Yes but I was only driven to insanity to the point of eating disorder because of the fact that a more balanced, complex nutrient rich diet didn't help my acne. I'm not saying food hasn't helped my body at all, but my skin just seems to progressively get worse as I go on. Like I'm beating back a monster that will never stop.

Some people suffer allergic-like reactions to very specific food groups. This might manifest itself as cystic acne in those individuals. Dairy, citrus, and gluten come to mind.

Others like myself, have zero reaction to food, but horrible reactions to the body's post orgasm processes. Avoid/limiting orgasms clears me 100%. Everyone is different when it comes to their specific trigger.

Pretending to understand why these things occur is only useful as a hobby. For the rest of us, we'll take the practical approach, stick with what works, and get on with our lives. If diet works for you, fantastic. If not, figure something else out or learn to deal with it.

You do realize there are children/virgins out there with acne? I don't think the great mighty "Orgasm" is a factor. Dear lord... the dumbness of some people is astounding.

Yes but I was only driven to insanity to the point of eating disorder because of the fact that a more balanced, complex nutrient rich diet didn't help my acne. I'm not saying food hasn't helped my body at all, but my skin just seems to progressively get worse as I go on. Like I'm beating back a monster that will never stop.

I'm sorry that you went into an E.D... I did too years ago. I kept trying to eat as healthy as possible and kept thinking I wasn't doing enough and got paranoid to the point I was afraid to eat it all. Lot's of girls and even guys develop eating disorders or "severely restrictive" eating patterns because of acne. Which f*cks up their life even more and leads to an awful round of neverending self blame.

Take a look at this video (if you haven't seen it already):

I agree with the sentiment that people shouldn't beat themselves up over having acne or if they don't have success with diet, and that people should steer clear of the 100% cures and people who rack it all up to leaky gut, candida, demodex mites, or whatever else.

That being said, you haven't exactly linked any evidence that absolutely establishes no link between diet and acne. It's sort of ironic that you're so sure of the etiology of acne to the point where you can't have an open discussion about it. In that sense, you're not so different from the very people you're criticizing for misleading people. People like polarized, clear cut answers, but the reality is that the body is extremely complicated. Disease is complicated.

Your username should be Canadianheart, since you have so many posts belittling us stoooopid 'Muricans

I agree with the sentiment that people shouldn't beat themselves up over having acne or if they don't have success with diet, and that people should steer clear of the 100% cures and people who rack it all up to leaky gut, candida, demodex mites, or whatever else.

That being said, you haven't exactly linked any evidence that absolutely establishes no link between diet and acne. It's sort of ironic that you're so sure of the etiology of acne to the point where you can't have an open discussion about it. In that sense, you're not so different from the very people you're criticizing for misleading people. People like polarized, clear cut answers, but the reality is that the body is extremely complicated. Disease is complicated.

Your username should be Canadianheart, since you have so many posts belittling us stoooopid 'Muricans

Acne is not *caused* by diet. Whether or not it gets aggravated by particular foods in certain people is up for debate as everyones internal chemistry is different. But food allergies that create cystic pimples are sort of uncommon - usually you would devlop "hives". That's just what I meant. I think my original post got misconstrued because I didn't detail it well enough.

It is complex ... but, it all comes back to how our bodies react to hormonal internal chemistry (as acne is a hormonal disease, as Dan even says).

I'm not belitting American's? lol. I have nothing against them.

Acne isn't caused by any one thing--for most people. There are people like alternavista who found very specific food triggers, such as soda and citrus. Then there are people like tritonxiv who react badly post-orgasm. It wouldn't be fair to say orgasm has nothing to do with it just because there are children with acne any more than it would be fair to say that gluten is a factor just because some people can eat it and be fine. If I eat gluten I get explosive nodular acne not to mention horrible stomach problems, blackouts, crying fits and other crazy mood disturbances. I believe tritonxiv that he gets a bad reaction to orgasm.

I think for most of us, we have 5-10 major triggers and it's very difficult to get them all in alignment to have good skin.

