Protein, essential for healthy skin - dosages and food sources

|Karen Fischer

If you are vegan, vegetarian, over age 60 or want to supplement your weight-training program with more protein, a suitable protein powder is pure pea protein that has no flavourings or other ingredients. As pea protein is low in cysteine and methionine and high in lysine (making it an incomplete protein), you can buy pea protein mixed with brown rice protein, as rice protein is high in cysteine and methionine and low in lysine, making it a superior complete protein.

Protein: dosages and food sources

Protein (also known as)

Supplement dosages (milligrams per day)

Eczema-friendly food sources

(various amino acids)

Infants (AI)

10 g per day from breastmilk or hypoallergenic (dairy-free) infant formula

Children + teens

1–3 years: 14 g 
4–8 years: 40 g 
9–13 years: 35 g (girls); 65 g (boys) 
14–18 years: 45 g (girls); 65 g (boys)

Adults

Men: 64–81* g
Women: 46–57* g 
(*the higher amount is for people over 70)

150 g (5 oz) chicken: 42 g 
150 g (5 oz) beef or lamb: 40 g 
150 g (5 oz) fish: 36 g 
100 g (31⁄2 oz) canned tuna or salmon: 24 g 
1 egg: 6 g

Vegan and vegetarian sources 
1 cup soybeans: 28.6 g 
25 g (0.8 oz) pea protein powder: 20 g 
113 g (4 oz) tofu: 18 g 
1 cup cooked lentils: 18 g 
1 cup beans (kidney/black/lima): 15 g 
1 cup chickpeas/garbanzo: 14.5 g 
1⁄4 cup oats: 6.6 g 
100 g (31⁄2 oz) pasta, cooked: 5 g
28 g (1 oz) raw cashews: 5 g

Notes: 

  • All protein powders are rich in glutamic acid so people with MSG sensitivity or glutamate sensitivity can adversely react to protein powders. If you react to any products, discontinue use and consume other food sources of protein.
  • Protein is essential for healthy skin so check you are eating enough – not too much or too little.

Products 

At Eczema Life, we recommend nutritionist Karen Fischer's low food chemical program (The Eczema Detox) along with additive-free supplements for skin health and wellbeing. Click on the images to view more details:

           

 

The Eczema Toolkit

the holistic way to clear skin

The Eczema Detox is Karen Fischer's latest best-selling eczema manual designed to help you find relief. Through her work she found some patients needed a special program to identify personal triggers, so the FID Program was created. The Eczema Clear Skin Toolkit combines gut health and nutrition with soothing, barrier repair skincare and supplements to calm the itch and support skin repair, the immune system and more. If you’ve tried everything and nothing has worked, this is the skin calming toolkit you've been praying for.

learn more

Eczema Friend

the itch buster  |  rash cream

The low pH eczema cream that helps to relieve itchy skin, red skin rash and mild eczema and dermatitis. Suitable for all types of rashes. It's the cream you'll wish you had tried first.

learn more

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Frequently asked questions

Does food allergy trigger eczema?

Food allergy and eczema are closely linked, and allergies can absolutely make eczema worse, but they're often not what starts it in the first place. In fact, research suggests the reverse may be more accurate: eczema itself may come first and increase the risk of developing food allergies, rather than the other way around (Tsakok et al. 2016). One study found that babies with eczema were up to six times more likely to become
sensitised to foods compared to those without eczema. In children with established eczema, up to 66% showed food sensitisation, with confirmed food allergy in up to 81% of cases (Tsakok et al. 2016).

If you or your child has a diagnosed food allergy, those foods should be avoided for now. For additional guidance, the Food Intolerance Diagnosis (FID) Program in The Eczema Detox book can help identify food intolerances that do not show up in allergy tests (see next FAQ).
Do food allergy tests help eczema?

Skin prick tests and other food allergy tests including blood tests and patch tests can be unreliable on their own, so an oral food
challenge (supervised by an allergy specialist if you are prone to anaphylaxis), is the most accurate way to confirm whether you or your child is reacting to a particular food. For additional guidance, the FID Program in The Eczema Detox book can help you to identify your personal triggers.
About the authors

Ren Karen Fischer is a nutritionist, mother of two, and award-winning author of seven books, including the bestsellers The Eczema Diet and The Eczema Detox. Fischer is also a peer-reviewed published researcher, and is currently undertaking eczema research as part of a Master's by Research at Bond University. Combining clinical research with real-world experience, she is dedicated to advancing evidence-based care for eczema.

Nutritionist Bonnie Taylor holds a Bachelor of Health Science degree and helps people with eczema identify their individual triggers through the FID Program. Taylor has worked alongside Fischer for many years and offers nutrition consultations by appointment.