well i think different people have different things that make them break out. for me if i drink milk (but i can still eat cheese and yogurt and butter and stuff) or eat shrimp, then my face will break out. Also i just found a new one lol coffee for me breaks me out too. just recently my face was completely clear, then i started drinking a cup or 2 of coffee a day, and my face broke out. Meh i stopped drinking coffee and now my face is well on its way to being clear again (no new zits, just a few brown spots left over). So it might take u a while to find what foods break u out but diet certainly can cause zits, and its best to find out what foods not to eat.

My diet definitely affects my skin.

I have notice these things always trigger breakouts:
orange juice(stopped cold turkey)
cheese(the one I love, and I cant stop, but I eat less of it now)
Milk-I dont really drink it, I never liked it, so this is not so hard to give up
chocolate(for sure, and I dont touch it)
fast food(a simple cheeseburger fromMacdonalds will bust my face up)
Chinese/Tiwanese Food(the oils just bust me up, cant touch it)
Pizza(so sad, but it's just loaded with something that will bust me up)
Soda Pop(Coke, and any of that stuff is a sure fire way to a break ou, I drink seltzers instead)

After reading the entries about gluten, I am going to try to ease it out of my diet.
This will be hard. I love cake, cookies, and donuts.
I mean LOVE!
New York has some great bakeries, and I am a major customer to all of them.
Wow, I dunno if I can do it. maybe I can have one treat a week, then go down to one a month.
one or two zits is worth it.

My acne history:
bad skin since teen years, but not cystic. In my mid twenties, got worse, especially on my back, and it began to creep up around my chest and shoulders and arms.
Went on Accutane, and my skin cleared up in two weeks.
It looked good for a few years, but now, 5 years later, I am breaking out mostly on my face. very small zits, that come in small groups, and they are almost imposible to squeeze. and they just sit on my forhead and nose. Derms dont wanna give me Accutane again cause they think it aint that bad. so I have all the topical solutions, that just dry me out, but not the zits.
So, i got desparate this summer, and I ordered Accutane online without a perscription. I got it, took it, and I look amazing!
but I do still get some break outs depending on what I eat. so I gotta try this gluten thing.
let's see what happens.

Yeah some people that go on accutane are fortunate enough that when it returns its less than it was before. As for the bakeries, I made a list somewhere around here, and I think there was a bakery in New York that made Gluten-Free foods. Do a search online or on here and see if it's true ;-)

After struggling with acne for at least 6 years, I have finally found a 'treatment' that works for me.

Here it is:

Eliminate Chemicals!
That's it. Just stop putting so much crap into/onto your body. It's that simple.

Eliminate chemicals:
1) from what you eat
2) from what you put on your skin

1) Food additives irritate your skin (and cause a host of other problems like cancer, kidney damage, behavioural problems, etc.). Now you really can't eliminate all food additives from your diet, but if you simply try to avoid buying stuff with a list of ingredients you can't pronounce, you can go a long way. (Incidentally, the average person eats their body weight in synthetic food additives each year...yikes!) If you eat at McDonalds three times a week, or find other ways to stuff your face with garbage, your face will show it. A low-fat, high-fibre, mainly vegetarian diet is best, but the key is to eliminate prepared foods. (Also, drink way more water).

2) Check the ingredient list for your skin care products. Chances are, there are about 20-30 ingredients--and chances are, water is the only one you recognize for sure. Try eliminating these chemicals! I now use two products only: 1) pure soap (Ivory, right now) 2)100% pure Aloe Vera Gel as a (moisturizer/aftershave) [I can already hear the objections..."that will dry my face out!!" The soap might for about a week, so use some extra aloe for a while. Once your face adjusts (and it might take a while if you have used a chem. cocktail for years...) you won't have a problem.

Does this work? It worked for me, it worked for my girlfriend, and it worked for people we have shared this with. It's been 15 weeks now, and while I have had the occasional small pimple, (one every few weeks or less), I am able to tolerate them like a normal person.

I'm afraid (after seeing all of the time and effort put into regimes and potions here) that--for most people--the solution may be just that simple.

Cheers

I have been eating mainly veggies and fruits along with alot of salmon. I used to eat alot of pizza and oreos and doritoes...but the past 5 months have just been healthy foods. My face has never been bad, just my back. I have witnessed nearly 0 results from eating a more healthy diet. The only organic ideaology may be my next step as it seems to be somewhat logical since practically all of our fruits and veggies are genetically modified. But as of right now, I beleive that diet has little to do with acne.

