Nutritional Intervention for a Korean Adolescent with Atopic Dermatitis: a Case Report

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease in children worldwide but can affect individuals of all ages. Patients and parents of pediatric patients tend to restrict too much food because they think this aggravates or causes AD. However, there is a risk of nutrient deficiency owing to a lack of balanced diet. Herein, nutritional counseling was conducted to improve the eating habits of a patient with AD, promote nutritionally balanced meals, and consequently observe changes in the severity of AD. This report discusses the case of a 15-year-old male patient with AD who did not receive nutritional counseling previously but regularly ate breakfast and consumed fruits, beans, vegetables, and milk more frequently after counseling. His vegetable consumption increased from less than one plate a day before counseling to more than eight plates a day after counseling. This change was reflected in the nutritional quotient for adolescents (NQ-A) score. After consultation, eating habits improved, as indicated by a 1.2-, 2.4-, and 1.5-fold increase in NQ-A, diversity category, and balance category scores, respectively. The intake of protein, dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin K, vitamin C, niacin, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and water was inadequate before consultation and improved after consultation. The eating habits and severity of AD also improved after nutritional counseling. However, this result was not tested in a tightly controlled environment. It was difficult to conclude that only the eating habits affected the severity. Therefore, further research is needed.