19 replies to this topic

[Jal V]

Puberty, Insulin, and Acne explained—Sources Included

-It’s been thought from past generations that acne was something that developed during puberty and went away afterward. But that’s simply not the case today for a lot of us. Their diets weren’t near as poor as ours are today though. Our diets get worse and worse as population grows, and the need for cheaper food increases. With our economy indrustrializing, it gives way to pesticides, hormones, and more that assist in speedier food creation. That is what’s causing our problems today. And the problems that arise are the effects that diet has on our insulin, and the effects that insulin has on our acne.

What does this have to do with puberty??

Insulin sensitivity decreases by 30 some percent during puberty. This allows insulin levels to rise as well. What this means is that 30% more insulin is required in order to do the same job. What does excess insulin mean?
Increased levels of insulin contribute to an increase of IGF-1, an icreased synthesis of sex hormones, a decrease in SHBG, and a decrease in IGFBP-3. IGF-1 is responsible for growth, SHBG is responsible for binding to sex hormones, and IGFBP-3 is responsible for binding to IGF-1. What happens is due to the decrease of SHBG and IGFBP-3, IGF-1 and sex hormone levels increase greatly. Basically, sex hormones(androgens) and IGF-1 are acne contributors, and they both have their counterparts(SHBG and IGFBP-3). With increased insulin levels, the ratio of acne contributors to acne inhibitors per se, are also increasing.

What effect does this have on acne?

Well, IGF-1 is required for keratinocyte proliferation in humans, and over abundance of IGF-1 can result in hyperkeratosis. This is because over abundance of IGF-1 results in growth, which includes stimulation of the follicle, which could be what results in the over-shedding of skin cells, clogged pores, and the excess amount of sebum. IGF-1 is higher once puberty starts due to decreased insulin sensitivity, meaning the beginning of puberty and the beginning of insulin resistance could be the major cause of acne. It’s also been shown that women who have post-adolescent acne maintain higher serum levels of IGF-1 and are mildly insulin resistant. To further support the IGF-1 relation to acne, milk, which has been known to be a major contributor to acne, increases IGF-1 levels. This is why many can withdraw from dairy products and see a reduction in acne.

So, if insulin is the cause of acne, then why can some cure acne with diet alone, while others can’t?

The answer is that you can either develop acute or chronic insulin resistance.

An example of acute insulin resistance would be, for instance, if your insulin sensitivity was normal, but you binged on milk and simple carbs for a week. This would likely cause an increase in acne, due to the excess insulin levels needed. However, with acute insulin resistance, your acne should go away once you return to your normal diet.

With chronic insulin resistance, you’ve spiked your insulin levels frequently for a certain amount of time, which has caused desensitization of insulin receptors. With chronic insulin resistance, even when you change your diet for a while, your body still has poor insulin sensitivity, which means it still requires more insulin than is necessary to take care of the load. This is why some people can go on extreme diets and still end up with acne, while some people can eat worse and have less or no acne.

So what can you do about the insulin dilemma?

The first thing to try should always be diet.

If you find your diet is poor and you have acne, try eliminating some things.

Some things I’d suggest completely ELIMINATING:

-Dairy
-Bread
-All Grains(Courtesy of Omnivium)
-Soft Drinks

Some things I’d suggest LIMITING:

-Simple carbs
-Animal protein with lots of fat
-Fast food and processed food

If you find that dieting doesn’t help your acne completely, you may very well have chronic insulin resistance, or decreased insulin sensitivity.

At this point, it might be necessary to supplement things that will help with your insulin sensitivity.

The two things I’d recommend are Chromium Polynicotinate and Magnesium.

Magnesium Aspartate Hydrochloride, specifically, has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity by people with normal magnesium levels by 20 some percent, while people with low magnesium levels showed increases in insulin sensitivity by 50 percent.

Chromium Polynicotinate has personally helped me better than anything else. I tried chromium after dieting failed for me, and now I diet less and have less acne.

While food allergies, stress, and a few other things CAN attribute to acne, the point is that the MAIN cause of acne must be whatever is changing at puberty. If food allergies or stress were the main causes, then kids would be more susceptible to acne than they are. I’ve found nowhere that suggests that almost every person goes through food allergies and such during puberty, and then loses their food allergies after puberty. But there is scientific evidence showing that during puberty insulin sensitivity is decreased, and is returned to normal post-puberty, given that diet isn’t further affecting it’s demands. One thing to remember is that increased insulin levels in the body can create chronic inflammation, which could be the reason that food allergies and stress affect your acne more!


http://archderm.ama-...ull/138/12/1584

http://www.ncbi.nlm..../pubmed/7962291

http://m.diabetes.di...50/11/2444.full

http://www.fyiliving...lin-resistance/

On the last link, toward the bottom, you can find the link that takes you to the book this comes from, and find a PDF of it on that page.

