Fig Leaf Tea Improves Symptom Severity in Adults with Atopic Dermatitis

by | Jan 10, 2023 | Skin Health

Written by Taylor Woosley, Staff Writer. 8-week intervention of 500 mL fig leaf tea once daily resulted in significantly lower scores on the Eczema Area and Severity Index at week 4 (p=0.028) and week 8 (p=0.012). 

drinking teaAtopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic relapsing and remitting inflammatory skin disease, with the US prevalence of AD reported to be 11.3%-12.7% in adults1. AD is caused by a complex interaction of immune dysregulation, epidermal gene mutations, and environmental factors that disrupts the epidermic causing intensely pruritic skin lesions2. Major contributors to skin barrier abnormalities include decreased filaggrin, ceramides, and antimicrobial peptides, along with increased serine protease and disordered tight junctions3. The burden of symptoms may be profound and includes depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and a reduced quality of life4.

The leaves of figs (Ficus carica L.) have been widely used for medicinal purposes and its decoction is often consumed as tea5. Numerous bioactive compounds including phenolic compounds, phytosterols, free amino acids, and fatty acids are present in the leaves of F. carica6. Furthermore, the high total phenolic content found in the plant provides anti-inflammatory properties through inhibiting the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α and PGE27.

Abe et al. conducted a double-blind, randomized, parallel two-arm, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the safety and AD-relieving effects of prolonged fig tea leaf consumption in patients experiencing mild AD. Inclusion criteria consisted of being between 20 and 56 years old, who were currently experiencing symptoms of AD in the range of 2-15 on the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) evaluated by a dermatologist. Primary outcomes included changes in EASI values. Secondary outcomes consisted of reduced scores for The Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questionnaires.

The study length was 12 weeks, with an 8-week intervention period and a 4-week non-intervention observation period. During the intervention period, subjects (n=30) were randomly assigned to one of two groups and asked to ingest 500 mL of either fig leaf tea (n=15) or a placebo (n=15) daily. Participants visited the clinic for examinations and collected blood and urine samples before intervention (week 0), week 4, week 8, and during the non-intervention period (week 12). The Mann-Whitney U test or the t-test was utilized to compare the fig leaf tea and placebo-treated groups. The Friedman test or repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare the variation at each time point relative to the values before intervention. Significant findings of the study are as follows:

  • An improvement in EASI was noted in the fig leaf tea group compared with the placebo group. Changes in EASI in the fig leaf group was -1.7 ±3 at week 4 and -3.1 ± 3.2 at week 8, indicating a significant decrease in the fig leaf group.
  • There was a significant decrease in AST levels in the fig leaf tea group (-1.7 ±3 U/L) compared with placebo (1.1 ± 3.2 U/L) at week 8 (p=0.022).
  • Furthermore, LDH levels significantly decreased in the fig leaf tea group (-10.4 ±6 U/L) compared to placebo (4.3 ± 19.9 U/L) at week 8 (p=0.037).
  • No significant differences were observed between the two groups using the POEM or VAS questionnaires.

Study findings show that 8-week consumption of 500 mL of fig leaf tea daily significantly reduced EASI values in subjects with mild AD. Further research should continue to explore the efficacy of fig leaf tea on atopic dermatitis in study trials with a larger number of subjects to obtain clinically meaningful results.

Source: Abe, Tatsuya, Yukari Koyama, Kosaku Nishimura, Aya Okiura, and Toru Takahashi. “Efficacy and Safety of Fig (Ficus carica L.) Leaf Tea in Adults with Mild Atopic Dermatitis: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Preliminary Trial.” Nutrients 14, no. 21 (2022): 4470.

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

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Posted January 10, 2023.

Taylor Woosley studied biology at Purdue University before becoming a 2016 graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a major in Writing. She currently resides in Glen Ellyn, IL.

References:

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