gastrointestinal inflammation (human inflammatory bowel disease) by their effects on epithelial cell function, including epithelial cell barrier function, epithelial cytokine secretion, and their antibacterial effects relating to colonization of the epithelial layer. In addition, there is emerging evidence that probiotics induce regulatory T cells that act as a break on the effector T cells that would otherwise cause inflammation. SUMMARY: This review of probiotics and inflammatory bowel disease marshals support for the concept that administration of probiotics ameliorates inflammation by exerting positive effects on the epithelial cell dysfunction and mucosal immune system dysfunction that forms the basis of the inflammation.
I have a ton more info, but am strapped for time as I am starting a new business and am dealing with manufacturers making my products...yikes. Post questions and I will try to get to them soon.
