Hi! No wonder your name is madpiano with three 6-year-olds in the house!
You might want to check out Dr. Eades Protein Power LifePlan at the library. He explains why we all eat an unbalanced diet when it comes to the omega-6 (LA) ratio to omega-3 (ALA). Omega-6 is found in a lot of vegetables and grains. This has to do with eicosanoid production. Omega-6 triggers the eicosanoid for inflamation. Omega-3 triggers the opposite effects of omega-6. It's important to have a balance, but there is almost no way to get enough omega-3 except by eating sardines or fish, but the book explains it better than I can. But the bottom line is that you heard correctly.
You can give your daughter Salmon Oil EPA capsules, but look for ones in a dark glass bottle that say "cholesterol-free" (Schiff has one). Dr. Eades says this means they filtered it so that it won't have mercury. Keep it in the refrigerator and cut open a capsule every once in awhile and touch a little to your tongue to see if it tastes rancid or really fishy. If so, they aren't good anymore. Vitamin E taken daily will neutralize any effect of an accidentally bad capsule. These capsules may be too big for a child to swallow though. Dr. Eades recommends Carlson's Cod Liver Oil but any brand is fine. These Cod Liver Oils come in cherry flavor and other flavors now so they don't taste that bad. Get one in a dark bottle and refrigerate it. Use within three weeks after opening.
Walter Willet (Harvard Dept of Nutrition) says farm-raised fish are less likely to be contaminated by mercury and other poisons than ocean-caught fish, but they may not be as high in omega-3 fatty acids, depending on what they were fed. If the fish are fed other fish or algae, they will have a high content of omega-3 fatty acids, he says. But if they are fed wheat and corn, they won't contain as much.
Your daughter might not be responding to the flaxseed oil because she is getting too many omega-6 in her diet which is undoing the effects. Try eliminating these foods from her diet that are lopsided toward omega-6. This list shows the ratio with left side as omega-6 : omega-3:
The following should be avoided:
Fats and Oils (look for these oils on any packaged foods)
Canola oil(rape seed oil) 22.2 : 11.2
Chicken fat 19.9 : 1.0 (not chicken meat, just the skin and fat)
Duck fat 11.9 : 1.0
Margarine, hard, soybean 19.4 : 1.5 -
Rice brain oil 33.4 : 1.6
Safflower oil 77 : 1
Mayonnaise, soybean type only 37.1 : 4.2
Soybean oil 51.1 : 6.8
Walnut oil 52.9 : 10.4
Wheat germ oil 54.8 : 6.9
Nuts and Seeds
Beechnuts, dried 18.4 : 1.7
Butternuts, dried 34.0 : 8.7
Hickory nuts, dried 20.9 : 1.0
Soybean kernels, roasted 11.2 : 1.5
Walnuts, black 34.2 : 3.3
Walnuts, English 32.3 : 6.8
(It should be noted that walnuts and other nuts are 4:1 which in itself is a good ratio when people have taken other omega-6 products out of their diet. However, if people are still eating corn, grain, red meat and vegetable oil, they might want to limit nuts to try to balance the ratio.)
Be sure you have the brown flaxseed oil. Linola (in Becel products) is a bad strain of yellow lin(flax)seed with less than 2% omega-3 (regular brown flax has 57%). P.S. Becel is excessive in omega-6 and best avoided.
Watch out that you aren't using high omega-6 (linoleic) from corn oil, soy oil, sunflower, safflower or cottonseed oils. For frying I'd use butter, virgin olive oil, or tropical (coconut and palm kernel oil). Virgin olive is a great oil for daily use but has no omega-3, but at least it doesn't unbalance with omega-6.
You might want to have your daughter stay away from red meat for awhile too. The cows are fed corn and grains and the meat becomes high in omega-6. If you can find free-range beef then it's okay. Also, you might want to try to find eggs fortified with omega-3 fatty acids or free-range eggs, these will be lower in omega-6. If this isn't possible, the fats are in the yolk, so you could try egg whites or egg beaters.
Another small fish that has a good ratio is anchovies which they usually put in caesar salads. Since omega-3 is also in green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, and purslane, you get double the dose in a caesar with anchovies. Most tuna has good ratios, although blue fin and skipjack tuna have the best ratios. Crab and lobster have good ratios too. Conch has an especially good ratio.
Also, eczema is not only an inflammation problem, but an allergic reaction. Most Americans are allergic to wheat. I know this is hard for a child, but you might want to try taking her off wheat for awhile to see if this helps. I know my allergies went away when I stopped eating breads and wheat cereals. Grains have omega-6 as well but I don't know the ratio. Try oats and rice cereal for awhile if you have them eating cereals. If you find that she tolerates bread made with wheat flours okay, then find brands that are enriched with omega-3.
Since eczema is an allergy, make sure to keep the environment as dust-free and mold-free as possible. It is not advisable to have pets.
I hope this helps.
This link may be helpful:
http://www.foodallergynews.com/Gene.../Omega_Fats.htm