So after reading this thread, I decided to give up saturated fat. It has cleared up all my breakouts. The corollary between me getting a pimple and eating saturated fat is pretty perfect. If I eat saturated fat then two days later I get a zit. I'm not saying this would work for most people but it certainly did for me.

p.s. It didn't have an effect on my non-inflamatory bumps(the hard, skin-colored ones that you don't notice unless you're up close) but I think that's just a matter of time. They say the process takes about 3 months for those to go away and hopefully without saturated fat no new ones will form. Until then I'm using a topical exfoliant to try and deal with the non-inflamatory bumps I currently have.

I have found this about the relationsip of milk, Acidophilus, and acne

Bad news: I discovered 16 years ago through trial and error that milk was the cause of my acne.

Good news: I discovered 11 years ago that 8 oz. daily of yogurt with a live culture of acidophilus made it possible to consume milk without breaking out. The texture of my skin even changed and I no longer have grains of hardened oil that I used to feel under the skin of my face. Today I can eat chocolate, French fries, cola drinks and chocolate malts, ice cream, cheese, and other foods that have been implicated in acne, without breaking out. All I have to do is eat any brand of yogurt daily with live culture. I have shared this information with friends who tried it and also experienced good results. My story is outlined further below.

For five years, starting in 1983, I kept diet logs and watched for cause and effect relationships between food and my adult acne. I was shocked to find that milk turned out to be the single cause of my acne. When I eliminated it as far as possible, I got my acne under control. Because of the fact that milk and milk by-products are in almost all processed and baked foods, I could not eliminate it entirely. I became a compulsive label reader and my family tolerated strange adaptations of recipes that mocked the real thing containing milk product. I considered that this cause and effect relationship might be psychosomatic, but this was not born out by the empirical evidence. If I broke out unexpectedly while following my diet carefully, I would play detective and most times traced it to the use of butter or milk in something where it had not been anticipated.

For all the satisfaction of clear skin however, I still missed milk. In 1988, I picked up a brochure that dealt with the implication of acidophilus deficiency in milk intolerance. It is common knowledge these days that milk intolerance as a digestive problem is manageable with supplementation of Acidophilus. Back then it was less well known by the average person. I did not have much hope that adding Acidophilus to my diet would help a skin problem but I decided to do an experiment with as much built in control as possible. I strictly watched my food intake to eliminate milk for two week. My skin was clear. I then ate ice cream several times in one day. Two days later I had a huge pimple on my nose. It took two more weeks of strict diet excluding milk before my skin was clear again and I felt I could proceed with the experiment. I bought seven carton of yogurt wit live culture of acidophilus. During the course of eating one carton each day for a week, I also ate all the dairy product I wanted. I never broke out. I continue eating yogurt with live culture and I have clear skin today. I have broken out sometimes, if I got confident and didn't eat the yogurt daily. I also broke out when eating real butter, but all other dairy products seem to be OK. Very important is that: if, because you can't stand yogurt, you decide to take the capsules of acidophilus, use only the live, refrigerated type because this is the naturally occurring fauna of human intestines and it needs to be alive. In addition, if you take the capsules, drink milk with it. This may seem strange, but Acidophilus is what helps process milk to make it digestible and it needs milk to remain viable in your intestines to be able to process other milk introduced there.
The important thing is balance.

Felicia

It seems like there would be connections from diet to acne. Apparently though I haven't figured out yet what exactly causes my acne. Right now I have tried no sugar and milk for like half a year, and so far really no difference. I don't eat that much carbs or fat either. But on the other hand I don't want to get rid of fats completely because I already am too thin for a girl. I tried getting rid of coffee too...that didn't help either. For a whole month I was zit free...not a single one. But I can't figure out how that happened! It happened when it should have been a stressful time for me. (I was about to start a new college and move) But I wasn't complaining because my first week of school I was clear. Then it came back with a vengence. And if anything, I controled my diet more then ever when I moved. I am on the regimen, and have been for at least over a year. I really don't think it does much though because I had that clear month, then next month of breakouts when I have the same regimen. I wish I could figure out the culprit! And now I know its possible to be clear, but I have no friggin clue how and its really frustrating.

Well, I'd just like to share my experience with diet and acne.

I went on a diet for a while where I eliminated almost all refined foods, white flour, wheat flour, fermented foods, sugar, and some starchy vegetables. I also ate a lot of organic foods. I didn't do it for my skin, but I definetly noticed a difference. My blackheads never went away, but I noticed that I didn't get any cystic acne anymore at all - I usually would have at least a few going at a time around my jaw line. I'd usually have a few zits on all other parts of my face going at a time as well, and those totally went away. During the diet, I would get maybe 1 zit a week at most and it was small. I'm not on the diet anymore, and i'm eating a whole lot of sugar again and flour. I have cystic acne again and zits on my face again, and it's definetly even worse than it's ever been. I am quite sure that for me it's the sugar that is the real culprit. The one thing that I am so addicted to is so evil! But I'm going to try to cut down again as much as I can.

