Limit Your Sugar And Fat Intake Before It Takes A Toll On Your Skin And Lead To Psoriasis – TheHealthSite

A new study has found that eating a diet high in sugar and fat can increase your risk of developing autoimmune disorders like psoriasis. Read on to know if it can be reversed.

Written by Arushi Bidhuri | Published : June 30, 2021 6:22 PM IST

Food is one of the most modifiable factors that help regulate gut microbiota where a population of bacteria live in the intestines. And what you eat is important to maintain a healthy gut and keep diseases at bay. Studies have shown that eating too much sugar or foods rich in fat can be bad for your health. This is what experts have termed a Western diet. A study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology has found that eating a diet high in sugar and fat causes an imbalance in the gut's microbial flora, which can lead to inflammatory skin disorders like psoriasis.

Sam T. Hwang, professor and chair of dermatology at UC Davis and senior author on the study said that previous research has shown that a Western diet rich in sugar and fat can cause substantial skin inflammation and psoriasis flare-ups. He further added, "Despite having powerful anti-inflammatory drugs for the skin condition, our study indicates that simple changes in diet may also have significant effects on psoriasis."

Psoriasis is a skin disorder in which cells accumulate on the surface of the skin, resulting in itchy, dry, and painful red areas. It occurs when the immune cells mistakenly attack healthy cells and cause skin inflammation and the formation of scaly and red patches on the skin.

The microbial population and functions of the gut can alter quickly when you eat a Western diet. Dysbiosis, or a change in microbial equilibrium, contributes to gut inflammation. Since bacteria in the stomach may play a major role in determining inflammation, the researchers sought to see if intestinal dysbiosis impacts skin and joint inflammation.

For the study, the researchers investigated the effects of food on psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis using a mouse model. Interleukin-23 (IL-23) minicircle DNA was delivered into mice to produce a reaction that mimicked psoriasis-like skin and joint disorders. As per the study, many inflammatory autoimmune responses, such as psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease, are caused by the protein IL-23, which is produced by immune cells (IBD). They found that eating a Western diet for the short term is enough to create microbial imbalance and increase vulnerability to IL 23-meditated psoriasis-like skin inflammation. "There is a clear link between skin inflammation and changes in the gut microbiome due to food intake," Hwang said. "The bacterial balance in the gut disrupted shortly after starting a Western diet, and worsened psoriatic skin and joint inflammation."

Despite the presence of IL-23 inflammatory proteins, the researchers sought to see if moving to a balanced diet might help restore the gut flora. They gave mice a Western diet for six weeks before generating psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis symptoms with an IL-23-producing chemical. The mice were then randomly separated into two groups: one that ate a Western diet for another four weeks, and another that ate a balanced diet for the same amount of time.

Their research found that mice that ate a high-sugar, high-fat diet for 10 weeks were prone to skin and joint inflammation. Mice that were shifted to a balanced diet had less skin scaling and thinner ears than mice who were on a Western diet. The reduction in skin inflammation in mice fed a Western diet suggests that the Western diet has a short-term effect on skin inflammation. This implies that dietary modifications might partially restore the proinflammatory effects of the Western diet as well as the altering of gut flora.

(with inputs from agencies)

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Limit Your Sugar And Fat Intake Before It Takes A Toll On Your Skin And Lead To Psoriasis - TheHealthSite