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Diet and Dermatology

This is a helpful (free full text) reference on skin disorders that can be related to food.

Diet in Dermatology: Revisited (2010)
Kaimal S, Thappa DM
Department of Dermatology and STD, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry - 605 006, India

Abstract: Diet has an important role to play in many skin disorders, and dermatologists are frequently faced with the difficulty of separating myth from fact when it comes to dietary advice for their patients. Patients in India are often anxious about what foods to consume, and what to avoid, in the hope that, no matter how impractical or difficult this may be, following this dictum will cure their disease. There are certain disorders where one or more components in food are central to the pathogenesis, e.g. dermatitis herpetiformis, wherein dietary restrictions constitute the cornerstone of treatment. A brief list, although not comprehensive, of other disorders where diet may have a role to play includes atopic dermatitis, acne vulgaris, psoriasis vulgaris, pemphigus, urticaria, pruritus, allergic contact dermatitis, fish odor syndrome, toxic oil syndrome, fixed drug eruption, genetic and metabolic disorders (phenylketonuria, tyrosinemia, homocystinuria, galactosemia, Refsum's disease, G6PD deficiency, xanthomas, gout and porphyria), nutritional deficiency disorders (kwashiorkar, marasmus, phrynoderma, pellagra, scurvy, acrodermatitis enteropathica, carotenemia and lycopenemia) and miscellaneous disorders such as vitiligo, aphthous ulcers, cutaneous vasculitis and telogen effluvium. From a practical point of view, it will be useful for the dermatologist to keep some dietary information handy to deal with the occasional patient who does not seem to respond in spite of the best, scientific and evidence-based therapy.

Low Salt Diet Ineffective!

Gina Kolata, one of the top NY Times science writers, has an important article in the Wednesday, May 4th NY Times on "a new study [that] found that low-salt diets increase the risk of death from heart attacks and strokes and do not prevent high blood pressure, but the research’s limitations mean the debate over the effects of salt in the diet is far from over."  See:  Low-Salt Diet Ineffective, Study Finds.

It's not surprising that the dogma on salt is questioned.  The perils of salt have been a tenet of cardiologists for over fifty years.  That it may be false is troubling.  That low salt diets may actually play a role in increased mortality for a subset of the population shows how dangerous medical orthodoxy can be to the health of the public.