Dietary habits among patients with atopic dermatitis

Objective: To evaluate the dietary habits among adult patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis and relate intake to clinical symptoms. Design: Data were obtained from a clinical trial. Setting: Five departments of dermatology at Norwegian University hospitals. Subjects: Outpatients, 46 men (median age 27 y) and 92 women (median age 28 y). Method: A quantitative food frequency questionnaire was filled in before attending the clinical trial. The results were compared to the diet of age- and sex-matched reference groups. Results: Male patients had higher content of refined sugar in their diet than reference men (P = 0.014). Among female patients, the intake of saturated fatty acids was higher (P = 0.049), whereas the intake of very long-chain n-3 fatty acids was lower (eicosapentaenoic acid, P = 0.032, docosahexaenoic acid, P=0.017) than in the reference group. In both genders, more patients than reference subjects had vitamin D intake below recommended level. Furthermore, the female patients had significantly lower intake of fruit compared to the reference group (P = 0.002). No correlation was found between nutrient intake of the patients and their clinical scores. Conclusions: The patients's diet were fairly similar to the diet of reference groups. The intake of vitamin D and very long-chain n-3 fatty acids was low, especially among female patients. Furthermore, we could not detect any association between dietary habits and clinical status.