Some people suffer allergic-like reactions to very specific food groups. This might manifest itself as cystic acne in those individuals. Dairy, citrus, and gluten come to mind.

Others like myself, have zero reaction to food, but horrible reactions to the body's post orgasm processes. Avoid/limiting orgasms clears me 100%. Everyone is different when it comes to their specific trigger.

Pretending to understand why these things occur is only useful as a hobby. For the rest of us, we'll take the practical approach, stick with what works, and get on with our lives. If diet works for you, fantastic. If not, figure something else out or learn to deal with it.

You do realize there are children/virgins out there with acne? I don't think the great mighty "Orgasm" is a factor. Dear lord... the dumbness of some people is astounding.

Try not to be so close-minded. He said some people get acne as a result of having orgasms, but he never said everyone who has acne does. I've seen some of his posts and I can assure you he is not dumb, and you shouldn't be calling people dumb on this forum.

Nope sorry, it is. Acne is 100% a symptom of bad eating I don't care what you stubborn people say it is. And a leaky gut is definitely real and causes all forms of acne and other diseases all the time. Doctors and Dermatologists deny this because they'd be *out of business* if people found out. Stop lying to yourselves. Become a raw vegan and stay away from dairy! and your acne will be no more.

I tend to agree with this. In fact, I think my acne got worse due to following a strict diet because I was so god damned stressed all the time! I think stress is much more of a problem than diet (same with lack of sleep). Not eating much (because lets be honest, veggies do not fill you up or give you the required calories, and eating too much fat/meat could be causing me acne), makes you feel anxious all the time.

Nope sorry, it is. Acne is 100% a symptom of bad eating I don't care what you stubborn people say it is. And a leaky gut is definitely real and causes all forms of acne and other diseases all the time. Doctors and Dermatologists deny this because they'd be *out of business* if people found out. Stop lying to yourselves. Become a raw vegan and stay away from dairy! and your acne will be no more.

No that isn't true either. Diet is just a huge factor that affects every other factor involved in the many processes that lead to the symptom of acne, but it isn't 100%. Just like it isn't 100% of the cause of type II diabetes.. And raw vegan has little to do with it. You can be one and still eat a bad diet.

Nope sorry, it is. Acne is 100% a symptom of bad eating I don't care what you stubborn people say it is. And a leaky gut is definitely real and causes all forms of acne and other diseases all the time. Doctors and Dermatologists deny this because they'd be *out of business* if people found out. Stop lying to yourselves. Become a raw vegan and stay away from dairy! and your acne will be no more.

I just want to scream the world's largest FUCK YOU (although it isn't directed personally at you). I believe that you really believe this. But what about those of us who were NOT helped by diet? Do you just ignore our posts? Pretend we don't exist? I've tried raw veganism multiple times!

Bah, who says raw veganism is the ideal diet for acne? :/

Anyway, I'm not saying that that is the reason why dejaclairevoyant hasn't got results through diet. But seriously, raw veganism is such an extreme diet that it's not too unlike starving yourself. I don't think it's healthy in the long term.

Nope sorry, it is. Acne is 100% a symptom of bad eating I don't care what you stubborn people say it is. And a leaky gut is definitely real and causes all forms of acne and other diseases all the time. Doctors and Dermatologists deny this because they'd be *out of business* if people found out. Stop lying to yourselves. Become a raw vegan and stay away from dairy! and your acne will be no more.

if that is so, wouldn't the majority of the u.s. have an acne epidemic? especially every overweight people

mfw when I've been studying human biology for over two years and you are making bold statements my friend..

mfw when I've been studying human biology for over two years and you are making bold statements my friend..

You can study whatever degree of science you'd like, I could care less. All I know from **fourteen years** of experience with severe acne is that that true acne vulgaris is not influenced by diet what-so-ever. Anyone that says their acne has been *cured* as a result of cutting out dairy, casein or gluten has never experienced severe acne I can tell you that. Half of these people probably didn't even have acne they improved by cutting out a certain food, probably just had some acne-like rash from an allergic reaction.

mfw when I've been studying human biology for over two years and you are making bold statements my friend..

