2023-07-29 01:59:19
A person’s vitamin D levels may play a role in the severity of psoriasis, according to one of the largest studies to date, suggesting that eating vitamin D-rich foods or taking supplements may be beneficial for these patients .
The analysis, presented at NUTRITION 2023, the annual meeting of the American Nutrition Society, included nearly 500 psoriasis cases from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) and showed a linear relationship between increasing psoriasis severity and decreased levels of vitamin D measured by blood tests.
“Topical synthetic vitamin D creams are emerging as new therapies for psoriasis, but they often require a prescription – explains says Rachel K. Lim, PhD candidate at Brown University Warren Alpert School of Medicine. Our results suggest that a diet rich in vitamin D or oral vitamin D supplementation may also provide some benefit to psoriasis patients.“.
The research team was led by Eunyoung Cho, Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, Brown University Warren Alpert School of Medicine, who studies the role of nutrition and environmental factors in skin cancer and inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis.
Vitamin D is believed to influence the development of skin diseases by affecting the body’s immune response and by its direct effects on cells involved in skin repair.
“With the growing public interest in vitamin supplements, we wanted to further examine the relationship between vitamin D levels and the severity of psoriasis. Cho points out. Few studies have looked at this association in groups of people, especially in large US populations, or have examined this relationship from a clinical nutrition standpoint.“.
For the new study, the researchers identified 491 cases of psoriasis from more than 40,000 NHANES participants, with 162 cases from 2003-2006 and 329 from 2011-2014. They also extracted data on vitamin D levels, self-reported body surface area affected by psoriasis, and other factors such as age, gender, race, body mass index, and smoking.
After adjusting for lifestyle factors such as smoking, the analysis showed that lower vitamin D levels and vitamin D deficiency were significantly associated with greater severity of psoriasis.
They also found that patients with the smallest body surface area affected by psoriasis had the highest mean vitamin D levels, while those with the largest affected surface area had the lowest mean vitamin D levels.
“Only one previous study, published in 2013, has used NHANES data to look at the relationship between vitamin D and psoriasis. -says Lim-. We were able to add more recent data, which more than tripled the number of psoriasis cases analysed, making our results more up-to-date and statistically more powerful than previously available data.”
Although dietary vitamin D toxicity is rare, researchers advise people with psoriasis to consult their physicians and dermatologists before taking supplements. J.S.LL. (SyM)
#Demonstrated #relationship #vitamin #severity #psoriasis #Health #Medicine