Eating broccoli or cabbage can reduce the severity of skin allergies, according to research presented today by the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm).

In this research, which has been published in the English-language scientific journal eLife, researchers from Inserm and the Institut Curie first demonstrated that a diet deficient in the components found in certain vegetables, mainly broccoli and cabbage, can worsen skin animal allergies.

It is already known that skin allergies are due to an exaggerated reaction of the immune system to substances present in the environment and that their degree of severity depends on many factors, such as diet.

In their research, the scientists were specifically interested in food components that react with a molecule present in our body, called the “aromatic hydrocarbon receptor or dioxin receptor (AhR). These ingredients are found in cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli.

They showed that the absence of these components in mice was associated with an increase in inflammation in the skin and worsening of skin allergies, which was not the case in mice whose diet included them.

“Our results show that an unbalanced diet can intensify allergic skin reactions in humans,” commented Elondi Segoura, an Inserm researcher who led this research at the Institut Curie.