Another thing I want to mention is that recently I had broke out in terrible, itchy eczema on my face. I had also increased my whole wheat and citrus consumption dramatically. So I tried cutting those things out, and the eczema completely went away. I'm still paranoid about it coming back... I guess time will tell if my theory was right.

Oh yeah, I've been using Paula's Choice products. I think they are pretty great, but I wish they were cheaper. I love the face washes. And I've been using 2% salicylic acid, and I've noticed my pores getting pretty large from the stuff. I don't know what's up with that, maybe because it's exfoliating them and they are getting cleaned out? I dunno. Anyways.. that's it from me!

Felicia, that connection is really interesting. May I ask how much yoghurt was in one carton?

Guys,

Haven't any of you heard about Loren Cordain's observational study carried out a couple of years back? Cordain is one of the originators of the Paleolithic diet idea, i.e. that people have evolved to eat certain foods but have not evolved to tolerate 'Neolithic' foods, i.e. grains and dairy products.

So they went and checked two thousand people living a traditional lifestyle and eating a low glycemic load diet with no grains, sugar, or dairy. They did not find ONE SINGLE BLACKHEAD ('open comedones'). Not one. Amongst two thousand people.

There thus seems to be strong evidence that acne is in fact diet related, but the culprit isn't fat etc - it's grains and other high-gi carbs. These cause an insulin spike, and it's that that seems to give susceptible people acne. Insulin a. boosts sebum production by boosting androgen production and b. increases shedding of skin cells (two strikes out of three - the only thing it doesn't do is mess with the acne bacteria!). Dairy is bad, not because of fat, but because dairy also causes an elevated insulin response (I swear blind butter gives me zits, but olive oil doesn't).

Check it out. www.thepaleodiet.com. This isn't a commercial plug, by the way - you can get all the information you want without having to pay Cordain a cent, and a number of scientific journal articles are there for free (try getting an article from the American Archives of Dermatology without paying for it otherwise...)

There has since been a controlled study (2004) done in Australia based on Cordain's work, and the conclusion is that a low-gi diet can help to control acne.

I'm surprised no one here has heard of this stuff.

I have been without dairy for 3 weeks and although i do miss the stuff...mmmm...cheese pizza...It is SO worth it not to have the cystic acne i had. It really frustrated me though, that my doctor didn't feel the need to even suggest that i may have a reaction to dairy. Once i tried cutting the stuff out and found immediate results, i felt like marching into her office and freaking out. I guess my doctor is just a medication pimp, couldnt be bothered to suggest alternatives. And to think of alll the $$$ i wasted on meds ...At any rate, i highly suggest that anyone with cystic acne try losing the dairy for a while and see what happens. You can even try testing it. Stop COMPLETELY, that means no yogurt, cheese, milk, NONE...Give it a few weeks, then try re-introducing it. Now I'm not saying that this will work for everyone as I have read a lot of posts on here that insist this is just a bunch of nonsense. All I'm saying is it really made a difference for me..no more painful cystic acne on my back and face, all I'm doing now is sitting back waiting for the scars to fade, joy

p.s.
I also feel much healthier for some reason, maybe that's all in my head though.

p.p.s.
Upping your water intake couldn't hurt either, I've been all over that as well.

The fact that people are actually questioning whether diet and acne are linked really is quite worrying. For years I used every conceiveable topical treatment, tried several different antibiotics and possibily my worst decision of all- I tried Accutane(another issue). Nothing worked, I felt helpless, and then the whole acne/diet relationship was pointed out to me and I haven't looked back since. Treating acne with topicals, antibiotics or retinoids is only to treat the symptoms of acne. Acne doesn't just happen, it's your body's way of telling you that something's not right inside. As an acne sufferer your body is unable to eliminate toxins effectively and coupled with over-active hormones this will lead to acne. Therefore by improving liver function and digestion you will be helping your body deal with toxins. Now it's impossible to give a definitive 'cure' because each persons body is different but if you follow certain fundamental practices you will see a dramatic improvement in your skin. By ingesting EFA's such as fish and flaxseed oil (providing Omega 3), soya lecithin (containing choline and inositol which help remove fats from the liver), and vitamins such as E and A (for smooth skin) you will not only improve your skin but you will have more energy as your body begins to function more efficiently- combined with a healthy diet obviously.
Now I know it may sound like I'm preaching but please use the internet at least to look into my points more closely(a simple google search will do) as I can't post everything I know here. I reccommend www.yourlastacnesolution.com
Why do people who abuse their bodies with all the foods that we as acne sufferers try to avoid not have any reaction and not a spot in sight?- because their organs (mainly the liver) and digestion are strong enough to eliminate these toxins through the proper channels and not allow them to remain in their blood to be passed out through their skin.

