It is no surprise that what you may eat can affect the interior of your bodies, but what about our skin? Everyone likes to have smooth and clean skin, but applying some cream to the affected areas might not be the solution. It’s time to look at what is included in your diet and how that food could be escalating the problem. It’s long been thought in the dermatology world that there was no such link between certain foods and acne, but that may not be true. Loren Cordain, a professor of health and exercise, out of Colorado State University, assembled a team of researchers to conduct a study to see if there was in fact an association to acne from eating.
What the team did was take a group of 1,200 Kitavan Islanders of Papua New Guinea, 300 of them being ages 15 to 25, and 115 Ache hunter-gatherers of Paraguay, 15 of them being ages of 15 to 25 as well. The results showed none of them had acne, which is shocking compared to the 80-95% of American teens that do have it. Wanting to know why this is, the team took a look at the two groups and analyzed their diets. For the first group, being the Kitavan Islanders, diet consisted of fish, fruit, tubers and minimal amount of processed foods. On the contrary, Ache hunter-gatherers ate vegetables, peanuts, rice, and hunted some animals along with pasta, bread and sugar, but these three things were only on occasion. Cordain used this information to back up his claim that the reason for no acne was attributed to the contents of their diets. He elaborates, “they rarely ate refined carbohydrates like breads and sweets that have a “high glycemic load” — meaning they cause blood sugar levels to surge.” Why does Cordain believe that no other routines in their daily lives is the reason for no acne? By having a lack of carbohydrates in the diet decreases the chance of having elevated sugar levels. When sugar levels rise, the pancreas begins to increase the production of insulin more hormones are let off from the body. The result of this would be a greater presence of oil on the skin, thereby clogging cores. According to Cordain, the same can be said by examining the diets Pacific Islanders and South American Indians who have adopted Western diets had an acne problem like in the United States. The same could be said about Eskimos.
Consuming to much dairy can also be a precursor to horrible acne. According to two controlled trials, cow’s milk actually made people’s acne increase as well as how bad it would be. The issue with consuming too much milk is that it is loaded with hormones, 60 to be exact. Many of these hormones are androgens (like testosterone) and growth hormones such as insulin, for example growth factor 1 (IGF-1). As mentioned above we know that too much insulin can be a bad thing for our skin. The scary part is that there isn’t a little increase in insulin, but a jump to 300%! This can be backed up by another study done on 10,000 boys and girls who were 9 to 15 years of age. The more milk they drank the greater the breakout of acne was. Of course like many other joys in life, most things are fine in moderation and can help with different areas of our health, but there is such a thing as having to much. So avoiding carbs, dairy, and sugar more than before is a necessity. If you are looking for replacement food for a better diet and a reduction in the chance of developing acne I would recommend eating foods like yogurt which reduces outbreaks, walnuts which contain omega-3 fats and B vitamins that help strengthen skin cells to prevent moisture from prevailing, papaya, raspberries, avocado, chia seeds which attack against wrinkles, eggs smooth out the skin, and many more great items are out there to try as well. 
Sources:
http://drhyman.com/blog/2011/02/11/do-milk-and-sugar-cause-acne/
https://lukbeautifood.com/food-active/skin-food/
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3076467/ns/health-special_reports/t/does-what-you-eat-affect-your-skin/#.VmC7TNzoTGk
I can really attest to this; recently after Halloween and all the candy and sugary drinks finally hit my skin and I started breaking out for the first time since High School. It seems that eating snickers and laffy taffy weren’t the smartest decisions for my complexion as the sugar in these candies were unhealthy for my skin. All the inflammation from the glucose in those candies might have produced enzymes that break down collagen and elastin, resulting in sagging skin and wrinkles. All the inflammation from the glucose in those candies might have produced enzymes that break down collagen and elastin, resulting in sagging skin and wrinkles.
“You are what you eat.” ,there definitely have some very strong correlation between what you eat and your skin condition. Back to my home country, People who do not eat spicy food tend to get a better skin, vice versa. In your article, you did not mention if the sample cover all the races. because of different groups of people, things could be different.
Acne is the worst. We all strive to get rid of the acne on our faces and bodies. Anywhere from a routine facial to purchasing proactive we all do within our means to keep a clear face. The problem that you addressed, that many people do not take into consideration, is the fact that food you eat affects your skin. Foods high in skin-strengthening Omega-3 fatty acids have been proven to clear your skin. On the other hand, bad habits such as smoking and drinking have been linked to bad skin conditions… So be aware. http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/beauty/anti-aging/tips/g1273/surprising-things-ruin-skin/
Hydration can help clear the skin
I found this article very interesting and helpful. I may in fact start trying to eat a little healthier since it offers some additional health benefits. I conducted some follow up research of my own to find that water is also extremely good for the skin. Here’s an article from BBC that shows how staying hydrated can help rid your body of harmful toxins and improve skin condition.
This article stood out to me because a majority of my high school years were spent researching how to get rid of my acne. All of my friends had beautiful clear skin, and I was still suffering breakouts up until my senior year. I would like to consider myself an un-licensed dermatologist, but of course I’m far from it. My only problem with this study is the origin of the people. It is often said that the sun can dry up acne, so if these people spent a lot of time in the sun, they would in turn be more likely to have nicer skin. Also, salt water is also said to try up acne, which could contribute to the nicer skin. I think these two factors should’ve been taken into consideration. Of course, it is a perfect baseline for continuing studies on what foods effect skin. Maybe, another experiment could take a group of 2,000 or so kids and have half the kids continue a regular diet, and half cut out excess dairy, sugars or carbs. It would also be important to take into consideration any medicines people might be taking– such as if a girl is on birth control, that could have an effect on her skin, or if a guy is on steroids. Also, it would be important to regulate the type of face products used by the participants so that there is only one changing variable– diet, (When I say regulating the face products, I mean making sure they do not switch to a stronger face wash or some kind of product that may help the clearing of skin). This article does a great job describing all the other factors that influence a persons skin, such as genetic and environmental factors. While I believe this is a good foundation and hypothesis in terms of acne, there is still much research that could be done.
I found this blog posting interesting and relatable! I have had acne basically since 7th grade and I can’t seem to shake it. After reading this article, I now believe part of it has to do with my diet. i don’t tend to eat that much fruits or vegetables so I can understand why some of my acne is still here.However, I don’t believe what you eat is a direct causation to your acne problem. I think acne in the experiment s are the dependent variables in this case. This article here explains the relationship between diet and acne.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2836431/
As of now there are varying reports regarding diet and it’s causation to acne, but as of now, the debate is still active and the results are still unclear. I think other causes of acne can be how often you wash your face and how active you are. Someone who lies around, and doesn’t clean themselves will most likely have acne. Diet is a huge part of it, but it’s not the single cause of it.
This is a great post. I recently have been going in and out of break outs on my face with no resolution. Using products or not using products to help the break outs seem to not matter. They just come and go. This post may have just solved my problem. I am now going to look into a better diet which consists of low dairy and oily foods.