You can study whatever degree of science you'd like, I could care less. All I know from **fourteen years** of experience with severe acne is that that true acne vulgaris is not influenced by diet what-so-ever. Anyone that says their acne has been *cured* as a result of cutting out dairy, casein or gluten has never experienced severe acne I can tell you that. Half of these people probably didn't even have acne they improved by cutting out a certain food, probably just had some acne-like rash from an allergic reaction.

I had acne for thirty years. Severe acne. And Now that I know the truth, i control my acne with diet. My skin cleared completely in a little over one month from the day I began improving my diet. And I did so after seeing post after post from Atkins dieters saying the diet cleared their skin during he last big Atkins fad.

And it isn't just certain foods causing reactions It's the nutrients your body needs to function properly, balance hormones, control inflammatory responses, produce sebum that protects rather than clog pores, heal, and on and on.

mfw when I've been studying human biology for over two years and you are making bold statements my friend..

You can study whatever degree of science you'd like, I could care less. All I know from **fourteen years** of experience with severe acne is that that true acne vulgaris is not influenced by diet what-so-ever. Anyone that says their acne has been *cured* as a result of cutting out dairy, casein or gluten has never experienced severe acne I can tell you that. Half of these people probably didn't even have acne they improved by cutting out a certain food, probably just had some acne-like rash from an allergic reaction.

I had acne for thirty years. Severe acne. And Now that I know the truth, i control my acne with diet. My skin cleared completely in a little over one month from the day I began improving my diet. And I did so after seeing post after post from Atkins dieters saying the diet cleared their skin during he last big Atkins fad.

And it isn't just certain foods causing reactions It's the nutrients your body needs to function properly, balance hormones, control inflammatory responses, produce sebum that protects rather than clog pores, heal, and on and on.

My hormones are perfectly balanced. All my vitamins and minerals are within the ideal range as I get blood drawn every month. Acne is not related to diet sorry. Your acne has subsided because you're in your darn mid 40's now and you've grown out of the worst of it.

mfw when I've been studying human biology for over two years and you are making bold statements my friend..

You can study whatever degree of science you'd like, I could care less. All I know from **fourteen years** of experience with severe acne is that that true acne vulgaris is not influenced by diet what-so-ever. Anyone that says their acne has been *cured* as a result of cutting out dairy, casein or gluten has never experienced severe acne I can tell you that. Half of these people probably didn't even have acne they improved by cutting out a certain food, probably just had some acne-like rash from an allergic reaction.

I had acne for thirty years. Severe acne. And Now that I know the truth, i control my acne with diet. My skin cleared completely in a little over one month from the day I began improving my diet. And I did so after seeing post after post from Atkins dieters saying the diet cleared their skin during he last big Atkins fad.

And it isn't just certain foods causing reactions It's the nutrients your body needs to function properly, balance hormones, control inflammatory responses, produce sebum that protects rather than clog pores, heal, and on and on.

My hormones are perfectly balanced. All my vitamins and minerals are within the ideal range as I get blood drawn every month. Acne is not related to diet sorry. Your acne has subsided because you're in your darn mid 40's now and you've grown out of the worst of it.

Wrong, again. I had constant moderately severe acne until one month after I changed my diet. And my acne comes back when I spend a prolonged period eating a worse diet. And by worse, I meant the diet my mother, grandmother and the average westerner considers adequately healthy. The only thing that happened as I got older is my skin went from grotesquely oily to just very oily and my acne from very severe to moderately so, but still constant. Then I tried certain nutrients known via studies going back decades to affect acne, in the form of supplements, and my skin got better. Then I learned about the damaging post prandial affects of sugar and refined carbs and grasped the truth. Changed my diet and my skin cleared.

My father had acne until he died in an automobile accident in his sixties. Two of my siblings, one older, still have acne. They didn't grow out of it either.

But enough about my story vs yours. It's been studied. It is fact. And it is not possible for diet to not affect acne or anything else going on in your body.

