Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease that affects millions of people around the world. More information on the root cause of chronic diseases here. To those who are unfamiliar with Psoriasis, it is a condition where the life cycle of skin cells is at a faster pace, causing them to rapidly build up on the surface of the skin, forming red patches. These patches are itchy and often painful.
Psoriasis is a disease that comes and goes, so life with it can often feel like a long ride through a tunnel from one ‘good skin day’ of relief to the next.
However, there may be a little glimmer hope as it has recently been discovered that a Mediterranean diet may relieve the severity of psoriasis and slow its progression.
It has long since been known that diet can play a big part in inflammatory conditions, with scientists discovering that saturated fats can worsen conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.
It is for this reason that researchers from the Hôpital Mondor in Crétail, France, led by Dr. Céline Phan began investigating whether anti-inflammatory diets could have the opposite effect on such diseases, more specifically psoriasis.
The Mediterranean diet is considered one of the most healthy diets in the world and contains an abundance of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and olive oils.
It also contains a high level of antioxidants, monounsaturated fats from olive oil, polyphenols from fruits and veggies, and a high content of fiber.
Additionally, it also limits meat and dairy consumption, along with alcohol.
The researchers analyzed results from more than 35,000 participants of a web-based questionnaire called NutriNet-Santé.
More than 3500 of those people had psoriasis and over 800 of them reported their symptoms as ‘severe’ click to read here.
They measured how much the participants adhered to the suggested diet and noticed that there was an inverse relationship between strict adherence to the diet and the severity of psoriasis.
In other words, the closer the participants stuck to the diet, the more their symptoms were reported as improving.
As great news as this is, the results are not conclusive just yet.
They need to do further testing in a controlled laboratory environment to see whether it works just as well in a controlled environment.
Regardless, it is great news for the thousands of people dealing with psoriasis and other similar chronic inflammatory diseases.
According to the Psoriasis Association of Malaysia, it is estimated that around 500,000 to 800,000 Malaysians may suffer from psoriasis.
As such, news like this could provide some form of hope for those among us who deal with such a condition on a daily basis.
Header Image Source: Healthline
