Diet and Psoriasis
Title: Diet and psoriasis: experimental data
and clinical evidence.
Authors: Wolters M
Publication: Br J Dermatol. 2005 Oct;153(4):706-14.
While the susceptibility to psoriasis is inherited, the disease
is influenced by environmental factors such as infection and stress.
Diet has been suggested to play a role in the development of
psoriasis as fasting and eating low-energy diets as well as vegetarian
diets improved psoriasis symptoms in some studies. Diet high in
N-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from fish oil has also been shown
to be beneficial. All of these diets changed the body’s
metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acid and changed the body’s
eicosanoid levels to suppress the body’s inflammatory processes.
Some patients with psoriasis showed elevated sensitivity to gluten,
a mixture of plant proteins found predominantly in cereal grains
(corn and wheat) that make dough sticky. Gluten has also been
used as flour substitute. Patients that eat a gluten-free diet
have been shown to have improvement.
Vitamin D, specifically the active form called 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin
D(3), which could regulate the immune system has been successfully
used as topical treatment of psoriasis.
Editor’s Note: eicosanoid is a group of compounds
derived from arachidonic acid. This includes:
- Leukotrienes
Lipid compounds that mediate the inflammatory response
- Prostaglandins
hormone-like substance involved in blood pressure regulation,
smooth musle contraction, and inflammation
- Thromboxanes.
A compound derived from prostaglandin that stimulate the aggregation
of blood platelets and constriction of the blood vessels.
