Dear SweetJade1980, what you have written is the most interesting information I have EVER read about acne and the connection with diet! I have read a lot and most think I am whacko because I already follow a pretty strict diet because of candida problems. I did not go to EVERY link you posted however I have long suspected that diet is the trigger for tons of health problems including acne. I know you said "I opted not to mention many specific foods..." However, I have been following a zero sugar/ yeast diet for years and my acne comes and goes. I have not eliminated grains though and you (or someone) noted that may be a large trigger. I usually don't eat bananas but when I was vacationing in Calf last year I had a banana every day for about 7 days and my acne was out of control! No wonder!!!! Is there a place to START your diet and what to be SURE to initially eliminate and be eating plenty of?

Hey SweetJade, very nice to see you again...I missed you, remember the Fish Report? lol wow that was about 4 yrs ago (too bad about absoluteacneinfo)...anyway I am 100% behind diet playing a role in acne (as I am about stress, and its effects on the liver and endocrine system) and have since experimented with altering my diet and trying certain supps to see their effects on acne...

I noticed Sesamin (sesame seed lignan, that regulates PPARalpha) really dubbed acne (and the intensity of the zits)

Beta-Sitosterol (plant phytosterol, known for reducing DHT activity by binding to 5ARs, not sure if it does to both isozymes) really helps take out excess oil (because my diet is still not perfect), but KILLS libido and erection quality

Flax Seed Lignans (SDG more particularly, supposedly good for hairloss, also helps regulate DHT and other hormones that are pre cursors of Testosterone)

Still on fish oil 4-8g a day of concentrated salmon body oils

Though I do protein shakes now, one being hydrolyzed whey (pro-score 100, allergan free as in lactose and lactobumin) protein, and also a caesin based protein (muscle milk, has lactoferrin and colostrum added)

I try to get whole grain oats as much as possible for energy and calories (for muscle gain, its a staple of bodybuilders), eat oranges and bananas, yoghurt (also take probiotics with FOS twice daily), fruit juices, natural peanut butter (for protein) and unfortunately whole wheat toast (for PBJ sandwiches)..I want to mix this up more because I hear it is best to have a varied diet...things to note, raw tuna (from can in water) breaks me out bad, in deep cystic acne (not oiler skin or little white heads), as does cheese (esp mozzarella)..would you trace this back to food allergies? or a liver malfunction?

PS I am doing liver flushes now, just did my second, alotta NASTY sludge and stones in there! jeez, also noticed years ago my eyes got slightly jaundiced, ie a stone blockage perhaps or a weakened liver? this happened when i was 17 (almost 23 now), I trace it back to poor diet and STRESS (esp from acne back then), thoughts?

Thanks SweetJade you always have and still do ROCK

I don't mean to rain on anybody's parade, but don't you feel that obsessing to this degree over your acne and cutting out so many large parts of your diet is only going to harm your body further?

Nope, nothing. I drink a ton of milk. Acne doesn't change whether I have zero, or four glasses a day.

Well, I just wanted to add that diet has worked for me. My story...

I'm a 32yo female. I started breaking out (face and body) when I was 13yo. I was eventually prescribed Dianette at 19yo, which worked wonders. I went off it at 23yo thinking my acne was gone. No way. Within 3mths it was back with a fury. I went back on Dianette and it worked 80%. I was still getting breakouts occasionally on my face, neck, chest and back. I went on a course of Roaccutane when I was 28yo. But within 3mths afterwards, the 20% acne returned. Manageable though, nothing too horrendous, but irritating just the same. I've tried small dietary changes over the years (drinking ACV, taking more fish oil etc etc), but none worked completely, small improvements. I'm planning to have children in the next year or so, so the date to come off Dianette was looming. I was a bit scared. Anyway, I had a tough year personally last year and was suffering some moderate depression and so started taking St John's Wort a few months ago (worked a treat, feeling back to my usual optimistic self) - SJW can interfere with the absorption of the pill, and in my case it did, but slowly over a few mths (SJW builds up slowly in the body). I could tell because I was menstruating out of cycle (never happens), so I was contemplating coming off the pill altogether and deal with this skin issue once and for all. In preparation and after reading and researching alot (including here - thanks SweetJade), I decided to cut all refined sugar and wheat from my diet. I wasn't an overeater of these products compared to others (I had always considered myself a healthy eater), but its insidious. And this is what happened in the week that followed. My skin started to get really oily and I started to gain more breakouts on my face and body. And then, after a week, my skin started going into spontaneous healing. Looking and feeling really good. I stopped taking the pill a few days ago permanently. I have also been taking supplements regularly, but I've been doing that for ages. My skin is far less oily and I've had no new breakouts for quite a few days now, which is new territory.

