A new study published in the BMC Nutrition journal analyzes the long-suspected link between vitamin D deficiency and psoriasis. Examining 285 psoriasis patients and 317 healthy people, the researchers found the psoriasis patients had levels of vitamin D that were seven times lower than the people who were healthy. Noting a clear relationship between reduced vitamin D levels and clinical severity of the disease, the researchers conclude that early detection of vitamin D deficiency and timely intervention could lead to better clinical outcomes and improved quality of life in psoriasis patients.
An autoimmune, chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by thickened, red skin with silvery scaled patches, the World Health Organization estimates that psoriasis affects at least 100 million people worldwide. However, orthodox medicine has no satisfactory cure for this disease. As a result, patients are generally only offered lifelong symptom management in the form of treatments such as steroid creams and pharmaceutical drugs. Side effects from these treatments are commonplace.
The BMC Nutrition researchers found that 60 percent of the psoriasis patients they examined were deficient in vitamin D. In contrast, only 17.5 percent of the healthy study participants were deficient. Vitamin D deficiency was found to be associated with psoriasis independently of factors such as gender, age, smoking status, family history, high blood pressure, chronic use of pharmaceutical drugs, duration of symptoms, and severity of disease. The age of the study participants ranged from 20 to 70 years old.
Among the psoriasis patients, 4.2 percent were judged to have mild forms of the disease, 43.9 percent to have moderate forms, and 51.9 percent to have severe forms. The researchers found a significant association between low levels of vitamin D and the risk of developing psoriasis, with the lowest levels seen in patients having severe forms of the disease.
Interestingly, the risk of psoriasis was found to be many times higher in patients who smoked. The researchers note that, compared to the general population, patients with psoriasis are more than twice as likely to smoke cigarettes. An association between initiation or worsening of the disease and use of pharmaceutical medications such as angiotensin-converting enzyme drugs, antimalarial agent inhibitors, lithium, beta blockers, and interferon alpha is also described in the study.
The finding that psoriasis patients have levels of vitamin D seven times lower than healthy people is consistent with Dr. Rath’s scientific Cellular Medicine concept, which explains that the primary cause of today’s most common diseases is a chronic deficiency of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other nutrients. The Cellular Medicine approach therefore defines an optimum daily intake of these natural substances as a basic preventative measure for maintaining health, and the effective, safe control of many pathological conditions.
Illustrating the effectiveness and safety of the Cellular Medicine approach to psoriasis, the Dr. Rath Research Institute has published an impressive case report of a 36-year-old woman who had suffered from a severe form of the disease since she was 22. Prior to her adopting the Cellular Medicine approach, the disease was present everywhere on the woman’s body except for her face. She had been using topical creams for 14 years with no significant improvement.
While continuing her regular treatment, the woman improved her dietary habits and began taking a specific nutrient combination that included vitamin C, lysine, proline, and other nutrients in synergistic proportions. Remarkably, within just six months, her psoriasis had completely healed.
In light of the accumulating evidence, rather than attributing the cause of psoriasis to ‘stress’, as many doctors unfortunately do, there is clearly now a strong case to be made that nutritional and Cellular Medicine approaches to treatment of this disease should become standard medical practice. The skin is a window to the body, and psoriasis a sign that nutritional deficiencies are present within its cells.