Edited by Jal V, 16 March 2012 - 03:43 PM.

[Omnivium]

This is one of the most relevant posts I have ever seen. There are a few things I would change though.

At the beginning you kind of imply that acne is mostly a modern disease, but it has actually existed for thousands of years. I do believe acne is worse now becasue of all of the unhealthy diets and lifestyles we have, but something has been causing acne for a long time. It could be dairy or grains, or maybe people a long time ago could still get insulin resistance from simple carbs like bread.

When you said to eliminate bread, maybe you should have said wheat or gluten, or maybe even all grains. Whether the goal is treating insulin resistance or avoiding allergens, avoiding all grains or all gluten would work better than just bread.

There are more supplements that are supposed to help with insulin resistance: cinnamon and alpha lipoic acid are two main supplements, and maybe manganese.

[Jal V]

Yeah there are definitely many more things that contribute to insulin sensitivity, I just mentioned two I have tried personally, and the two that I've researched the most about.

And yeah, I supposed I did imply that, I was kind of trying to imply that acne has gotten more common and severe, not necessarily that it didn't exist before then, but thanks for pointing that out.

But as far as that goes, Cordain showed the couple of hunter-gatherer tribes that had zero cases of acne, and possibly dismissed genetics as being a true role in developing acne, due to the common ancestry of other tribes, whose only difference was that they were more westernized--they had cases of acne. So, I think at some point,even if it was thousands and thousands of years ago, there may have existed no acne. But that's just opinion based.

[kidego]

http://onlyacne.com/...cause-acne.html

This was known 2,ooo years ago. http://www.thesupera...llergypaper.pdf

Some how everyone forgot.

[12345tiger]

Jal V, on 16 March 2012 - 02:21 PM, said:

With chronic insulin resistance, you’ve spiked your insulin levels frequently for a certain amount of time, which has caused desensitization of insulin receptors. With chronic insulin resistance, even when you change your diet for a while, your body still has poor insulin sensitivity, which means it still requires more insulin than is necessary to take care of the load. This is why some people can go on extreme diets and still end up with acne, while some people can eat worse and have less or no acne.

If you find that dieting doesn’t help your acne completely, you may very well have chronic insulin resistance, or decreased insulin sensitivity.

diet doesn't help my acne at all

[Jal V]

12345tiger, on 16 March 2012 - 04:39 PM, said:

Jal V, on 16 March 2012 - 02:21 PM, said:

With chronic insulin resistance, you’ve spiked your insulin levels frequently for a certain amount of time, which has caused desensitization of insulin receptors. With chronic insulin resistance, even when you change your diet for a while, your body still has poor insulin sensitivity, which means it still requires more insulin than is necessary to take care of the load. This is why some people can go on extreme diets and still end up with acne, while some people can eat worse and have less or no acne.

If you find that dieting doesn’t help your acne completely, you may very well have chronic insulin resistance, or decreased insulin sensitivity.

diet doesn't help my acne at all

What was your diet like that you tried?

[Jenny P]

I have been eating eggos and junk food, just because i feel hopeless that my skin will never look normal. Acne left behind permanent damage so it's hard to get in the mood to eat healthy (restricted) when you know once your acne is gone your skin will still look bad.

I cleared my acne before when I went raw vegan so i know i can get clear from diet but, people still thought i had acne because my skin is damaged from the acne and all the harsh acne products ive used....

[12345tiger]

Jal V, on 16 March 2012 - 04:44 PM, said:

12345tiger, on 16 March 2012 - 04:39 PM, said:

Jal V, on 16 March 2012 - 02:21 PM, said:

With chronic insulin resistance, you’ve spiked your insulin levels frequently for a certain amount of time, which has caused desensitization of insulin receptors. With chronic insulin resistance, even when you change your diet for a while, your body still has poor insulin sensitivity, which means it still requires more insulin than is necessary to take care of the load. This is why some people can go on extreme diets and still end up with acne, while some people can eat worse and have less or no acne.

If you find that dieting doesn’t help your acne completely, you may very well have chronic insulin resistance, or decreased insulin sensitivity.

diet doesn't help my acne at all

What was your diet like that you tried?

