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Dietary habits among patients with atopic dermatitis
K Solvoll1, E Soyland, B Sandstad
1Institute for Nutrition Research, University of Oslo, PO Box 1046 Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway.
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. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2000) 54, 93-97