Consuming vitamin D–rich foods and vitamin D supplements may reduce the severity of psoriasis, according to a report from EurekAlert. In a study presented by Lim et al at the American Society for Nutrition’s NUTRITION 2023 meeting, researchers used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to examine the association between vitamin D levels and psoriasis severity in 491 patients. In addition, they analyzed data on self-reported psoriasis-affected body surface area, age, sex, race, body mass index, and smoking status. The researchers found that lower vitamin D levels and vitamin D deficiencies were positively correlated with greater psoriasis severity. Further, the results showed that patients who had the least amount of body surface area affected by psoriasis had the highest average vitamin D levels, whereas those who had a greater affected body surface area had the lowest average levels of vitamin D. “Our results suggest that a vitamin D–rich diet or oral vitamin D supplementation may … provide some benefit to [patients with] psoriasis,” concluded Rachel K. Lim, an MD candidate at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University.
August 02, 2023