Research Insights
Insights are moderated by the Research Hub team and offer an at-a-glance overview of interesting research findings.
Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) improved AD symptoms but had no significant impact on patients' quality of life or IgE levels suggesting CHM's potential as an AD treatment with further research.
Systematic Review
CHM showed benefits in improving AD symptoms, such as itching and skin appearance, compared to placebos. However, it didn't significantly affect patients' quality of life or IgE levels. CHM was safe, with only minor side effects. These findings suggest CHM could be a useful treatment for AD, but more standard guidelines are needed due to variations in herbal ingredients and dosages in different studies.
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Honey, traditionally a food item, exhibits therapeutic properties—anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and wound healing—showing promise in managing and preventing allergic diseases, as supported by scientific evidence and clinical studies.
Review Article Allergy Anaphylaxis Asthma
This mini review explores honey's transition from a conventional food to a potential treatment for allergic diseases. Emphasis is placed on its diverse therapeutic properties, particularly its ability to alleviate pathological conditions and regulate inflammatory cell recruitment in cellular and animal models.
Scientific evidence and clinical studies suggest that honey holds potential in relieving allergic symptoms, offering a promising treatment or preventive approach for allergic diseases such as anaphylaxis, asthma, and atopic dermatitis. The review provides valuable insights for considering honey in clinical settings for allergic disease management.
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Acupuncture might be effective at reducing itch intensity and may be more effective than conventional medicine at reducing eczema area and severity index (EASI) and improving the global symptoms of atopic eczema.
Systematic Review Facial Conditions
Acupuncture might be an effective treatment capable of reducing itch intensity, and may be more effective than conventional medicine at reducing EASI and improving global symptoms for patients with AE. Acupuncture is a safe treatment for patients with AE, but the available data are too few to suggest that acupuncture alone is effective at improving quality of life and recurrence rate. More high-quality trials with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm the effects of acupuncture on AE.
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Acupuncture may improve symptoms in patients with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis.
Randomised Controlled Trial Skin Conditions
The SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD), VAS (Pruritus), VAS (Insomnia), Patient Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), and Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) were significantly improved in the real acupuncture groups.
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There is at least some level I evidence to support the use of acupuncture and acupressure as adjuncts to conventional treatment of atopic dermatitis.
Systematic Review Skin Conditions
There is at least some level I evidence to support the use of acupuncture and acupressure, stress-reducing techniques such as hypnosis, massage, and biofeedback, balneotherapy, herbal preparations (with many important caveats), certain botanical oils, oral evening primrose oil, vitamin D supplementation, and topical vitamin B12. Many other therapies either have sufficient data to suggest that they are ineffective, or simply do not have enough evidence to formulate a verdict.
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Presentation Slides
Chinese Medicine Research Hub
Systematic Review
Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) improved AD symptoms but had no significant impact on patients' quality of life or IgE levels suggesting CHM's potential as an AD treatment with further research.
2022 Frontiers in Pharmacology Efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine for atopic dermatitis: Evidence from eight high-quality randomized placebo-controlled trials
Cai X, Sun X, Liu L, Zhou Y, Hong S, Wang J, Chen J, Zhang M, Wang C, Lin N, Li S, Xu R, Li X
Chinese Medicine Research Hub
Review Article
Honey, traditionally a food item, exhibits therapeutic properties—anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and wound healing—showing promise in managing and preventing allergic diseases, as supported by scientific evidence and clinical studies.
2021 Frontiers in Pharmacology The Potential use of Honey as a Remedy for Allergic Diseases: A Mini Review
Aw Yong PY, Islam F, Harith HH, Israf DA, Tan JW, Tham CL
Chinese Medicine Research Hub
Systematic Review
Acupuncture might be effective at reducing itch intensity and may be more effective than conventional medicine at reducing eczema area and severity index (EASI) and improving the global symptoms of atopic eczema.
2019 Acupuncture in Medicine The effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for patients with atopic eczema: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Jiao R, Yang Z, Wang Y, Zhou J, Zeng Y, Liu Z
Chinese Medicine Research Hub
Randomised Controlled Trial
Acupuncture may improve symptoms in patients with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis.
2018 Complementary Therapies in Medicine Acupuncture improves symptoms in patients with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis: A randomized, sham-controlled preliminary trial
Smith CA, Armour M, Lee MS, Wang LQ, Hay PJ
Chinese Medicine Research Hub
Systematic Review
There is at least some level I evidence to support the use of acupuncture and acupressure as adjuncts to conventional treatment of atopic dermatitis.
