John Myers
A dietary supplement with vitamin D prevents neurodermatitis symptoms from getting worse in the cold season and can even help to improve the complexion. Researchers found this out in a study of more than 100 schoolchildren. The human body can produce vitamin D itself with the help of sunlight. In the dark winter months, however, vitamin D deficiency can quickly occur, which in turn can aggravate neurodermatitis symptoms.
Neurodermatitis in childhood
In most neurodermatitis patients, skin disease occurs during childhood. Neurodermatitis, also known as atopic eczema, is an inflammatory skin disease that manifests itself in the form of severely itchy skin areas and blisters.
Children in particular suffer greatly from the symptoms. They also have a particularly hard time not scratching themselves, but doing so makes the problem even worse.
Many people affected by neurodermatitis notice that their complexion regularly deteriorates in winter.
Vitamin D can apparently help against this seasonal deterioration – as Prof. Carlos Camargo and his colleagues from the Massachusettes General Hospital in Boston found in a study with eleven underage participants.
Vitamin D improves neurodermatitis
It is already known that therapy with UV light, i.e. artificial sunlight, can improve the complexion of neurodermatitis sufferers.
Since vitamin D is produced in the human body with the help of sunlight, the success of UV light irradiation could e.g. based on the subsequent increase in vitamin D levels.
However, if you overdo it with UV light radiation, this can in turn increase the risk of skin cancer.
So how can skin health in neurodermatitis be stabilized in winter without having to take on new health risks?
Prof. Camargo and his team worked with researchers from the Health Sciences University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar/Mongolia to answer this question.
In another study on this subject, 107 children and adolescents between the ages of two and seventeen took part. All of them were known to have worsening symptoms of eczema during the winter.
Neither the scientists nor the underage participants nor their parents knew which group the children were divided into half of them received a daily dietary supplement with 25 µg of vitamin D (= 1000 IU), and the others were given a placebo.
Improve neurodermatitis with vitamin D
The young patients were examined at the beginning and end of the one-month study. In addition, the parents were asked about their impressions.
The children who received the vitamin D supplement had significantly fewer symptoms after one month than at the start of the study. Her neurodermatitis improved by an average of 29 percent, i.e. by almost a third.
In the control group that received the placebo, only a 16 percent improvement was observed.
The scientists had no data on the vitamin status of the study participants.
At the same time, however, another investigation was being conducted in Ulaanbaatar. It turned out that 98 percent of the participants suffered from a vitamin D deficiency. It can therefore be assumed that the participants in the neurodermatitis study did not have enough vitamin D in their bodies either.
It is practically impossible to cover the vitamin D requirement with food alone. In addition, in our latitudes it is already difficult in summer to get enough sunlight for the body’s own vitamin D formation – in winter it is almost impossible.
A dietary supplement with vitamin D is therefore recommended, at least during the cold season, and not only for neurodermatitis sufferers.
Intestinal fungus promotes neurodermatitis
In addition to a vitamin D deficiency, an intestinal fungus can also cause or worsen neurodermatitis symptoms.
Almost everyone has a fungus of the Candida albicans type in their intestines. However, healthy intestinal flora can keep the pathogen in check so that it cannot cause any major damage.
With a weakened intestinal flora, on the other hand, there is a risk that the fungus will multiply quickly and lead to health problems. This also increases the risk of neurodermatitis.
