British scientists concluded that applying olive and sunflower oil to the healthy skin of a newborn carries more harm than good.

During their research, they found that vegetable oils can slow the formation of a natural barrier that prevents moisture loss and protects the infant's skin from allergens and microbes.

This is reported in the new issue of the journal Acta Dermato-Venereologica.

Employees of Manchester University are concerned that now midwives and nurses in the same England recommend to apply these oils with dry skin of the newborn.

In South Asia, doctors believe that sunflower oil reduces the risk of bacterial skin infections in premature infants. However, British scientists retort that the benefit of this practice was confirmed only by a couple of small works, and therefore remains questionable from the scientific point of view.

Now they can add that the use of such folk remedies harms the child, including predisposes to the development of eczema and similar diseases in the future.

Let's look at the statistics. In the 1940s, the incidence of eczema among children aged 5-15 was about 5%. In 2010, up to 30% of British children suffer from this disease. Why? The authors of the study attribute this to years of improper skin care for children's skin.

A pilot study, organized on the basis of St. Mary's Hospital in Manchester, included 115 newborns. The children were divided into three groups, which were applied to the skin with olive oil, sunflower oil or no oils.

Oils were applied twice a day for 4 weeks. At the end of this period, researchers compared the condition of the lipid layers of the skin of infants of all three groups. It turned out that both oils significantly slowed the development of this protective barrier, while in children who did not apply oil, the skin developed perfectly.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Alison Cooke, a professor of obstetrics at the University of Manchester, explains the role of lipid layers: "If you imagine the skin as a wall of bricks, then the lipid layers of the skin is the solution that holds the bricks together. When this element is underdeveloped, the skin loses a lot of water and becomes vulnerable ".

Dr. Cook believes that the application of fatty vegetable oils to the immature skin of newborns adversely affects its development and in the future makes children more susceptible to serious dermatological diseases, including eczema.

Despite the fact that after applying the oils the skin of the babies was well hydrated, the researcher does not recommend for the sake of a momentary result to risk their health in the future.

"The problem is that in our country there are still no official guidelines on this issue. We need to conduct more scientific work, we need to find out how the use of vegetable oils is associated with the incidence of eczema and other problems. In the meantime, such funds should be avoided, "the researcher said..

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