If you have a food allergy, food intolerance, or if you eat under-ripe hard bananas that are too hard to digest, bananas can cause eczema to flare up symptoms. To determine if this is the case, an elimination diet is a very effective way to determine if you are allergic to bananas and if so, how it affects your eczematous. Eczema is a skin inflammation disease that appears as dry, itchy patches of inflamed skin. Eczema is not contagious; however, it can be transferred by direct contact.
Eczema is most common in young children who have dry skin. It can have different types, including atopic dermatitis, xerotic eczema and seborrheic dermatitis. Each type has its own set of symptoms. There are also risk factors, such as:
- Eczema is hereditary and runs in the family. If a parent or sibling has it, you are likely to get it as well. It is important to note that eczema does not run in families, so if there is no apparent family history of flare ups, this does not mean you do not have the condition.
- Age is one of the risk factors. Eczema flares up earlier in life than other conditions. As you get older, your immune system begins to weaken, which can result in a more severe allergy to certain foods and triggers. In the case of a true banana allergy, younger children who are less than six months of age should avoid bananas, as well as many other fruits. If your child is older and getting a rash from eating bananas, you should take him/her off the fruit and begin a strict banana elimination diet for several days.
- Stress is another trigger. Stress can actually increase your body's release of histamines. These are a type of chemical in your body that can cause inflammation in your skin. Stress can also lead to leaky gut syndrome, which can cause toxins to build up in your body. If you are experiencing eczema symptoms due to stress, you may want to consider seeing an herbalist for additional advice or for treatment of your specific allergy to bananas.
- Another factor can be diet. A study published in the Journal of American Medical Association reported that over sixty percent of the participants in a diabetes study had allergic reactions to either dairy products, eggs, fish, peanuts, walnuts, and/or bananas. There is also a trend for eczematous people to have leaky gut syndrome and/or food allergies. Leaky gut syndrome causes toxins to build up in the blood stream which can cause inflammation in your skin. The presence of these toxins can cause eczematous individuals to have eczema flare-ups.
- Even if you do not have a food allergy, some people do report having allergic reactions to certain foods. If you think you may have eczema symptoms based on the foods you eat, you may want to avoid them altogether while you are trying to treat your flare ups. In fact, many doctors recommend avoiding dairy products during flare ups. If this cannot be done for you, there are other natural methods that can help. For instance, the skins of bananas can actually be smeared on your skin to reduce the itching associated with your flare ups. The oils in the banana can also reduce the inflammation.
Allergies and eczema flare-ups can be controlled in many ways. Many treatments can give you relief without causing side effects and causing damage to your body. For instance, many doctors recommend changing dietary habits if you have a banana allergy. Bananas contain a type of substance called amylase, which is the enzyme in our digestive system that breaks down starches. If you start eating more bananas, you will be able to increase the amount of starches that your body is able to digest at a normal rate.