Hi all,

Here's a little background info before I delve into my acne cure scenario.

I'm a white male age 31 and have had medium to mild acne on my face and body since my teenage years. During my early 20's the acne seemed to dissipate and I had relatively clear skin until the age of 27. At 27 my back and shoulders became riddled with nodules and cystic acne over the span of a month. At that time I was mountain biking and weight lifting quite often. So my first thought was that sweat and dirt/bacteria were the cause. No matter how often I washed or which product I used, the acne remained. I tried salicylic acid and every cleanser or home remedy under the sun to no avail. My next thought was that maybe it was some kind of a fungal infection due to mountain biking. I washed with selsun blue shampoo which seemed to help, but the acne would reoccur. I used a soap with zinc which also seemed to help, yet again the acne would not completely cure.

After a few years I almost gave up completely and wrote this acne off as a genetic issue (since my mom had acne) that would hopefully pass with age. I didn't have health insurance at the time, yet probably wouldn't have gone anyway because I'm sure the doctors answer would be to medicate, which I didn't think is the answer.

Of course every search online regarding acne will give mixed opinions on causes and cures. Yet it was a random search regarding the potential acne-allergy link which clued me into the next experiment. What if studies which argue against the food-acne link are wrong? They are after all, based on statistics, which means there are always outliers and small sample groups which don't represent the population as a whole.

So I decided to fast. That's right, I didn't eat any solid food and drank only water for 3 days. And you know what, my acne did not reoccur. Also, the inflammation around the existing nodules, cysts, and white heads seemed to dissipate more rapidly than before. Eureka! Now the task of narrowing down which food causes the problem. I tried an exclusion diet which lasted about 2 months before I narrowed down soy as the problem factor.

Of course researching the effects of soy online yield a variety of theories. Since I don't have enough of the symptoms to say that I'm allergic to soy, I've come to believe that the isoflavones (which mimic the hormone estrogen) are the cause. Some cases of acne are certainly hormone linked. It could be possible that the elevated estrogen levels in my body may in turn cause an uptick in testosterone production to balance it out. It is believed that androgens, or male hormones, are linked to hormonal acne.

Referring back to my earlier comment about the acne flaring up at the age of 27. That also happens to be around the time frame which I began adding tofu to my protein shakes.

I've been avoiding soy for the past 3 months, with some occasional slip ups. When completely soy free, my skin is in great condition, even when I exercise. However, it is a very difficult diet to follow. Almost every fast food place uses soy in the food or fryer. Many supermarket foods have soy lecithin as a preservative. I have to read each and every label to make sure it doesn't have the word soy in it. Certain vegetable oils have soy in the mix, that was a sneaky one to find. Apparently soy has been steadily added to the American diet over the past 20 years. It is suppose to be a good source of protein without the cholesterol associated to meats. It also functions as a preservative. In other words, there is big money tied in with soy production.

I am in no way a medical or research professional. But an exclusion diet may be the way to go if you suspect hormonal acne is your issue. These are the symptoms which I experience:

-Inflammation and redness on back, body, shoulders, and sometimes face within a few hours after ingestion. Within 8-12 hours, full acne has formed.

-Sometimes white heads and cysts, but mostly nodular acne.

-fast reduction in inflammation when soy is avoided.

I hope this post can help some of you out there. Good luck!