Meat, vegetables, fruit, I tried no gluten, no dairy, no grains, candida cleanse (no fruit), no processed food (details in my signature)... basically I feel pretty hopeless and helpless

[Jal V]

Jenny P, on 16 March 2012 - 05:07 PM, said:

I have been eating eggos and junk food, just because i feel hopeless that my skin will never look normal. Acne left behind permanent damage so it's hard to get in the mood to eat healthy (restricted) when you know once your acne is gone your skin will still look bad.

I cleared my acne before when I went raw vegan so i know i can get clear from diet but, people still thought i had acne because my skin is damaged from the acne and all the harsh acne products ive used....

I'm sorry! But even if scars will be left behind, there's no better feeling than not having the bumps and new pimples forming every day!

12345tiger, on 16 March 2012 - 05:43 PM, said:

Jal V, on 16 March 2012 - 04:44 PM, said:

12345tiger, on 16 March 2012 - 04:39 PM, said:

Jal V, on 16 March 2012 - 02:21 PM, said:

With chronic insulin resistance, you’ve spiked your insulin levels frequently for a certain amount of time, which has caused desensitization of insulin receptors. With chronic insulin resistance, even when you change your diet for a while, your body still has poor insulin sensitivity, which means it still requires more insulin than is necessary to take care of the load. This is why some people can go on extreme diets and still end up with acne, while some people can eat worse and have less or no acne.

If you find that dieting doesn’t help your acne completely, you may very well have chronic insulin resistance, or decreased insulin sensitivity.

diet doesn't help my acne at all

What was your diet like that you tried?

Meat, vegetables, fruit, I tried no gluten, no dairy, no grains, candida cleanse (no fruit), no processed food (details in my signature)... basically I feel pretty hopeless and helpless

Did you take any candida products? What kind of meat were you eating? As in, did it come from walmart or an organic store and what type was it? And do you have very oily skin or a different acne type?

[Omnivium]

Jal V, on 16 March 2012 - 03:36 PM, said:

And yeah, I supposed I did imply that, I was kind of trying to imply that acne has gotten more common and severe, not necessarily that it didn't exist before then, but thanks for pointing that out.

But as far as that goes, Cordain showed the couple of hunter-gatherer tribes that had zero cases of acne, and possibly dismissed genetics as being a true role in developing acne, due to the common ancestry of other tribes, whose only difference was that they were more westernized--they had cases of acne. So, I think at some point,even if it was thousands and thousands of years ago, there may have existed no acne. But that's just opinion based.

I think there was no acne in the past, but I don't know when we started getting it. Like when people say that acne existed for 2,000 years, that isn't very long at all. Wikipedia says the paleolithic era started about 2.6 million years ago, and it says "anatomically modern humans" evolved about 200,000 years ago. So if we say that acne started 2,000 years ago and humans existed for 2,600,000 years, then they had acne for 0.077 percent of their existence. If we say that acne started 2,000 years ago and humans existed for 200,000 years, then they had acne for 1 percent of their existence. The two numbers are very far apart, but they are both very low.

Maybe that was kinda confusing, but my point is some humans did have acne for thousands of years, but that isn't very long at all, and I think before those few thousand years of acne, there was a few hundred thousand years of human existence without acne.

That would be where hunter-gatherer tribes come in. Hunter-gatherers existed for hundreds of thousands of years, way before any known case of acne. Acne has not been documented until around 2,000 years ago, which was thousands of years after civilization and agriculture.

Sorry for going off-topic, but I think this is an interesting subject.

[Jal V]

Omnivium, on 16 March 2012 - 06:18 PM, said:

Jal V, on 16 March 2012 - 03:36 PM, said:

And yeah, I supposed I did imply that, I was kind of trying to imply that acne has gotten more common and severe, not necessarily that it didn't exist before then, but thanks for pointing that out.

But as far as that goes, Cordain showed the couple of hunter-gatherer tribes that had zero cases of acne, and possibly dismissed genetics as being a true role in developing acne, due to the common ancestry of other tribes, whose only difference was that they were more westernized--they had cases of acne. So, I think at some point,even if it was thousands and thousands of years ago, there may have existed no acne. But that's just opinion based.

I think there was no acne in the past, but I don't know when we started getting it. Like when people say that acne existed for 2,000 years, that isn't very long at all. Wikipedia says the paleolithic era started about 2.6 million years ago, and it says "anatomically modern humans" evolved about 200,000 years ago. So if we say that acne started 2,000 years ago and humans existed for 2,600,000 years, then they had acne for 0.077 percent of their existence. If we say that acne started 2,000 years ago and humans existed for 200,000 years, then they had acne for 1 percent of their existence. The two numbers are very far apart, but they are both very low.

