Healthy plant-based dietary pattern is associated with a lower risk of rosacea

Several plant-based dietary foods are associated with the rosacea risk, but the associations between plant-based dietary patterns and the risk of rosacea remain unclear.

We aimed to examine the associations of plant-based dietary patterns, represented by three plant-based diet indices (PDIs), with the risk of rosacea.

This prospective cohort study included 198,557 participants free of rosacea at baseline from the UK Biobank. Three PDIs (the overall plant-based diet index, PDI; the healthful plant-based diet index, hPDI; and the unhealthful plant-based diet index, uPDI) were calculated from 24-h dietary recalls based on 17 food groups. The primary outcome was the risk of rosacea. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

During a median follow-up of 13.46 years, 1075 new-onset rosacea cases were recorded. Each 10-point increase in the PDI and hPDI was associated with a 16% (95% CI: 0.76, 0.94) and 9% (95% CI: 0.82, 1.00) decrease in the risk of rosacea, respectively, whereas each 10-point increase in the uPDI was associated with a 12% (95% CI: 1.02, 1.24) increase in the risk. Compared with participants in the lowest PDI quintile, those in the highest PDI quintile had a lower risk of rosacea, with a HR of 0.78 (95% CI: 0.63, 0.95; p for trend = 0.004). In contrast, compared with participants in the lowest uPDI quintile, participants in the highest uPDI quintile had a higher risk of rosacea, with a HR of 1.23 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.48; p for trend = 0.046).

A higher PDI or hPDI decreased the risk of rosacea, whereas a higher uPDI increased the rosacea risk. These findings suggest that adhering to an overall or a healthful plant-based pattern while avoiding an unhealthful plant-based pattern should be recommended as preventive strategies for rosacea.