Anyone with already massively broken out skin is going to take quite a bit longer than me to have the positive effects kick in, I would imagine.

I'm totally convinced that refined foods in the modern western diet is to blame, and the fact that not everyone in the west suffers acne because of their diet is simply due to what genetic predisposition their body has for expressing ill-health. For me, it's acne (at least, god knows what else a crappy western diet has been doing to my insides).

When I go to the supermarket now, it's unbelievable to notice how many aisles are filled with foods made 80% of sugar and/or refined grains. It's just bad for the human body. Wholesome foods are the key.

Some people's systems will be so messed up, they will probably have to go on an extremely pure diet for some time before they see lasting results, I would imagine. My diet was o-k, but just had too much refined sugar, I think.

As SweetJade says, everybody is unique and will have to experiment with their diet to see what works for them, some will have to go further than others.

By the way, Sweet Jade, I do hope you go on to work in the health industry, you are extremely articulate, intelligent and sensitive in the way you communicate. You'd be great! You already are doing a great service to this forum.

Anyway, I know it's early days with my skin improvements, so I'll put a reminder in my palm pilot to report back on things in 3 and 6 mths time. As I've just come off the pill (after pretty much 13yrs), I'm going to be seeing a naturopath for herbs to help balance my reproductive hormones more quickly back into their usual cycle, but I'm hopeful that a healthier diet will help me to ease back with little trouble...

Pinky

wurd

Hi, Pinky...I know it's still early, but do you have any updates?

Hi Melissa,

Yes, still going strong. I've been on the no refined sugar (and most refined grains) diet for a month now. I feel great for it, too.

I went to friends' for dinner last weekend, and indulged in 1/2 glass of white wine, and 1/2 chocolate pudding and scoop of ice-cream, breaking the diet for the first time. Two and a half days later, I had blocked pores on my neck and chest. But as I ingested no more sugars after that, they started to fall out (scratched away by the tip of my fingernail actually) about 2 days after that. So, a clear signal that sugar was playing a role.

I've now been off the pill (Diane) for 3wks. I've been to see my naturopath and she's got me on liver-cleansing herbs for 5wks to help clean me out thoroughly, and I'm running 4 times a week as well, which I think must speed the process a bit, too. The naturopath will put me on hormone balancing herbs for a couple of months in about 3wks time, but that is mainly to get my cycle up and running smoothly after 13yrs on the pill - my partner and I are planning to conceive next year and I would like it all to go smoothly. The healthier I am, the healthier my children should be.

Even though I've had no new pimples per se, the skin oiliness has fluctuated; not terrible like it was before the diet though. I've had some wheat-based noodles over the last couple of weeks (I love asian food), so my skin's texture hasn't felt as fabulous as it did in that 2nd week after starting the diet (I had no refined wheat in the first week and a half). So, as of 4/5 days ago, I've stopped all refined wheat. And see if that improves the oiliness. I'm pretty sure it's the refined wheat-based noodles I've eaten. Hopefully rice noodles don't have the same effect because I love noodles! But I'm happy to experiment in the meantime.

It feels great to have found some control over the condition of my skin. And more and more I am looking at the modern Western diet with disdain. No wonder we have an overwhelmed billion dollar illness industry. It's not just the refined foods, but the size of the portions, too. Coupled with a sedentary lifestyle, no wonder there's growing obesity and diabetes issues, for starters (pardon the pun!). It's a superb illustration of Western consumerism gone grotesque. We're so "wealthy" and "abundant", we're makiing ourselves sick on it! (And starting wars over it...). I believe that the health of children being born is also being adversely affected by poor parental diet - for example, there are clear scientific studies showing how alcohol ingested by the mother affects the baby's brain development... I believe crap calories from refined sugars/grains would also have a detrimental effect on prenatal development.

