Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine May Treat Eczema

A new research in the British Journal of Dermatology revealed that a traditional Chinese herbal medicine consisting of five herbs may benefit people with eczema. The 'pentaherbs formulation', containing extracts of five raw herbs based on a widely used ancestral Chinese concoction - Flos lonicerae (Japanese honeysuckle), Herba menthae (peppermint), Cortex moutan (root bark of peony tree), Atractylodes Rhizome (underground stem of the atractylodes herb) and Cortex phellodendri (Amur cork-tree bark), was evaluated by scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on patients aged between five and 21 with atopic eczema, the most common type of the disease which affects at least one in ten children. Results showed that the herbs reduced the expressions of four proteins and cytokines thought to have inflammatory effects linked with eczema.