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Dietary intake of vitamin E may potentially lower the risk for atopic dermatitis, according to a study. Siqing Wang and colleagues conducted a Mendelian randomization analysis to explore the causal relationship between dietary antioxidant vitamin intake (vitamin C, vitamin E, carotene, and retinol) and atopic dermatitis. The researchers observed a causal relationship between vitamin E intake and atopic dermatitis (odds ratio, 0.859; 95% confidence interval, 0.745 to 0.992; P = 0.038). No causal relationship was seen between the other three vitamins and atopic dermatitis (odds ratios [95% confidence intervals], 0.953 [0.826 to 1.099; P = 0.507], 1.011 [0.864 to 1.184;...

THE FACTS: It may not exactly be a household name, but evening primrose, a bright yellow plant native to North America, has a large following in the alternative medicine world. The seeds of the plant contain essential fatty acids, which are used to make an oil that has a variety of uses as a dietary supplement and folk remedy. Its most popular use may be for eczema, the skin condition that affects as many as one in five people. Widely marketed and easy to find, primrose oil contains gamma linoleic acid, which is thought to help reduce skin inflammation without...