ABOVE: A baby's foot with a patch of atopic dermatitis
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Over the past 50 years, the frequency of allergies and autoimmune diseases has risen rapidly, but it’s not clear why. In a study published today (February 20) in Science Translational Medicine, researchers point to a possible culprit: salt. The authors found in lab experiments that high concentrations of sodium chloride can influence the differentiation of T helper 2 (Th2) cells, the immune cells responsible for allergies, and that high levels of salt are present in the affected skin of people with atopic dermatitis, an allergic skin condition.
“These are the sorts of studies that I love because it’s so completely different, and that’s what we need because really there hasn’t been much progress in understanding this epidemic of allergic disease,” says Charles Mackay, an immunologist at Monash University in Australia who did not participate in the work. In ...