Although I know that makes no difference to you. I called it in my first post. You know nothing and don't want to know. And if you are not interested in discussing the very real connection between nutrition and lifestyle and acne, here in the nutrition forum, then you are a troll. Stop trolling.

mfw when I've been studying human biology for over two years and you are making bold statements my friend..

You can study whatever degree of science you'd like, I could care less. All I know from **fourteen years** of experience with severe acne is that that true acne vulgaris is not influenced by diet what-so-ever. Anyone that says their acne has been *cured* as a result of cutting out dairy, casein or gluten has never experienced severe acne I can tell you that. Half of these people probably didn't even have acne they improved by cutting out a certain food, probably just had some acne-like rash from an allergic reaction.

I had acne for thirty years. Severe acne. And Now that I know the truth, i control my acne with diet. My skin cleared completely in a little over one month from the day I began improving my diet. And I did so after seeing post after post from Atkins dieters saying the diet cleared their skin during he last big Atkins fad.

And it isn't just certain foods causing reactions It's the nutrients your body needs to function properly, balance hormones, control inflammatory responses, produce sebum that protects rather than clog pores, heal, and on and on.

My hormones are perfectly balanced. All my vitamins and minerals are within the ideal range as I get blood drawn every month. Acne is not related to diet sorry. Your acne has subsided because you're in your darn mid 40's now and you've grown out of the worst of it.

Wrong, again. I had constant moderately severe acne until one month after I changed my diet. And my acne comes back when I spend a prolonged period eating a worse diet. And by worse, I meant the diet my mother, grandmother and the average westerner considers adequately healthy. The only thing that happened as I got older is my skin went from grotesquely oily to just very oily and my acne from very severe to moderately so, but still constant. Then I tried certain nutrients known via studies going back decades to affect acne, in the form of supplements, and my skin got better. Then I learned about the damaging post prandial affects of sugar and refined carbs and grasped the truth. Changed my diet and my skin cleared.

My father had acne until he died in an automobile accident in his sixties. Two of my siblings, one older, still have acne. They didn't grow out of it either.

But enough about my story vs yours. It's been studied. It is fact. And it is not possible for diet to not affect acne or anything else going on in your body.

Although I know that makes no difference to you. I called it in my first post. You know nothing and don't want to know. And if you are not interested in discussing the very real connection between nutrition and lifestyle and acne, here in the nutrition forum, then you are a troll. Stop trolling.

Acne only affects a small minority of the worlds population over the age of 25 and most people eat like crap or abuse their bodies with awful diets, alchohol, smoking, drugs - Yet they don't experience acne in the least. I've also met many people with bowel disorders and such like Crohn's disease, celiac disease and acne is not a problem for them either. So that throws out the notion in the trash that acne is caused by a "gut disorder". So please tell me how acne is the result of lifestyle then? hmmmnn don't think so.

What are you anyway? you're not a doctor or dermatologist I can assert that.

Acne is caused by an inherited sensitivity to androgen hormones which affects the way the "pore" exfoliates creating infection - not a leaky gut or dairy allergy or even hormonal imbalance. A "leaky gut" is a hypothesized condition (isn't real) and is more correlated in the development of autism than acne and a dairy allergy would manifest in the form of "hives" rather than pimples. Also a dairy allergy is HIGHLY uncommon and affects less than 2% of adults. Stop spreading false information.

The hollistic section should be focused more on researching natural treatments such as vitamin D and "Saw Palmetto" which is known to make people less sensitive to androgen hormones through gradual exposure. So many of you people lack education and seem to view acne as a "dietary disease" and not a genetic disorder of the pore caused by androgen sensitivity as it truly is. Stop blaming the victim.

.

Hello,

I would highly suggest you read "The Clear Skin Diet", a very popular and respected book written by Dr. Valorie Treloar,MD, a New York Dermatologist who uses hundreds of researched articles straight from medical journals over the last century to show evidence linking diet/lifestyle to acne.

Here's a very clear example. If you look at acne rates in any studied area of the world not influenced by the western diet you will find that acne is a very rare skin condition. One landmark study cited in Dr.Treloar's book showed how older, rural Japanese farmers with a low insulin spiking diet and high fish-vegatable based diet experienced very little acne throughout their lives, but their offspring who moved to cities and familiarized themselves with preserved, sugary, high fat, and chemically laced food are now experiencing acne at astronomically higher levels. Levels similar to U.S. rates.

