Adultpatients with AD and healthy controls were enrolled. Patients were prohibited from eatingfoods with high amounts of histamine for 4 weeks. There were no diet restrictions for the controls. The eczema area and severity index (EASI) and degree of pruritus using the visual analogue scale (VAS) were evaluated. Plasmahistamine levels and diamine oxidase (DAO) activity were determined, and compared with those of the control group.
RESULTS:
Seventeen adultpatients were recruited and of these, 12 completed the 4-week histamine-free diet. There was no significant difference in the basal plasmahistamine levels between the patients and controls. Basal DAO activity was significantly higher in patients compared to the controls. There was no significant difference in plasmahistamine levels after the histamine free-diet and DAO activity was not altered. Moreover, EASI and VAS were similar before and after the histamine-free diet.