Probiotics for atopic dermatitis

Editor – We read with great attention the holistic and exhaustive review by Plant and Ardern-Jones about atopic dermatitis.¹ However, we think that the increasing use of probiotics in the prophylactic and curative management of this condition deserves more attention.

In fact, probiotics were increasingly used during the last 2 decades, notably in infants and children; and the cumulated evidence is now conclusive through several systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Particularly, treatments with mixed-strain probiotics have greater prophylactic and curative effects to both lower the risk of atopic dermatitis and reduce symptoms in children.²

Interestingly, regarding the preventive effect of such probiotics, strong evidence-based proofs recently demonstrated that supplementation with probiotics in both the antenatal period (in pregnant mothers) and postnatal period (in breastfeeding mothers then in infants) was efficient to reduce the incidence of atopic dermatitis in infancy and childhood.^3,4

The era of microbiome-targeting drugs is here, and probiotics ought to be considered as a powerful, adjunct, preventive and curative therapy; especially in the paediatric population.