Fasting to Heal Dermatitis: A Case Study Summary
Within the past few years, many people have shared their stories about how fasting has helped them successfully heal their skin.
Unfortunately, not a lot of scientific research has been done on the benefits of fasting for inflammatory skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, and topical steroid withdrawal. However, in 2003, Japanese researchers gave it a try. This blog post will summarize a case study where Japanese researchers looked at the potential benefits of short-term fasts to help manage a patient with longterm atopic dermatitis.
To read the full study: CLICK HERE
The Patient:
The patient in this case study is a 23 year old female. She was first diagnosed with atopic dermatitis at the age of 3. She used prescribed corticosteroid creams up until the age of 17. At this point, the creams seemed to have stopped working and so she stopped using them. This is a classical case of topical steroid withdrawal!
The Study Method:
Researchers wanted to determine if repeated short-term fasts would help reduce the patient’s dermatitis. The study consisted of fasting 1 day per week for a total of 20 weeks (5 months).
During the fasting day every week, the patient drank a special soup broth made from the following ingredients: water, dried seaweed, dried mushrooms, soy sauce, and sugar. Some of you may argue that she is not fasting since she is drinking this soup broth during her fasting day. That is a 100% reasonable claim to make. However, the researchers decided that this still counts as fasting because she is not “eating” anything and the caloric intake for the day is kept under 200 calories total. Ultimately, it is up to you to make your own conclusions about this study.
The patient was also allowed unlimited water and persimmon herbal tea during her fasting day. No other changes were made to her lifestyle and she continued to not use any medications such as corticosteroid creams.
The Results:
The patient’s atopic dermatitis was scored before and after the fasting day each week using the SCORAD index, which is commonly used by doctors and researchers to rate the severity of dermatitis. SCORAD stands for “SCORing Atopic Dermatitis”. The higher the score, the worse the dermatitis.
Open Circle: SCORAD before weekly fast
Closed Circle: SCORAD after weekly fast
Note: Higher SCORAD score = worse dermatitis severity
By the end of the 20 week study, the patient had reduced her SCORAD index from 48 to 34. This is a great improvement! It may be difficult to imagine the improvements because there are no images but this score reduction represents the patient going from “severe” atopic dermatitis to “moderate” atopic dermatitis.
The patient also reported weight loss of 3.5 kg (8 pounds) as well as less daytime itchiness and improved sleep.
What would happen if the patient continued to fast one day per week for another 20 weeks? Although we cannot assume anything, it is definitely possible that the patient’s skin would continue to improve.
One thing you must remember is “what works for one person, may not work for another”. This patient may have had great improvements by fasting one day a week but that does not mean you will. If you want to try fasting, we recommend working with a healthcare professional who is knowledgable in both inflammatory skin conditions AND fasting. They will be able to design a fasting protocol for you and also monitor you throughout it. There are a variety of different ways to fast and you will benefit the most when you find the right one for you.
If you want to work with us here at Fighting Eczema, feel free to contact us to learn more about our Fighting Eczema programs. Keep fighting! Good luck!
