Ok, this article is by a naturopath, so not mainstream. But I decided to add it anyway as it has some useful simple explanations. It's especially good for pointing out the ways our diets don't just cause acne, they are the reason this is a nation of sickly people.
"ACNE - HOW TO PREVENT AND
OVERCOME ACNE FOREVER.
ACNE IS MUCH MORE THAN SKIN DEEP, IT IS THE FIRST SIGN OF
MAJOR HEALTH PROBLEMS TO COME.
THIS REPORT WILL SHOW YOU WHY, AND ALSO HOW TO PREVENT THEM!"
http://www.iinr.org/specialreports/ACNE.PDF
But do not take that title to mean that those of us with acne are the only ones with major health problems to come. That applies to everyone who eats the typical bad diet with no clue just how bad for us our diets/food supply has become. We acne prone people just get a visible early warning sign. Most aren't so fortunate.
That's so sad when he has the opportunity to enlighten so many people. He is good friends with Dr. Fuhrman (they were roomies in college), who advises those with acne to eat lots of blended and juiced leafy greens and cruciferous veggies along with limiting animal products.... I think I heard Dr. Oz once say that he agrees with Dr. Fuhrman's advice on diet but that he thinks it's too much for the average person to take in. Even Dr. Fuhrman left out the green smoothies in his Eat to Live book thinking the concept would be way too foreign and strange to most people. Dr. F doesn't hold back though these days - I think he's fully realized that people really are hungry for the full truth. He posted a recipe for black bean brownies the other day on his Disease Proof Blog!! hahaha Now, if only Dr. Oz would follow!
I think I heard Dr. Oz once say that he agrees with Dr. Fuhrman's advice on diet but that he thinks it's too much for the average person to take in.
But why, when a good diet for acne improves/prevents/reverses so many illnesses?
Dr. OZ is a toy. The only show I have seen of his he put a man in an "evolutionary diet." This diet was composed of several pounds of greens and fruits, and nothing else.
Are you talking about the BBC/Discovery specials where a group of people are put on a gorilla diet?
The daily show is dumbed down for the masses. If you aren't one of the many overweight people on a crap diet, there isn't often much of value on the show and he only makes the most superficial comments about anything new to me or of real interest. It sometimes gives me something to look into further though.
I'm going to cancel the DVR series recording one of these days, but at least you can forward through most of it. The middle 30 minutes is always about someone losing weight.
But at least he preaches diet and lifestyle which is such a rare thing, especially considering he's a surgeon. And at least he did say diet affects acne.
I just heard the intro to today's Oprah and he's on her show talking about diabetes. In the opening, she said it is the fastest growing disease in history.
So I saw a bit of the Dr Oz show today and an audience member asked if it was true that chocolate caused acne. And this time he said any high glycemic food can stimulate oil and exacerbate acne.
Which is a good, but too brief an answer. There needs to be a whole segment if not a whole episode dedicated to the topic. It would really have so much value considering the same diet habits help so many prevalent and preventable health conditions.
The wikipedia page on acne now has info on the link between the glycemic impact of diet and acne.
The wikipedia page on acne now has info on the link between the glycemic impact of diet and acne.
That is awesome! I see that it also mentions the link to dairy. I wouldn't be surprised if you helped make this happen alternativista. 
So Dr Oz had a fairly useful show today. Guests were three doctors who are all about anti-inflammatory diets.
There was Arthur Agatston, the doctor who created the South Beach diet, who is a really important cardiologist, which I never knew.
And OB/GYN Dr. Christiane Northrup, who is a little new agey for me, but what's most important is that she's much more interested in diet and lifestyle than drugs and surguries.
And Perricone, a dermatologist who mentioned he is also a nutritionist who is well known for talking about diet for skin and has a book called something like the acne prescription diet. Already been mentioned in this thread.
And so when Oz asked Perricone about anti-inflammatory diets and acne, Perricone confirmed that such diets clear skin. And then Oz asked the other 2 if they'd noticed the same thing in their practice, and they both confirmed that they had.
Then when it was Dr Agatston's turn, he brought up the survey done on South Beach dieters that showed dieters experienced clearer skin. I'd posted a link to that here a while ago.
Response to question on diet for acne on sharecare.com
Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum Answered:
Avoid sugar and high carbohydrate foods. A high protein and low sugar diet decreases acne by half after 12 weeks. The good news - chocolate has been shown not to cause acne. Avoid milk and cheese products.
