Evening primrose oil for atopic dermatitis

doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7428.1358

BMJ 2003;327:1358-1359 (13 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7428.1358

Editorial

Evening primrose oil for atopic dermatitis

Time to say goodnight

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

With concerns about using topical corticosteroids for atopicdermatitis sometimes reaching phobic proportions,¹ the emergenceof a natural plant oil extract as a possible alternative treatmentwas well received in the early 1980s.^2
3 Interest was fuelledbecause evening primrose oil extract (containing 8-10% of gammalinolenic acid (GLA)) appeared to cause few side effects andbecause there was a very plausible mechanism to explain whysupplementation with this essential fatty acid might work inatopic dermatitis.⁴ The scene was therefore set for a new treatment,and physicians like myself were delighted to have another optionto offer patients with this miserable condition.

Since then many studies have evaluated the efficacy of oralgamma linolenic acid supplementation for atopic dermatitis,with conflicting results. Fifteen studies (10 dealing with eveningprimrose oil, and five with borage oil, which contains evenhigher concentrations of GLA) were summarised in a systematicreview of atopic . . . [Full text of this article]

Hywel C Williams, professor of dermatoepidemiology

Centre of Evidence-Based Dermatology, University Hospital, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH (hywel.williams@nottingham.ac.uk)

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Gluud, L. L. (2006). Bias in Clinical Intervention Research. Am J Epidemiol 163: 493-501 [Abstract] [Full text]
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