Scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong evaluated the effects of 'pentaherbs formulation' 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.

The pentaherbs formulation capsules contain 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).

The first study was a clinical trial of 85 patient divided into a control group receiving a placebo, and a group taking the pentaherbs formulation. Using a questionnaire index that measures how much a skin problem affects a patient, the scientists found that the quality of life improved by a third in the group taking the herbs, compared to no improvement in the placebo-treated group.

The researchers also found that the herbal remedy reduced patients' needs for the conventional treatment of topical steroids, with the duration of use reduced by an average of four days per month in the herbal group, compared to one day per month in the placebo group.

The team went on to explore the clinical effects of pentaherbs on the immune system. This is because people with eczema have been found to have higher blood levels of certain cytokines, a group of proteins and peptides that have a pivotal role in the immune system and which trigger inflammation in eczema.