Just need to tell my personal story because I know how hard life with severe acne is. I've always had acne....until recently. I did all sorts of medications through my teens...my acne went from bad to severe when I was around 18. I had went off birth control during this time because I was single...I was also living, well, lets just say not the best lifestyle and I was losing weight...for some reason I craved milk so strongly, I would chug it constantly, I guess because of the weight loss my body wanted the fat. My acne became the worst it had ever been times 10. It was the most depressing thing I have ever been through, I hated life...So anyways I went back on birthcontrol a while after..acne improved or course. Not completely gone, but now it just went to moderate which I could live with. Then a few years back it got pretty bad again....depression, poor diet. I did acutane..it worked..my skin looked great....no acne at all. Then last year I decided to get off birthcontrol..I was 26..because I felt that it was just unhealthy to make your body think it was pregnant all the time. I wanted to get an non-hormonal IUD. Not long after my skin started to get bad again. I did some research, really not wanting to go back on BC again. I read about dairy causing acne. It made perfect sense to me. Dairy is full of hormones for baby calves..it is unnatural for an adult to be getting extra hormones for growth..even if it is organic, Milk=Hormones Acne IS hormonal. My husband also told me that his mom and grandmother would always tell him when he was young and his face would get bad that he needed to stop drinking all that milk and eating peanut butter sandwiches. So anyways I have completely cleared my skin with ONLY cutting out dairy, peanut butter (not sure why just that product but it really does cause me to break out), and sugar (from like candy and stuff not fruits)..and it has worked. When I slip up and eat dairy my face breaks out. I have repeatedly watched the cause and effect process. Sugar from junkfood also causes me to break out but not as badly as milk. Milk causes break out in my face oil glands..sugar causes breakouts under my jaw and back. I don't eat a super healthy diet or anything, but I do eat a lot of fruits, vegetable, meats, just no dairy or sugar or peanut butter. I ONLY drink one cup of coffee in the morning with soy milk or just black (get dark roast coffee and drinking it black isn't so bitter) and WATER..and I drink beer or wine at night. NO sugary drinks anytime...that means no sodas, juices, whatever. I think trying to be too severe on your diet can cause depression which causes hormonal imbalance..you need some fats for happiness I think and your diet shouldn't stress you out. Stress is unhealthy and effects your hormones. I eat burgers with everything..just no cheese..and it's really not a hard diet to keep up. But one thing is for sure acne is hormonal, that is why teenagers have it the most. Dairy has the most direct effect on acne because dairy is hormones. I thought my acne came from my moms side of the family..she's from a family of 11 kids, they were farmers. Her brother all had super severe acne, but all the kids dealt with it. They also had cows and were drinking the pure whole milk constantly. Milk does not cause acne for everyone..I know that..but if you are susceptible to acne you definitely should not be eating milk products. Soy milk is a great alternative and now I prefer it to cows milk. I really wish I could have figured out this direct effect so long ago and could have saved myself so much pain and acne scarring. I felt the need to pay this information forward. I hope this helps some of you. I wish someone would have told it to me.
^^ That's great that you figured out your acne problem. Just watch out about soy milk, for many that causes more problems then cow's milk, and I'm not just talking skin. After not drinking milk for a year, I just recently have started experimenting with organic whole raw milk, going to give it a few weeks before I conclude the experiment.
Someone mentioned Dr. Mercola as a mainstream doctor before. although, I don't think he's mainstream as he's anti-vaccine and into the blood type diet amongst other things.
Anyway, he just posted this article on his site:
"Plagued by Pimples?"
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles...e-for-good.aspx
Huffington Post article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyma...a_b_822163.html
Another one primarily about sugar and dairy. But there's a little bit about other factors like nutrients.
Great thread idea!!
Dermatologists, Dr William Danby and Dr. Valori Treloar are mentioned in the articles below, which advocate no dairy and a low-glycemic diet. One article states, "Treloar and Danby say they can count on both hands the number of US dermatologists and researchers who lend their voices and efforts to helping prove a food-acne connection." That statement alone shows that the diet-acne connection isn't being taken seriously. Until that changes, when it comes to diet, people are better off listening to the experiences of other acne sufferers and their conclusions... or to the few derms that believe in the diet-acne connection!
How a pint of milk a day can give you acne
Now.... if only the derms would investigate the role of cruciferous veggies and their powerful ability to help clear skin!! Dr. Joel Fuhrman is one doctor who admits to cruciferous vegetables being crucial in the recovery of his patients with acne. Below is an article with an example.
