Diet restriction leads to complete remission in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria

Personalised exclusion diets specific to symptoms/allergy test may result in complete remission of chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), reports a new study published in the journal Acta Dermato-Venereologica.

Strategies for diets in chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) are controversial. This systematic review assessed the interest in the diet for managing CSU. The investigators extracted the data from for original reports in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL and LILACS.

Among the 278 reports screened, 20 were included, involving 1,734 patients. Reports described 3 types of systematic diet: pseudoallergen-free diet,low-histamine diet and diet without fish products, which induced complete remission in 4.8%, 11.7% and 10.6% of patients, respectively, and partial remission in 37.0%, 43.9%, and 4.3%.

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Eight reports described personalized exclusion diets (66 patients) adapted to symptoms/allergological test results and led to complete remission in 74.6% of patients. No comparative randomized studies of diets were available. The only randomized studies were based on oral provocation tests with the suspected responsible diet. Population and outcomes were heterogeneous.

“There is evidence for the benefit of diets in CSU only in individual patients with clinical symptoms. However, the level of evidence is low for the benefit of systematic diets in CSU because systematic double-blind controlled trials of diet are lacking,” write the authors.

Chronic urticaria is a debilitating disease characterized by itching and hives with or without angioedema lasting for more than 6 weeks. The disease carries a significant emotional and economic burden for the patient.

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http://www.medicaljournals.se/acta/content/abstract/10.2340/00015555-3015