It’s literally enough to drive you crazy. The surface of your body itches, is dry and red in places. Anyone who suffers from neurodermatitis knows what it means to have – and be – sensitive skin. Numerous causes for the development of the disease, also known as atopic eczema, are discussed. Up to 15 percent of children and five percent of adults are affected by this annoying skin condition, which often goes away after puberty. Sometimes the assumptions of laypeople are more stressful for sufferers than the symptoms themselves: Are you perhaps stressed? Try a different diet. It’s probably due to the detergents you use.
Now genetic influences, environmental factors and immunological changes play an important role in the genesis of the skin disease, which is not contagious. However, it is not clear what effect this has on the course of the disease and how much. This is why a recent publication in the journal Jama Dermatology may cause further irritation. Dermatologists at the University of California in San Francisco have shown in a large analysis that a Increased salt consumption could increase the tendency to neurodermatitisAn additional gram per day – which is roughly equivalent to the salt in a Big Mac – increases the risk by around 20 percent. On the other hand, those who reduce the amount of salt they consume daily with their food could “possibly reduce the likelihood of neurodermatitis in a cost-effective and low-risk manner,” is the conclusion of the authors led by Brenda Chiang.
“Nobody has to go on a diet because of these findings”
Does less salt mean that itchy, scaly eczema flares up less often? Experts are skeptical about what such association studies actually mean for patients. “A low-salt diet is certainly sensible,” says Tilo Biedermann, director of the dermatology clinic at the Technical University of Munich. “But no one needs to go on a diet because of these findings.” The recommendation for people with atopic dermatitis is to eat a balanced, healthy mix of foods.
Dermatologists are more likely to be confronted with the problem that patients follow all kinds of dietary advice and restrict themselves because they suspect that substances such as milk or wheat will make their condition worse. “There are food allergies that can make symptoms worse, but that is very rare,” says dermatologist Biedermann. “That may be true in one in 100 cases, but 99 others are unnecessarily on a diet.” It is more about patients normalizing their eating habits and their everyday lives, rather than constantly searching for new potential triggers and thinking only about the disease.
For those who are very seriously affected, there are new medications that intervene in the immune system. Otherwise, the recommendation is to use moisturizing creams to stabilize the damaged skin barrier and to avoid skin irritations in chlorinated water, for example. Some patients benefit from a vacation by the sea – salt on our skin instead of under it.