Successful treatment of severe atopic dermatitis-complicated cataract and male infertility with a natural product antioxidant.

There has been a recent dramatic change in the features of atopic dermatitis and male infertility, including a marked increased prevalence of severe and treatment-resistant atopic dermatitis; an increase in severe atopic dermatitis complicated by cataracts, especially in urban and industrial areas; and an increase in the number of infertile men with poor sperm motility. Previously we have attributed these changes to the increased free radicals produced by environmental toxicity. We have reported the increase in lipid peroxide levels and decrease in superoxide dismutase inducibility in severe atopic dermatitis patients, and shown that lipid peroxides attach to the stratum corneum, promoting loss of skin moisturization and resulting in the worsening of atopic dermatitis. Cataracts which occur with severe atopic dermatitis are also formed by the diffusing of lipid peroxides through the posterior lens. Regarding aspermia, the standard levels of sperm motility according to the World Health Organization Guidelines have been reduced to 50% from 60%, but nonetheless the prevalence of infertile men is increasing. It has been reported that antioxidants such as ascorbate, catalase and glutathione-Px can reverse the decrease in sperm motility in the seminal plasma of infertile men. We have developed an oral antioxidant, named AOA, which is produced from natural plants and seeds (e.g., soybean, sesame, wheat germ), treated by heating with far infrared rays (4-14 microns wavelength), brewed with Aspergillus oryzae, and lipophilized with similarly heated sesame oil. These procedures liberate low-molecular-weight antioxidants that exist naturally in an inactive form of repeating subunits of polymers, to produce free, activated forms of antioxidants. This natural medicinal product, AOA, has been applied to the treatment of both cataract complicated with atopic dermatitis and male infertility. Approximately half the patients tested have shown marked improvement.