Just responding to the msg thing. MSG strips a layer of skin off your tongue so you can taste the food better. At least thats what I heard. Also, I worked in a Chinese restaurant for a long time and when they say "No Added MSG" they mean they dont add any MSG when they cook the food, but the prep is different. The chicken base that is used contains loads of MSG. Either way, Im going to try this healthy diet thing and see how it works. It cant hurt you right. =)

I was a lifelong veggie who never thought she'd eat meat until I met an amazing (and well known in NYC where I live) nutritionist/therapist who urged me to introduce organic animal products to my diet and cut out as many grains as possible. This was my personal prescription for the problems I had which were: I'd gained 20 lbs. ACNE, and depression. I immediately lost weight and my acne improved. I reccomend the site beyondveg.org and Nourishing Traditions by Fallon. I've reformed the way I think about eating meat and I now see it as a multigenerational task towards a more conscious diet, not just me avoiding meat. Anyway, here's some of what I do now:
-avoid all cow dairy except organic butter
-eat goat dairy
-eat organic (and free farmed) fish and poultry (a small amount almost everyday)
-try to eat a bit of red/organ meats once a month (still hard for me)
-eat free range/grass fed eggs (quite a few)
-lots of veggies, lots of salads (no raw spinach or broccoli)
-fruits with goat yogurt is breakfast usually
-grains only once a day as no more than %20 of meal and NO WHEAT
-try to prepare meal yourself to have control over contents
-absolutely no trans fats (very cancer/inflamation causing)

peace

also to anyone who doesnt like soy milk or goat milk theres always rice milk, it helped my skin alot and i found it tastes alot better.

I'd like to add water to the list of what people are saying helped them. I also have exzema, and this summer, I thought I was going to scratch my elbows off. I read online (www.drnorthrup.com, a women's health site worth checking out) that caffeine can spur on exzema outbreaks. What a shock - I had been drinking more (caffeinated) soda than I had ever before. Along with almost obsessive moisturization, an over the counter topical, and no more caffeine (that includes iced tea at restaurants), my exzema went away.

But, I also noticed that my skin looked better, and I have struggled with acne since I was 12 or 13. Now, I occasionally have a soda, but it's gotten to the point that I can't even drink a full 12 ounces any more - even diet is too sweet!
Many people argue that there is no link between diet and skin. I am not one of them. This year I also began a healthier eating style, and my skin looks great, even when I am having an outbreak.

And, yes, I do ask my body "what's wrong" when something like that happens. It has proved beneficial; it takes time to be able to re-communicate with one's body, but when it happens, it's amazing what a person actually knows about him or herself without having to consult a doctor (though this shouldn't take the place of checkups, etc.). I highly recommend everyone take some time to try it; since I have done this I have gotten healthier looking skin AND a better attitude about my entire body. Of course, exercise and skin care regimens have helped as well!

TheGhostofHueyLewis knows his stuff

The best way to get rid of acne is eat right\no chemicals. When thinking of acne in relation to diet think of "YOU are what you eat" its true. Your body is going to form itself and form you on what you are putting inside of you. If you eat garbage, your going to be garbage. Start eating fruits\vegetables and GOOD protein. Omega-3 has been shown to help skin , so start including caned tuna\salmon. Not only does tuna have benefits for your skin but it is one of the best foods you can eat for all your body parts. You have to remember acne is an INFLAMING PROCESS! it is inflamation of the sebaceous glands (basically you get them when u hit puberty)\hair follicles. Certain foods DO inflame these. (pop,chips,fries)

-second point is to stop using all these chemicals. Your face was not designed to get loaded with peroxide and other crap really. Your best bet is to use a soft soap. dove for example.

Eat fresh tuna/salmon if you can as canned tuna/salmon usually has some kind of preservative added as well as extra salt and that's not needed. Find a good fish market that many people frequent and buy your fish from there. It's usually cheaper than supermarkets and has higher quality/fresher fish.

Also, don't eat too many fruits. Limit your intake of fruits/fruit juices to 5 to 6 per day. Pick your fruits carefully too, taking lower sugar/high fiber/high nutrient fruit over others. Veggies are better/more nutrient dense and have lower sugar so eat more veggies than fruits. Try not to consume too many fats either. Instead of frying with oil, saute your veggies with some chicken/veggie broth that you made yourself(It's easy to make, just throw some veggies and chicken bones into water and simmer for a couple hours) then freeze in ice cube trays for whenever you need some. It greatly increases nutrient value and lowers fat content.

very true. fresh veggies over fruits. some fruits are high in sugar so yes limit yourself. Learn to make healthy middle eastern food. They have many ingredients that are very good for your health and your skin.