London - Seven-year-old Callum Lowe loves to swim. He can splash about in his trunks without anyone giving him a second glance - and that, for him, is quite something.
Since the age of two, Callum has been plagued by psoriasis, which at times has caused patches of red, chickenpox-like skin to cover 60 percent of his body.
Psoriasis is caused by overactive immune cells - as a result production of skin cells speeds up, and because they are not shed as quickly as they are made, areas of scaly red and white patches develop.
A third of those affected have a family history of the disease, but there are other causes such as stress or injury.
‘It wasn’t terribly itchy - it was more unsightly than anything,’ says his mother Karen, 33. ‘Callum’s friends were used to it, but on one occasion, I heard another parent in the park say to her child: “Don’t play with him”. It was so hurtful.’
Doctors had tried steroid creams, light therapy and even immuno-suppressant drugs. While these worked briefly, within weeks the psoriasis would return.
But today, Callum is psoriasis free - and it’s not new drugs or lotions that brought this about. It was a change to his diet.
Earlier this year Karen, who is also a psoriasis sufferer, heard about the new Channel 4 series The Food Hospital, where people with a variety of complaints were ‘treated’ by changes to their diet.
‘I must admit, I didn’t expect it to work,’ says Karen, a full-time mom from Leatherhead, Surrey. ‘However, Callum’s psoriasis was even worse than mine and we thought we had nothing to lose.’
Dietitians prescribed Karen and Callum a diet to help reduce inflammation, which is thought to trigger the overgrowth of skin cells. Oily fish, turmeric, cinnamon and fruit and vegetables have anti-inflammatory properties.
‘Psoriasis sufferers have high levels of unstable molecules called free radicals circulating in their system which can add to the inflammation in their body,’ explains Lucy Jones, a specialist dietitian at the Whittington NHS Trust in North London who worked on The Food Hospital. ‘Fruit and vegetables contain antioxidants which make up for that.’
Karen and Callum also began taking 500mg fish oil supplements - research shows high dosage of the oils has the best effect with psoriasis. Karen, a keen cook, didn’t think the changes overly complicated.
‘Before, Callum would have had white toast or cereal for breakfast, a ham sandwich for lunch and maybe spaghetti bolognese for tea. After the show, a typical day might be fresh fruit salad, or French toast with lots of cinnamon for breakfast, then homemade soup and bread for lunch and either homemade salmon fishcakes for tea - salmon has anti-inflammatory properties - or spaghetti bolognese, but with extra hidden vegetables in the sauce, and served with brown not white pasta.
‘He also eats pumpkin seeds [another source of omega 3 oils] like sweets and is probably having two or three more portions of oily fish and a portion or two more of fruit and veg a day than he was.’
The effects were dramatic. ‘Within a week I could see an improvement,’ says Karen. ‘Now four months on his skin is clear. My skin has cleared up dramatically, too - for me it was on my face and arms. A friend said the other day how clear it looks.’
Sceptics may say that their psoriasis has cleared up as a happy coincidence. However, the idea of using food as medicine is one gathering steam among the scientific community, with researchers looking at how it can help treat conditions from halitosis to autism and even multiple sclerosis.
For instance, Arthritis Research UK is funding research to discover whether sulforaphane - a compound found in vegetables such as broccoli - could help to slow the development of osteoarthritis as it’s thought to block the enzyme that causes the destruction of joints.
Other studies have suggested that a low carbohydrate diet can help with ankylosing spondylitis, another form of arthritis, as it discourages the growth of a bacteria thought to play a key part in the disease.
‘Research is taking nutrition into the area of evidence-based medicine,’ says Dr George Grimble, a biochemist from the centre for gastroenterology and nutrition at University College, London.
‘Oily fish is a good example. The oils help switch off the gene that triggers inflammation in the body and that is why it is being used with inflammatory conditions such as Crohn’s disease. We know beetroot can help relax the blood vessels and so reduce blood pressure. There’s also research ongoing into the use of blueberries for dementia.’
There are some conditions for which diet is now an established part of treatment, says Dr Susan Jebb, a nutrition scientist with the Medical Research Council.
‘We have found that with conditions such as metabolic syndrome (where people have high-cholesterol blood pressure, obesity and diabetes) there are some benefits to increasing the amount of oily fish and fibre in the diet as this will increase the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the ‘good’ form of cholesterol.’
Another condition where changes to diet can work for some is irritable bowel syndrome, a disorder of the function of the gut that can lead to bloating, wind and urgency or constipation. For a year Rianna Ash, 16, from Eastleigh, Hampshire, had irritable bowel syndrome so badly that she often had to miss school. ‘Two or three times a day, I would get bad cramps in my stomach that felt as if someone was twisting my insides - it was agony,’ says Rianna.
Doctors were unable to pin down exactly what was wrong and Rianna got more and more depressed about her condition.
Dietitian Lucy Jones suggested she take daily probiotics - ‘friendly’ bacteria - to help soothe her gut. She was put on to a strain called bifidobacterium infantis 35624.
The theory behind this is that the symptoms are in part due to an imbalance of bacteria in the gut and probiotics help remedy this.
Rianna was also asked to eat a healthier diet to help regulate bowel function, as high fat or sugary foods can also trigger IBS symptoms.
Rianna was eating home-cooked meals in the evening, but says her packed lunches were mainly white bread sandwiches and chocolate bars. So she started taking fruit every day and sometimes swapped sandwiches for tuna pasta salad.
She says: ‘Within three or four days I noticed a difference. Now my cramping has almost stopped - I get it maybe two or three times a week, and my energy levels are so much better.’
There has also been an unexpected side-effect. Rianna used to get occasional patches of alopecia and since 2009 had a big patch that went up from the base of her hairline at the back.
After starting the new diet the hair started to grow back. She says: ‘I have no idea if it was the healthier diet that helped, but if not it was a big coincidence.’
Lucy Jones admits that not everyone who went through The Food Hospital has had such a good outcome. ‘We saw a woman with chronic fatigue who we gave probiotics and dark chocolate, as there was some research that found this may help. However, it made not a jot of difference.
‘This goes to show that treating with diet might work for some, but it will not necessarily work for all.’
Callum’s mom Karen, though, is eternally grateful that she gave it a go. ‘It’s only when I compare his clear skin to the way he was that I realise how bad it was,’ she says. - Daily Mail
* The Food Hospital Simple Delicious Recipes For A Healthy Life by Gio Miletto, Lucy Jones and Shaw Somers (Michael Joseph)