2016 American Journal of Clinical Dermatology Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Atopic Dermatitis: An Evidence-Based Review
Vieira BL, Lim NR, Lohman ME, Lio PA.
Chinese Medicine Research Hub
Systematic Review
Acupuncture improves outcome measures in the treatment of dermatitis, chloasma, pruritus, urticaria, hyperhidrosis, and facial elasticity.
2015 Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies Acupuncture as a treatment modality in dermatology: a systematic review
Ma, C., & Sivamani, R. K.
Executive Summary
Write an executive summary in the form of a blog article on the topic of "Research into Chinese medicine treatment for Eczema" summarising the research below and using language that can be easily understood by patients and avoiding medical jargon using a professional and caring tone of voice.
Write an executive summary in the form of a blog article on the topic of "Researched Chinese medicine treatments for Eczema" summarising the research below in an objective and easy to understand way, and using language that can be easily understood by patients. Group the article into Chinese medicine treatments first, followed by nutrition and other treatments. Avoid using medical jargon and use a professional and caring tone of voice.
Write me a concise but easy to understand executive summary on the topic of "Chinese medicine treatments for Eczema" based on the following research that I will give you. Your summary should be 2 paragraphs long in Australian English spelling and include references to the studies.
A Systematic Review published in 2022 in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology found that Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) improved AD symptoms but had no significant impact on patients' quality of life or IgE levels suggesting CHM's potential as an AD treatment with further research. CHM showed benefits in improving AD symptoms, such as itching and skin appearance, compared to placebos. However, it didn't significantly affect patients' quality of life or IgE levels. CHM was safe, with only minor side effects. These findings suggest CHM could be a useful treatment for AD, but more standard guidelines are needed due to variations in herbal ingredients and dosages in different studies.
A Review Article published in 2021 in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology found that Honey, traditionally a food item, exhibits therapeutic properties—anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and wound healing—showing promise in managing and preventing allergic diseases, as supported by scientific evidence and clinical studies. This mini review explores honey's transition from a conventional food to a potential treatment for allergic diseases. Emphasis is placed on its diverse therapeutic properties, particularly its ability to alleviate pathological conditions and regulate inflammatory cell recruitment in cellular and animal models.
Scientific evidence and clinical studies suggest that honey holds potential in relieving allergic symptoms, offering a promising treatment or preventive approach for allergic diseases such as anaphylaxis, asthma, and atopic dermatitis. The review provides valuable insights for considering honey in clinical settings for allergic disease management.
A Systematic Review published in 2019 in the journal Acupuncture in Medicine found that Acupuncture might be effective at reducing itch intensity and may be more effective than conventional medicine at reducing eczema area and severity index (EASI) and improving the global symptoms of atopic eczema. Acupuncture might be an effective treatment capable of reducing itch intensity, and may be more effective than conventional medicine at reducing EASI and improving global symptoms for patients with AE. Acupuncture is a safe treatment for patients with AE, but the available data are too few to suggest that acupuncture alone is effective at improving quality of life and recurrence rate. More high-quality trials with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm the effects of acupuncture on AE.
A Randomised Controlled Trial published in 2018 in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine found that Acupuncture may improve symptoms in patients with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis. The SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD), VAS (Pruritus), VAS (Insomnia), Patient Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), and Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) were significantly improved in the real acupuncture groups.
A Systematic Review published in 2016 in the journal American Journal of Clinical Dermatology found that There is at least some level I evidence to support the use of acupuncture and acupressure as adjuncts to conventional treatment of atopic dermatitis. There is at least some level I evidence to support the use of acupuncture and acupressure, stress-reducing techniques such as hypnosis, massage, and biofeedback, balneotherapy, herbal preparations (with many important caveats), certain botanical oils, oral evening primrose oil, vitamin D supplementation, and topical vitamin B12. Many other therapies either have sufficient data to suggest that they are ineffective, or simply do not have enough evidence to formulate a verdict.
A Systematic Review published in 2015 in the journal Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies found that Acupuncture improves outcome measures in the treatment of dermatitis, chloasma, pruritus, urticaria, hyperhidrosis, and facial elasticity. Twenty-four studies met inclusion criteria. Among these, 16 were randomized controlled trials, 6 were prospective observational studies, and 2 were case reports. Acupuncture was used to treat atopic dermatitis, urticaria, pruritus, acne, chloasma, neurodermatitis, dermatitis herpetiformis, hyperhidrosis, human papillomavirus wart, breast inflammation, and facial elasticity. In 17 of 24 studies, acupuncture showed statistically significant improvements in outcome measurements compared with placebo acupuncture, alternative treatment options, and no intervention.
Article retracted —Matthew G 14 Dec 2023