Vitamin D Concentration Could Decide How Severe Psoriasis Gets
More than 8 million Americans are currently living with psoriasis, a topical condition that causes itchy and dry patches to develop on the skin. A recent study on the skin condition has found that the level of vitamin D may play a role in the severity of psoriasis. The study involved close to 500 cases of psoriasis from the National Health Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and is among the largest studies on psoriasis.
Study results revealed that an individual’s levels of vitamin D may determine how far their psoriasis advances, with increasingly severe psoriasis occurring alongside decreasing vitamin D levels in the blood. Because most psoriasis treatments involve applying topical medication, the study could open up a new frontier in psoriasis treatment that involves taking oral vitamin D supplements or subsisting on a vitamin D-rich diet.
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Department of Dermatology associate professor Eunyoung Cho, ScD, led the research team looking into the connection between diet, environmental factors and inflammatory topical conditions such as psoriasis. The research team posits that vitamin D may affect psoriasis severity via attacks on the cells that aid in repairing the skin and affecting the natural immune response.
Cho explained that as the public becomes increasingly interested in vitamin supplements, the research team wanted to investigate the effect vitamin D levels could have on psoriasis severity. She and her team looked through more than 40,000 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey before identifying 491 cases of psoriasis. They also took data on vitamin D levels, gender, age, race, smoking status, body mass index and body surfaces affected by psoriasis.
After adjusting the data set for factors such as smoking that could affect the result, they found that low vitamin D levels were significantly associated with developing more severe psoriasis. Furthermore, patients with the highest vitamin D levels had the lowest affected body areas while individuals with the lowest levels of vitamin D were most affected by psoriasis in terms of body surface area.
According to Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University MD candidate Rachel K. Lim, this is the second study ever to compare the relationship between psoriasis and vitamin D using data from NHANES.
By including recent data in the dataset, Lim explains, the research team analyzed three times more psoriasis cases and delivered more statistically relevant and up-to-date data.
Kim presented the study’s findings at the annual American Society for Nutrition meeting last week.
With many firms such as Jupiter Wellness Inc. (NASDAQ: JUPW) bringing to market products intended to help in the management of psoriasis, the realization that vitamin D is vital could provide an added tool to keep this condition manageable.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Jupiter Wellness Inc. (NASDAQ: JUPW) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/JUPW
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the BioMedWire website applicable to all content provided by BMW, wherever published or re-published: http://BMW.fm/Disclaimer
More than 8 million Americans are currently living with psoriasis, a topical condition that causes itchy and dry patches to develop on the skin. A recent study on the skin condition has found that the level of vitamin D may play a role in the severity of psoriasis. The study involved close to 500 cases of psoriasis from the National Health Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and is among the largest studies on psoriasis.
Study results revealed that an individual’s levels of vitamin D may determine how far their psoriasis advances, with increasingly severe psoriasis occurring alongside decreasing vitamin D levels in the blood. Because most psoriasis treatments involve applying topical medication, the study could open up a new frontier in psoriasis treatment that involves taking oral vitamin D supplements or subsisting on a vitamin D-rich diet.
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Department of Dermatology associate professor Eunyoung Cho, ScD, led the research team looking into the connection between diet, environmental factors and inflammatory topical conditions such as psoriasis. The research team posits that vitamin D may affect psoriasis severity via attacks on the cells that aid in repairing the skin and affecting the natural immune response.
Cho explained that as the public becomes increasingly interested in vitamin supplements, the research team wanted to investigate the effect vitamin D levels could have on psoriasis severity. She and her team looked through more than 40,000 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey before identifying 491 cases of psoriasis. They also took data on vitamin D levels, gender, age, race, smoking status, body mass index and body surfaces affected by psoriasis.
After adjusting the data set for factors such as smoking that could affect the result, they found that low vitamin D levels were significantly associated with developing more severe psoriasis. Furthermore, patients with the highest vitamin D levels had the lowest affected body areas while individuals with the lowest levels of vitamin D were most affected by psoriasis in terms of body surface area.
According to Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University MD candidate Rachel K. Lim, this is the second study ever to compare the relationship between psoriasis and vitamin D using data from NHANES.
By including recent data in the dataset, Lim explains, the research team analyzed three times more psoriasis cases and delivered more statistically relevant and up-to-date data.
Kim presented the study’s findings at the annual American Society for Nutrition meeting last week.
With many firms such as Jupiter Wellness Inc. (NASDAQ: JUPW) bringing to market products intended to help in the management of psoriasis, the realization that vitamin D is vital could provide an added tool to keep this condition manageable.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Jupiter Wellness Inc. (NASDAQ: JUPW) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/JUPW
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the BioMedWire website applicable to all content provided by BMW, wherever published or re-published: http://BMW.fm/Disclaimer