This is because the western diet fuels the flames of inflammation in the body which has a strong effect on the rise of acne causing hormones. Although acne is a bacterial problem, it is more importantly an inflammation problem and a gut problem. I mean let's be reasonable here, even mainstream Dermatologists who prescribe Accutane on a regular basis are now writing articles about how bad diet, lack of good bacteria, etc. will only fan the flames of acne and be the very cause of it for some. There is too much overwhelming research for even them to ignore it.

This whole "diet has nothing to do with acne" is based upon about two flawed studies that were published half a century ago and were the only real diet related studies that were exposed to most dermatologists for a long period of time. Since many more Holistic-type and free thnking Dermatologists are out there now like Dr. Treloar, books are being published and articles are being written where hundreds of old and recent medical studies are dug up showing links between diet to acne. For too long, most of these published studies were pushed under the rug and ignored by mainstream dermatology.

I myself used to think diet and acne had little relation, especially to those who had "severe acne" like myself. Yet I really had never read the research and my opinion was really based on mainstream opinion from friends and family, etc. So I bought a book actually written by a Dermatologist. I even went online to check out the citations made, and frankly, the research is non-debatable. These are legitimate studies done by Dermatologists published in medical journals, dermatology journals, etc. You complained earlier how a member here wasn't a Dermatologist so why should you believe their opinion? Well, if you want to take that approach, send Dr. Treloar an email challenging her on her published book containing these studies. Her website is freely available and she takes emails. You seem to know quite a lot based on your own experience, SURELY you know more than an MD who cited over 300 studies on this issue in a highly respected book.

I believe that if you are a reasonable and intelligent person, after actually reading this research you will at least admit diet plays a significant role in almost all cases of acne. Although you may be passionate in your belief that your own case of acne is not diet related, it is difficult for most people to take you seriously when you seem to ignore or disregard the multitude of scientific research showing that most cases of acne, even severe, are significantly effected by diet. You also ignore the many cases on this own website of people that here who had severe cystic acne who went through many rounds of Accutane only to find out that diet and lifestyle change did more to improve them long term than harmful chemicals that are at best short term solutions.

Your approach in this thread will not lead to mature debate and even some sort of a compromise-type of agreement. It is combative and not a sign of someone who truly wants to debate science and factual medical studies. I can sit here confidently and say that although diet plays a very large role in most cases of acne, it is just not enough for a minority of people to be a complete cure. Can you be a mature individual as well and admit that based upon thousands of testimonials and more importantly a great amount of medical research, that diet CAN cure or decrease acne for many sufferers? If not, you are pulling our legs and no intelligent person will take you seriously. If you would like to see studies showing links between acne and diet, and you are a smart person, you will be able to find them readily available on the web on medical journal websites and even in posted in this own holistic forum on this website. They are essentially right in front. It takes a very short amount of time if you have a healthy attention span. Unfortunately I suspect someone like yourself came here to argue that your personal experience trumps scientific research, and you have no real interest reading the data available linking diet to acne.

Acne is caused by an inherited sensitivity to androgen hormones which affects the way the "pore" exfoliates creating infection - not a leaky gut or dairy allergy or even hormonal imbalance. A "leaky gut" is a hypothesized condition (isn't real) and is more correlated in the development of autism than acne and a dairy allergy would manifest in the form of "hives" rather than pimples. Also a dairy allergy is HIGHLY uncommon and affects less than 2% of adults. Stop spreading false information.

The hollistic section should be focused more on researching natural treatments such as vitamin D and "Saw Palmetto" which is known to make people less sensitive to androgen hormones through gradual exposure. So many of you people lack education and seem to view acne as a "dietary disease" and not a genetic disorder of the pore caused by androgen sensitivity as it truly is. Stop blaming the victim.

.