Maybe that was kinda confusing, but my point is some humans did have acne for thousands of years, but that isn't very long at all, and I think before those few thousand years of acne, there was a few hundred thousand years of human existence without acne.

That would be where hunter-gatherer tribes come in. Hunter-gatherers existed for hundreds of thousands of years, way before any known case of acne. Acne has not been documented until around 2,000 years ago, which was thousands of years after civilization and agriculture.

Sorry for going off-topic, but I think this is an interesting subject.

Completely understand man. I find it extremely interesting as well. Honestly, as poor as my diet was for so long, I never thought I'd be so interested in a subject like this. But through research trying to find a cure for acne, you learn about a lot of interesting things.

Funny how "intelligent" we are. As we progress with science and technology, we regress with what matters most.

[12345tiger]

Jal V, on 16 March 2012 - 06:06 PM, said:

Did you take any candida products? What kind of meat were you eating? As in, did it come from walmart or an organic store and what type was it? And do you have very oily skin or a different acne type?

I buy meat from local butchers, at first I ate only poultry, then I started eating pork and beef too. I take coconut oil for candida.
I don't have very oily skin, sometimes my skin is dry, It has never been very oily. I don't have cystic acne/ nodules. My acne - rather small pustules and papules everywhere on my chin. cheeks, jaw, healing fast but forming every day.

[Jal V]

12345tiger, on 16 March 2012 - 06:53 PM, said:

Jal V, on 16 March 2012 - 06:06 PM, said:

Did you take any candida products? What kind of meat were you eating? As in, did it come from walmart or an organic store and what type was it? And do you have very oily skin or a different acne type?

I buy meat from local butchers, at first I ate only poultry, then I started eating pork and beef too. I take coconut oil for candida.
I don't have very oily skin, sometimes my skin is dry, It has never been very oily. I don't have cystic acne/ nodules. My acne - rather small pustules and papules everywhere on my chin. cheeks, jaw, healing fast but forming every day.

Have you tried any supplements before?

[12345tiger]

Jal V, on 16 March 2012 - 07:00 PM, said:

Have you tried any supplements before?

Zinc, selenium, chromium, cod liver oil, vitamin E, C, B5, B complex

Edited by 12345tiger, 17 March 2012 - 04:54 PM.

[NewBrigade]

tiger,

Have you tried Nicotinamide (Niacinamide) ? I just ordered it after reading some studies supporting it--I was planning on taking 550mg/day.

[KHRESHEH]

What if you are type 1 diabetic, taking insulin and insulin resistance medication (like metformin) ? Permanent acne ?

[k3tchup]

if you are going through puberty then yes i could see this helping to some extent. But just because you avoid X amount of foods doesnt mean you should rule out topicals, or even a basic fash wash and moisturizer to treat and prevent clogged pores, cystic acne, etc.

I went through puberty when i was 14-15 yet didnt get acne until 17. And after that well i ate whatever the hell i wanted and NOTHING HAPPENED. Strange but true as they say. But just because nothing happened for me doesnt mean it wont for someone else.

However, as a teen its quite hard to avoid such foods if your big into sports or weight lifting or have to eat whatever is served to you. So again this becomes unpractical as much as the no masturbation until i become clear thread. Both result in setting yourself up for failure once you stop.

[Jenny P]

KHRESHEH, on 18 March 2012 - 04:32 PM, said:

What if you are type 1 diabetic, taking insulin and insulin resistance medication (like metformin) ? Permanent acne ?

Heyyy this sounds like a great idea! People with diabetes have to take medication before they eat so that their insulin won't spike when they eat their food. My dad has diabetes and controlls it very well with his medication and he eats sugar and junk food all the time with no effects.

Maybe if i sneak in his cabinet and pop all his diabetic pills i won't have any acne lol..

[KHRESHEH]

Jenny P, on 21 March 2012 - 01:05 AM, said:

KHRESHEH, on 18 March 2012 - 04:32 PM, said:

What if you are type 1 diabetic, taking insulin and insulin resistance medication (like metformin) ? Permanent acne ?

Heyyy this sounds like a great idea! People with diabetes have to take medication before they eat so that their insulin won't spike when they eat their food. My dad has diabetes and controlls it very well with his medication and he eats sugar and junk food all the time with no effects.

Maybe if i sneak in his cabinet and pop all his diabetic pills i won't have any acne lol..

Unless you do want to be in diabetic coma or dead !

[LZOMG]

even eliminate whole grains?
Doesnt whole grain have a low glycemic index, since it has alot of fiber in it, the sugars are absorbed at a slower rate.
Well thats what I got from researching the Australian acne-diet research.