Tara, known as 40BelowFruity on Youtube, tells of having cystic acne for seven years, despite having been on antibiotic medication to treat it all that time. On starting a raw vegan diet her acne started to clear, and after four months her skin was clear. She reports, “my skin is now glowing.” (1)
The link between diet and acne
Acne is a common skin condition: more than 85% of adolescents suffer from it, with a moderate to severe case in 15-20% of patients. It’s not confined to adolescents, as it effects 64% of people in their twenties, 53% in their 30s, and 3-5% in their 40s. (2)
Multiple factors cause acne, including heredity, hormonal balance, cosmetics, and stress. In the 1930s-1960s diet was thought to be the primary cause, with particular foods like chocolate or French fries fingered as the primary cause of breakouts. While this simplistic view has fallen out of favor, modern studies confirm that diet has an effect on acne.
A 2013 literature review entitled “Acne: The Role of Medical Nutrition Therapy” confirmed the link between diet and acne, pointing to foods with high glycemic loads and dairy products as the primary dietary culprits in exacerbating acne. (3) “Carbohydrates Emerge as the Main Culprit” announces a review article from April 2014 (2). Other studies from around the world similarly report that high glycemic load foods, dairy, refined sugar, and oily foods worsen acne. (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)
How it can work for you
All people are different and have different dietary and lifestyle needs, so becoming familiar with your body’s needs and listening to your intuition is essential. The NYU study team concludes, “At this time, the best approach is to address each acne patient individually, carefully considering the possibility of dietary counseling.” (3) As 40BelowFruity says, “Understanding our own intuition is something that comes with time, experimenting and trusting our inner guidance system to tell us what we need. […] Always ask the question, how does xyz make me feel.” (11)
An iPhone app is available to help you make food choices right for you: the “diet & acne” app condenses data from peer-reviewed research studies to answer whether scientific studies have linked acne to a given food or food component. It was developed at Northwestern University and is available from the iTunes store for free. In 2013 between April 1–August 31 the app was downloaded to 5,507 devices in 98 different countries. (12)
Sources for this article include:
(1) www.youtube.com
(2) jddonline.com
(3) steinhardt.nyu.edu
(4) science.naturalnews.com
(5) science.naturalnews.com
(6) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
(7) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
(8) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
(9) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
(10) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
(11) www.youtube.com
(12) www.northwestern.edu
( http://www.rawfoodhealthwatch.com/ )
