There is more than one cause for psoriasis, but obese people are more likely to develop psoriasis, and losing weight has been associated with easing of psoriasis symptoms. In addition, people who have had Bariatric surgery have noticed that their skin symptoms have improved.
Results of a small randomized controlled study published in JAMA Dermatology May 2013 seem to have confirmed these associations and have shown that losing weight can improve severity of psoriasis symptoms.
Dr. Peter Jensen from Copenhagen University Hospital Gentofte and colleagues randomly assigned 60 overweight and obese people with psoriasis to follow either a four-month weight-loss diet of 800 to 1,200 calories per day, or typical nutrition guidelines.
In the diet groups, patients lost an average of 35 lb, as opposed to the control group only one pound. The dieters had larger improvement in their psoriasis severity and the extent of their psoriasis plaques, although the difference didn’t reach statistical significance. On a scale of 0 – 10 , dieters severity score went from 4.8 to 2.5. Non dieters’ scores started ar 5.5 and barely fell at all to 5.2.
Overweight is a major risk factor in development of Diabetes, Heart disease, and Cancer. Now we have evidence that Psoriasis is on that list also. This is not so surprising considering that fat tissue puts out inflammatory mediators and psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease.