I feel like a lot of dermatologists do understand that there can be an acne-diet relationship. However, when a patient goes to a dermatologist, are they seeking nutrition or diet advice? More likely than not, they want a prescription for a medication. Patients do not want to pay a copay just to hear the doctor say "stay away from dairy" (ect) because the patient can research and experiment with their diet without taking the time to see a dermatologist. I think it should really be up to the individual to take responsibility for their health and diet (and not just for controlling acne). Perhaps if a diet change does not work, though, that's when individuals should ideally seek a dermatologist for medication.
^Many of us have gone to dermatologists asking about diet, food intolerances and other factors. And the average dermatologist will tell you that they have no affect on your acne. Dr. Nancy Sneiderman on the Today show recently said so and has a book out on medical myths in which she says there is no connection between diet and acne.
True, the average person does want a pill or cream to make it go away, but that is no excuse for ignorance or bad doctoring. Especially since it's ridiculous to even think that there's no connection. It is not possible for there to not be a connection. It's how your body gets the nutrients it needs to function. Or not. In most cases, not.
And people won't know that diet is a factor when they are constantly told that it isn't. I was told that for decades. And I had acne for decades, despite all kinds of prescription medications.
I agree that we should take responsibility for our own health. In fact it's vital, because conventional medicine is getting more and more useless.
Great thread idea Alterna.
Dr. Mark Hyman is another good one that talks about the diet, gut health acne connection
Here's a link to one of his youtube's that first got me thinking about one of the causes of skin issues.
I still can't figure out if I have a dairy intolerance or a dairy allergy. All I know is if I eat it, I break out, so I avoid it the same way you avoid certain citrus fruits.
Interestingly everyone in my family except my dad has no issues with dairy. My dad is moderately lactose intolerant, so I'm guessing that as I'm aging I'm going down a similar path to him, where as my mom and sister have no issues with it.
I also agree about the Weston A Price stuff being a bit of quackery. There's lots of posts on the net talking about raw milk, raw butter and their benefit to skin health. No matter what form of dairy I eat, I will break out. Interestingly when I was drinking raw milk (1-2 glasses a day) I got more of what appeared to be a rash across my forehead. So again that could be a intolerance to casein or a straight up milk allergy. As soon as I stopped it, the rash like pimples (very small) disappeared over night.
But I also was getting big cysts from cheese or other cultured forms of dairy.
Now days I stick to a dairy/gluten free diet and stay 100% clear no matter what I eat, how much sleep or how little water I drink.
Intolerances are the only answer I have been able to come up with...
I am 100% convinced that there is a link between dairy and acne. The bad thing about dairy is the fact that it's pretty hard to stand by it, because you have to avoid : sugars, fried food, fast food, fatty foods, bread, milk, cheese. These might seem like a few things to avoid but sugars or fats are almost in every product out there.
Anyway, cutting to the chase :
I never had a breakout or a new pimple while I was on a dairy. And I mean like never, but there were periods when I just forget and start eating again fast foods, sugars, etc and breakouts start to appear. I'm thinking that avoiding them completely isn't a good idea because your body needs it, so I'll get my sugars from fruits, I'll get my fats from fish, I'll get my proteins from egg whites, I'll get my vitamins from vegetables and lemon.
Have a strong will with this and you'll see the improvements after 1 week.
Think about it from this perspective : you have acne, but your acne will determine you to have a healthy lifestyle, to take care of yourself, to have a great personality. If it's gone completely by 24,25 years I think it's totally worth it. 
cheers
See the acne/dairy thread:
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Acne-dair...58#entry3134858
But do not ignore the many other factors that contribute to acne because they are also very bad for your health: elevated blood sugar/insulin resistance, inflammation, poor sleep, stress, etc.
Not a doctor but a mainstream skin care expert, Paula Begoun aka the Cosmeticscop is now telling people that there is a diet connection. After many years of telling people diet had no affect.
http://www.cosmeticscop.com/BULLETIN/08021...auty+Exclusives
This one is primarily about sugar. I don't get why they always want to fixate on one factor when there are many involved in acne.
^ I really like her skin-care products, but she is very mainstream and certainly so with her dietary advice as well. It's sad that dairy, a well-known acne trigger food, was put in the maybe category. At least sugars (simple carbohydrates) were listed as being a no-no, because that's a huge factor. I was impressed at least with the list of foods she listed as skin-friendly and agreed with most. Hopefully people will pay more attention to that part of the article.
This thread is a discussion of a 2009 paper written by a panel of world experts called 'Recent Advances in the Pathogenesis of Acne.' There's some on diet, but a lot on inflammation and types of immune response being at the root of acne formation.
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Recent-Ad...-P-t298075.html
And as we all know, much of said inflammation and immune response is triggered by diet.
