Foods High in Sugar and Fat Disrupt the Gut Microbiome and Trigger Psoriasis Flares

The new findings suggest that switching to a more balanced diet restores the gut’s health and suppresses skin inflammation.

Diets rich in sugar and fat may lead to an imbalance in the gut’s microbial culture and contribute to inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis, according to a new study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

The findings suggest that switching to a more balanced diet restores the gut’s health and suppresses skin inflammation.

“Earlier studies have shown that Western diet, characterized by its high sugar and fat content, can lead to significant skin inflammation and psoriasis flares,” says Sam T. Hwang, MD, PhD, professor and chair of dermatology at UC Davis Health and senior author on the study, in a news release. “Despite having powerful anti-inflammatory drugs for the skin condition, our study indicates that simple changes in diet may also have significant effects on psoriasis.”

Since bacteria in the gut may play key roles in shaping inflammation, the researchers wanted to test whether intestinal dysbiosis affects skin and joint inflammation. They used a mouse model to study the effect of diet on psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. They injected mice with Interleukin-23 (IL-23) minicircle DNA to induce a response mimicking psoriasis-like skin and joint diseases.

Dr. Hwang and his colleagues found that a short-term Western diet appears sufficient to cause microbial imbalance and to enhance susceptibility to IL-23‒mediated psoriasis-like skin inflammation.

“There is a clear link between skin inflammation and changes in the gut microbiome due to food intake,” Hwang says. “The bacterial balance in the gut disrupted shortly after starting a Western diet, and worsened psoriatic skin and joint inflammation.”

One critical finding of their work was identifying the intestinal microbiota as a pathogenic link between diet and the displays of psoriatic inflammation. The study also found that antibiotics block the effects of the Western diet, reducing skin and joint inflammation.

Is the damage caused by an unhealthy diet reversible?

The researchers wanted to test if switching to a balanced diet can restore the gut microbiota, despite the presence of IL-23 inflammatory proteins. They fed mice a Western diet for six weeks before giving them an IL-23-inducing agent to trigger psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis features. Then, they randomly divided the mice into two groups: a group that continued the Western diet for another four weeks and a group that switched to a balanced diet for the same duration.

Their study showed that eating a diet high in sugar and fat for 10 weeks predisposed mice to skin and joint inflammation. Mice that were switched to a balanced diet had less scaling of the skin and reduced ear thickness than mice on a Western diet. The improvement in skin inflammation for mice taken off the Western diet indicates a short-term impact of the Western diet on skin inflammation.

This suggests that changes in diet could partially reverse the proinflammatory effects and alteration of gut microbiota caused by the Western diet.

“It was quite surprising that a simple diet modification of less sugar and fat may have significant effects on psoriasis,” says Zhenrui Shi, visiting assistant researcher in the UC Davis Department of Dermatology and lead author on the study. “These findings reveal that patients with psoriatic skin and joint disease should consider changing to a healthier dietary pattern.”