Ok, I'm off my soapbox now

I will update again in another couple of months...

Pinky

Another update.

I've decided to go properly gluten and dairy-free as I'm just not happy with the level of oiliness I've had this week. And I know from previous experiences that I've noticed improvements with this kind of diet over the short-term, just have never put the whole thing into a combined practice.

Lack of refined sugars has definitely assisted in removing inflammation of blemishes, now I just have to address the sebum. In the past week I've had cheese a few times and wheat noodles and bread, too, and the blocked pores have been cropping up, not becoming pustules though (no sugar to inflame them!).

In the very first week of this diet that I cut out sugar, I'm pretty sure I steered clear of most gluten and dairy stuff, too (just to be extra-pure in my intake), and had a tremendous 2nd week. But by the 3rd and 4th wks I started eating gluten and dairy products regularly whilst still keeping off sugar.

I will update in a few wks time to let you know how the gluten, dairy, sugar-free diet is going. I'm optimistic.

Katy

I do believe for me diet affects my acne. If I eat nuts, peanut butter, pork products or a lot of ice cream or milk, I break out horribly on my neck that take weeks to heal and not just on the back of my neck on the sides and in front for all to see! So I just stay away and read lables and I also think a ton of sugar doesn't do any good either but once in a while if I am stressed badley and I have been latley I will drink a little.

Another update from me...

This diet is going really well for me. Slowly but surely, my clear skin is taking over, even though I've been off the contraceptive pill for over a month.

I've been doing more reading online and I think I've made some good connections....

My acne was androgen related. I know this because the active ingredient in Dianette is cypretyrone acetate, which is an anti-androgen (free floating male hormone suppressant), and this pill cleared me up 85% for 13yrs, from pretty bad all-over body and face acne.

I have read that hyper-androgenism in women is caused 80% of the time by PCOS (PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome). Now I'm not sure if I have this. I've never been checked and the clinical presentations do vary. But what I did read was that many/most women with PCOS have insulin resistance, and if they put on too much weight are grave candidates for type 2 Diabetes. I'm not overweight, so no problem there, but the insulin-resistance is a strong possibility. Particularly given that they've found a correlation between adults who were born premature and/or stopped growing in utero for a period and developing insulin-resistance in puberty. I stopped growing in utero for a short period in the last trimester and I started developing hyper-androgenism -> acne -> insulin-resistance in puberty.

Now that I have a low GI diet with no added sugar, no dairy and no gluten, my skin is responding very well. It's only been about 6wks but there have been huge improvements in lowered sebum production. I had a bit of oiliness and blocked pores last week, but that coincided with when I was ovulating, and remember that I've only just gone off the pill after 13yrs too.

From what I have read, correcting insulin-resistance through diet therapy takes a good 6mths, and should be adhered to for life for optimum health. I will always have a predisposition to developing insulin resistance -> hyper-androgenism -> acne/infertility (or other expressions of hyperandrogenism), so sticking to this diet will look after that tendency.

I've also incorporated Magnesium supplemenation as that is great for balancing insulin-resistance, but you have to get the good stuff that can be taken directly into the cell structure, not just floating uselessly around in the bloodstream...

I'm 95% sure that I have interpreted my situation correctly now.

After about 12mths on this diet, I will start systematically experimenting with gluten and goat's dairy products to see what I can tolerate. But I will remain refined sugars/grains and cow's dairy free for life now.

Also, this predisposition can have hereditary factors, so my future children will be steered clear of refined sugars and hig GI foods, absolutely (although I believe that all humans should be - as that diet causes all sorts of different problems for different genes).

I will check in again at least another few times in the next 6mths to update my progress.

Right now, I am looking forward to getting into a bikini this coming Summer (Winter in Oz right now), and feeling confident and happy. No body acne and 10kg (22 pounds) lighter than I've been for about 6 years. This diet is causing the weight to shift easily, but then I also go running about 3 times a week, too. That's the other thing about insulin-resistance, exercise is excellent for management as well as a low GI diet. Yay!

Ciao for now,
Pinky

Congrats

Bump

Bahahahah I love that comic strip!!! it sounds like me!!! and I look miserable while I'm saying that stuff too... life sucks without good food I miss chocolate and ice-cream WHHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! And I misss my ten punds I lost because of friggen acne.