Psoriasis and the Carnivore Diet

What it feels like

The plaques come back no matter what you put on them. You wear long sleeves in summer. The pills and injections work for a while, and you worry about what they're doing to the rest of you. The people below have been there for decades.

Real people, real stories (N=1)

Our thesis

Our thesis: We think psoriasis is an autoimmune fire that the modern diet keeps feeding, through sugar, excess weight and gut inflammation, and that a meat-based diet may calm it for some people. This is understudied for carnivore: we know of no controlled trial of a carnivore diet for psoriasis. The research cited here tested very-low-calorie ketogenic diets, mostly in people with excess weight.

The bet

• A directional shift. The stories above come from real people, on camera and in their own words. They are anecdotes, but they point the same way, and we think that's worth taking seriously.
• Lower risk with your doctor in the loop. Eating meat, eggs, salt and water for a set trial period is a reversible experiment. Stopping biologics, methotrexate or strong topical steroids can cause a rebound flare, so any change goes through your dermatologist. The trial happens with your doctor in the loop, not around them; see the Safety check above for the details.
• Why the research is thin. Randomized trials are built for drugs and are expensive. No one can patent a steak, so the industry has little incentive to fund primal-diet research. A missing trial isn't proof that it works, and it isn't proof that it doesn't.
• The primal lens. The human body was shaped long before refined sugar, seed oils and ultra-processed food existed. We see the modern diet as the uncontrolled experiment, and a meat-based trial as a step back toward the conditions our biology evolved in.

Overview: the condition, holistically

Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune condition that speeds up skin cell growth, causing thick, scaly plaques, often on the elbows, knees, scalp and back. Some people also develop psoriatic arthritis. Commonly discussed contributors include genetics, stress, infections, smoking, alcohol and excess weight. Standard care includes topical steroids and other creams, light therapy, and systemic drugs such as methotrexate, apremilast and biologics.

How carnivore is claimed to help

What advocates say, attributed to them:

• Keto or paleo, heavy in good fats. At 5:27 Dr. Ken Berry says that in his practice, "what I have found that works for psoriatic patients is the keto diet… or the Paleo diet." (He frames this as keto or paleo, not strict carnivore.)
• Diet and the gut. At 0:34 Dr. Shawn Baker calls psoriasis "an autoimmune condition that attacks the skin and is often triggered by diet as well as gut inflammation," and points to a low-calorie ketogenic diet study.
• Skin shows it. At 0:44 Dr. Paul Saladino says you can look at someone with "eczema, psoriasis, acne" and "see a clear change in their skin" with diet.

Doctors and advocates

• Dr. Ken Berry

  Family physician; says keto or paleo diets heavy in good fats work best for his psoriasis patients.

• Dr. Shawn Baker

  Carnivore advocate and podcast host; reviews a ketogenic psoriasis study and hosts psoriasis stories.

• Dr. Paul Saladino

  MD; argues skin conditions, including psoriasis, are closely tied to diet.

Questions to ask your doctor

Ask: "Should I stay on my psoriasis treatment during a diet trial, and how would we judge whether it's helping?" "Should we screen my joints for psoriatic arthritis?" Not sure your concerns are being heard? See when to question the advice.

Try it

• Go through the Safety check above with your doctor before you start.
• Don't stop biologics, methotrexate or other psoriasis treatment on your own.
• Eat fatty meat, eggs, salt and water. Cut sugar, grains, seed oils and alcohol.
• Plan meals with the KC Meatup calculator, and find KC butchers and clinicians in the directory.
• Take weekly photos so you and your dermatologist can judge a 90-day trial.

Not medical advice

Personal stories, not medical advice. If you take medication (especially for blood sugar, blood pressure or mood), change your diet with your doctor in the loop.

Related conditions

Sources

Research

• Castaldo G et al. (2020). Effect of Very-Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diet on Psoriasis Patients: A Nuclear Magnetic Resonance-Based Metabolomic Study. Journal of Proteome Research. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jproteome.0c00646. 30 psoriasis patients followed for 4 weeks on a very-low-calorie ketogenic diet. No control group, and not carnivore.
• Castaldo G et al. (2016). Very low-calorie ketogenic diet may allow restoring response to systemic therapy in relapsing plaque psoriasis. Obesity Research & Clinical Practice. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2015.10.008. A single case report: a woman's response to adalimumab returned after 4 weeks on the diet. One patient, still on her medication.

Videos (all verified by oEmbed. Timestamps are confirmed against YouTube auto-captions. Quotes are from the auto-captions.)

• Psoriasis, Arthritis & Depression- 30 Years of Suffering REVERSED on Carnivore Diet, HomeSteadHow, uploaded 2024-06-14
• "The ONE Diet That Cured My Psoriasis, Vasculitis & Sugar Addiction - You Won't Believe What It Is!", Coach Stephen , uploaded 2023-02-20
• Psoriasis Healed! Carnivore Diet Win! Autoimmune Disease Controlled!, Nomad Carnivore, uploaded 2025-02-03
• Daniel A resolved psoriasis and improved cognition on a carnivore diet, Dr. Shawn Baker Podcast, uploaded 2021-05-30
• Battling Autoimmune Skin Conditions With Carnivore | Dr. Shawn Baker & Phillip, Dr. Shawn Baker Podcast, uploaded 2026-02-07
• The Psoriasis Diet. Better than Medicine?? 2026, KenDBerryMD, uploaded 2017-10-30
• A Diet That Treats Psoriasis - New Study, Shawn Baker MD, uploaded 2025-09-05
• Controversial Thoughts: Your skin issues are related to your diet!!, Paul Saladino MD, uploaded 2021-03-19