The Plants & Protocol That Clear Eczema & Acne In Weeks | Dr. Barbara Paldus

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This is the conversation I didn't know I needed, from someone who got into this field the way the best people in it usually do: her son had eczema.

Dr. Barbara Paldus spent decades running biotech companies — manufacturing equipment for IVF medications, vaccines, biologic cancer drugs. She thought she was at the pinnacle of human science. Then her son developed eczema at three months old, her mother (a medical doctor from Eastern Europe) threw the corticosteroid tubes in the garbage, and started making home remedies and arguing about the gut microbiome at a time when hardly anyone was using that phrase. The eczema came under control. Then her son was diagnosed with ADHD. The diet connection became undeniable. She sold her company and started Codex Labs.

What followed was six years of research with Irish naturopaths and 14th-century manuscripts. Comfrey — called "boneknit" in those manuscripts, used for sword wounds and bone fractures — turned out to be capable of stimulating filaggrin, the structural protein that people with eczema are missing. Without filaggrin, skin cells look like tissue paper under a microscope instead of the overlapping dragon scales they're supposed to be. That means allergens get through, the immune system fires, and you get the flare. A Bulgarian plant called the Dracula plant (it dies every winter and resurrects in May) added myconoside for skin elasticity. Calendula added anti-inflammatory and gene-modulating effects. Put all three together, add Padina pavonica — a Mediterranean algae sailors used for sunburns documented in French manuscripts — and you have a formula that turns on aquaporin, hyaluronic acid, loricrin, and natural moisturization factor in skin that has largely stopped making any of them.

They just completed a clinical trial on 80 children with moderate eczema. By week eight, 95 to 97% of kids had clearance. Not one parent reached for the topical corticosteroid they were told to keep on hand. The adult trial came in at 93 to 94%. These are not the numbers you get from products that are "clean but not effective." And the protocol is remarkably simple: a bar soap made by cold process with extremely high glycerin content, the plant lotion applied morning and night, and L-histidine — the amino acid that actually builds filaggrin — at 0.8 grams per day for children and 4 grams per day for adults.

Visit codexlabscorp.com and use code WILLCOLE30 for 30% off your first purchase of a 60-day eczema or acne system.

A few of my favorite things we cover in this episode: 

• A biotech engineer's son gets eczema, then ADHD, and she sells her company to figure out why — and builds one of the most rigorous plant-based skin science labs in the world
• The five layers of skin most people don't know about: microbiome, physical barrier, chemical barrier, immune barrier, and neurosensory layer — and how eczema involves all of them
• Filaggrin: the skin protein that eczema patients are missing — and why without it, skin looks like tissue paper instead of dragon scales
• 14th century Irish manuscripts describing comfrey (called "boneknit") for sword wounds and bone fractures — now clinically proven to stimulate filaggrin gene expression
• The Dracula plant from Bulgaria: dies every winter, resurrects in May — rich in myconoside for skin elasticity — and how it synergizes with comfrey and calendula to turn on aquaporin, hyaluronic acid, and loricrin in skin
• Mediterranean algae (Padina pavonica): sailors pulled it from the ocean for sunburns in French manuscripts — its fucoidans relieve itch and soothe inflammation
• Clinical trial on 80 kids with moderate eczema: 30% clearance in week one, 50% in week two, 70% by week four, 95–97% clearance by week eight — zero topical corticosteroids used
• L-histidine as the amino acid that builds filaggrin — and why 0.8g/day for kids, 4g/day for adults is the protocol
• The acne hormone cascade: cortisol converts to DHT, DHT increases sebum, dead cells clog pores, oxygen disappears, C. acnes explodes
• Milk thistle (silymarin) at clinical doses is comparable to doxycycline — without wiping out the gut microbiome
• Myo-inositol at 2g/day reduces plasma testosterone, free testosterone, and insulin — hitting both the sex hormones and insulin resistance driving acne
• Why benzoyl peroxide causes skin oxidation and bleaches pillowcases — and why 5% salicylic acid + fruit acids + colloidal sulfur is the better combination
• Decode Me: the first tele-naturopathy platform integrating Fullscript, prescriptions, functional labs (gut, hormones, heavy metals, neurotransmitters, OAT), and AI interpretation — built for MDs and NDs

Episode Sponsors:

• Visit codexlabscorp.com and use code WILLCOLE30 for 30% off your first purchase of a 60-day eczema or acne system.

Happy listening, and we hope you learned a little bit more on the art of being well!

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In Health,

Dr. Will Cole