Dietary vitamin E may be protective against atopic dermatitis

Dietary intake of vitamin E may potentially lower the risk for atopic dermatitis, according to a study published online Aug. 9 in Skin Research & Technology.

Siqing Wang, from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, and colleagues conducted a Mendelian randomization analysis to explore the causal relationship between dietary antioxidant vitamin intake (vitamin C, vitamin E, carotene, and retinol) and atopic dermatitis.

The researchers observed a causal relationship between vitamin E intake and atopic dermatitis (odds ratio, 0.859; 95% confidence interval, 0.745 to 0.992; P = 0.038). No causal relationship was seen between the other three vitamins and atopic dermatitis (odds ratios [95% confidence intervals], 0.953 [0.826 to 1.099; P = 0.507], 1.011 [0.864 to 1.184; P = 0.890], and 1.063 [0.893 to 1.264; P = 0.492] for vitamin C, carotene, and retinol, respectively). In a sensitivity analysis, none of the single-nucleotide polymorphisms were detected as heterogeneous and no significant pleiotropy was observed.

“The analysis suggests that dietary intake of vitamin E could potentially reduce the risk of atopic dermatitis. Conversely, intake of vitamin C, retinol, and carotene does not appear to be causally related to atopic dermatitis,” the authors write. “Although vitamin E intake could be protective against atopic dermatitis, intake of dietary antioxidant vitamins to prevent or treat atopic dermatitis is not necessary.”

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