Hello,

I would highly suggest you read "The Clear Skin Diet" by Dr. Valorie Treloar, a respected NY Dermatologist who includes hundreds of researched articles straight from medical journals over the last century which show both strong links and concrete evidence linking diet/lifestyle to acne.

If you go to any area of the world not influenced by the western diet medicine and you will see acne is virtually non existent. One landmark study in her book showed how rural Japanese farmers with a low insulin spiking diet and high organic and vegatable based diet experienced very little acne, but their offspring who moved to cities and familiarized themselves with preserved, sugary, high fat, and chemically laced food are now experiencing acne at astronomically higher levels.

This is because the western diet fuels the flames of inflammation and insulin spikes which has a strong effect on the rise of acne causing hormones. Come on, even mainstream Derms who love Accutane are writing articles about diet and acne now. There is too much overwhelming research for even them to ignore it. This whole "diet has nothing to do with acne" is based upon a few flawed studies that were published half a century ago and were the only real diet related studies that were exposed to most dermatologists. Since many more Holistic-type Dermatologists are out there now, books are being published such as the one mentioned above where doctors have dug up hundreds of studies linking diet to acne. Most were unfortunately pushed under the rug and ignored by mainstream dermatology up until now. I used to think diet and acne had no relation, and then I read her book and the research is non-debatable. Even if you are someone who strongly disagrees with me now, I believe that after seeing this research you will at least admit diet plays a significant role in almost all cases of acne.

Oh yes, clearly my fifteen year struggle with acne is completely linked to diet! it must be all the vegetables I eat, or all the water I drink - or perhaps the stark lack of dairy or gluten in my diet. I am clearly doing something wrong to suffer from this ailment. It's absolutely my fault, I hold all self blame.

Did you read any of what I wrote? I even admitted your case could be a type of acne where diet is only somewhat/minimally effective or takes a lot of time and adjustment to become effective. These cases do exist, as not everyone is the same and there are a minority group of acne patients whom diet seems to not have a significant effect compared with most people. I'm even agreeing that you may be right! Why are you so ignorant? Can't you see I took the time to tell you where these medical studies are? Have you looked any of it up?

No, you haven't. You won't. Like a little child convinced he's right that 2+2=3 and even if teacher shoves a book in his face you run away with your hands over your ears. You don't want to hear fact. You just want to say YOUR experience means EVERYONE'S experience. Because you have not had success with diet and acne, the patients in these studies must be liars, the members on this site must be liars, or they didn't have severe acne (which they did and we do), etc.

You did not come here to have a rational debate about the scientific literature. You came to whine and complain about your personal experience and how that proves you are right about all acne treatments, and if Dermatologists and other people disagree with you, well then too bad! You're right and they are wrong, because you said so.

This thread is a waste of time and I regret trying to be reasonable with someone that from first glance wasn't a mature and respectful person. Have fun, I am pretty sure you will end up talking to yourself at the end of this discussion, as everyone who tried to reason with you will see you are just an angry person with too much time on their hands.

mfw when I've been studying human biology for over two years and you are making bold statements my friend..

You can study whatever degree of science you'd like, I could care less. All I know from **fourteen years** of experience with severe acne is that that true acne vulgaris is not influenced by diet what-so-ever. Anyone that says their acne has been *cured* as a result of cutting out dairy, casein or gluten has never experienced severe acne I can tell you that. Half of these people probably didn't even have acne they improved by cutting out a certain food, probably just had some acne-like rash from an allergic reaction.

I had acne for thirty years. Severe acne. And Now that I know the truth, i control my acne with diet. My skin cleared completely in a little over one month from the day I began improving my diet. And I did so after seeing post after post from Atkins dieters saying the diet cleared their skin during he last big Atkins fad.

And it isn't just certain foods causing reactions It's the nutrients your body needs to function properly, balance hormones, control inflammatory responses, produce sebum that protects rather than clog pores, heal, and on and on.

I agree with you that diet does indeed affect acne, but you have to admit all the diet changes in the world aren't going to fix severe acne like this.

What would you recommend for people with acne that bad? My acne isn't nearly that bad, but I'm curious what your advice for them would be.