“For beautiful skin, lose weight”. This is not the latest advertising promise, but a piece of advice we could give to people with psoriasis. The weight loss would indeed improve the condition of their skin with less plaques on the body. A study published in American Journal of Nutrition shows that losing weight improves symptoms of this skin disease. The red patches and scales usually seen on the skin of patients decrease in number and area.
Danish researchers followed 60 obese patients with psoriasis. Half of them observed a low-calorie diet and lost an average of 15 pounds over a 16-week period. The other half had no particular dietary restrictions or instructions. The researchers analyzed the consequences of the diet on the skin of patients using the psoriasis area and severity index, and the dermatological quality of life index.
Sustainable improvements
People who have lost weight have seen improvement in symptoms of psoriasis, as well as a better quality of life. Psoriasis and obesity are two diseases known to be responsible for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes. Losing weight therefore works in two ways for these patients.
One year after starting the experiment, most people who put on a diet were still ten kilograms less than their starting weight. The health benefits were also maintained. Professor Arne Astrup believes that “the findings underscore the importance of focusing on weight loss as part of a broad approach to treating psoriasis in overweight people. Weight loss would also improve the complications of obesity and therefore general well-being ”.
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