This is all great, but the most overlooked part is our unique genome!!!

I've contemplated the idea of actually explaining the significance, but the information would go over the heads of majority of this site's members.

I wish you would change the title to say Foods that cause acne for you. Because this is not applicable to everyone. I have no problems with most of those foods and I really never got whiteheads.

Also, you don't even mention one of the most important 'cause' for acne & just about any other health condition and that is high glycemic impacting meals/drinks & snack habits.

Interested in hearing your thoughts on this, Baxter.

@OP, wow! That's a lot of suspected food intolerances. Have you ever thought about going at it from the psychosomatic angle?

Please, every food on the list that causes acne, causes acne. I may be more sensitive than others, but the foods listed all cause acne.

Also, repeating hypothesis as fact is not helpful, in fact you are just spreading rumors. I tested carbs, and sugar, even though I am diabetic. I took mass quantities for weeks with no effect. Although there are implications on NIH that carbs MAY cause acne, there are no tests to prove this. In fact, the scientific papers imply there may be a correlation, but again not tested.

Ahh my input is useless pretty much at this point.

When I stopped eating raisins, I stopped getting big cysts. Not sure if there's actually a correlation, but I think so. So this chart definitely doesn't apply for everyone. Raisins didn't give me whiteheads, they have me big cysts. (Note: I would eat TONS of them at a time and they're already high on the glycemic index so....)

At least someone recognizes the difference between causation and association.

Wrong., Many of those foods listed would be beneficial for most people's acne. I.e. Salmon and other high omega 3 fish, And many people will break out from peanuts.

Really, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to your list You say peaches cause acne, and yes, many people are intolerant to stone fruit. Therefore, the other stone fruit & almonds should be on the list of foods that may cause an individual to break out.

And there has been tons of research demonstrating the relationship between high glycemic foods & the factors that lead to acne such as elevated hormones, inflammation & hyperproliferation & hyperproliferation of skin cells. And even studies on low glycemic diets showing imrpovement in people with acne.

High glycemic meal habits are extremely bad for you in ways far more important than acne. I suggest you never eat mass quantities again.

You are wrong again. All the foods on the list cause acne. So anyone with acne has to test the foods they eat to see which foods cause acne for them. And that means all the foods they eat. Also, I did not test every food available. I just listed the foods I personally tested. For folks who find additional foods that cause acne they will post their findings for everyone to see.

And stop the incessant chatter about carbohydrates. The acne tests done involved carbohydrates and other foods. There is no control on the other foods people eat, so there is no scientific way to determine if it was the carbs that caused the acne or the other foods. That is why the papers use terms such as "may". The researchers do not know if carbohydrates cause acne, it is a guess.

I found rice caused me acne. And I do not know if it is the carbohydrate in rice or if the rice contained arsenic.

It is true eating too many carbs, sugar, calories will cause your liver to make cholesterol wrong. So reducing sugar, calories, carbs reduces chances for a heart attack much more effectively than statins. But, this is not a heart disease site.

May I ask how in the heck you managed to narrow down that many foods? Did you solely eat almonds for the whole day to figure this out? If you ate chocolate and rainbow trout and cantaloupes in the same day how did you know which caused the inflammation?
It must have taken you years to compile that list.
Asking both out of curiosity and the fact I'm trying to determine my own trigger foods.

You are correct. It has been about ten years of testing. And the reason I started is I became diabetic, which required I eat three meals a day, as I used to ignore breakfast. So I started eating six eggs for breakfast, which caused a lot of whiteheads. And I conducted the egg test multiple times because I like eggs. I learned my lesson. Milk also was very bad. I decided to grow tomatoes, and when three matured I eat all three (tomatoes have few calories), it was again bad. As were the other nightshade plants. Also citrus was very bad. For example, I purchased a container of fresh sliced pineapple, eat the whole container and had many new whiteheads within two hours.

You are correct about the difficulty in conducting the test. As I eliminated foods that caused very bad acne, the acne was a little bit better, which allowed me to identify other foods that do not cause as much acne. One technique is to eat a large quantity of the test food for at least four days. For example, I was sure chicken did not cause acne, but I tested chicken. I purchased a cooked plain chicken, and eat the chicken over four days. The first day I was not sure, but by day four it was obvious chicken causes acne. I did the chicken test three times.

I don't normally eat nuts, but after I retired it was easy to test nuts. And I did it the way you suggested, I snacked on one type of nut all day long. By the end of the day there was a lot of new acne, or in the case of peanuts, there was no new acne.

After I brought my iodine level to normal, and the acne improved, I started retesting all the foods that are on the Do Not Cause Acne list. Many of the previously safe foods do cause acne. In fact, while retesting the previously safe foods, I saw my doctor as I am diabetic, and gave him the list of foods that cause acne, but the list still contained foods that needed to be retested. He looks at me an says "you still have acne". That is because I had tested a food four days earlier. I responded with, "I have had no new acne for four days for the first time in fifty years".

I completed the testing, and found I could also not eat red meat, berries and some of the fish, previously I thought were safe to eat. And I published the list on this forum.

The three curses in conducting an acne food test:
1. When you go out to eat, have the food prepared with no sauces on any items. The sauces often contain dairy, soy, etc. It is the sauces that make food taste good.
2. If a food you test causes acne, you have to wait a couple of weeks for the acne to calm down before you conduct your next test.
3. For processed foods you have to read the ingredients.

My suggestions are to be sure your iodine level is normal (your doctor can test you); start with the foods on the do not cause acne list; then add in one food item at a time and eat a lot of the item over many days.

For example, to test carbohydrates, flour plus water, and make pancakes. Eat a lot of pancakes over many days. Put nothing on the pancakes.

Good Luck

I am adding the following links if anyone is looking for supplements or to test for gluten sensitivity.

Gluten sensitivity testing. Not the blood test which is notoriously inaccurate. This is a Government certified testing lab.

https://www.enterolab.com/

Supplement testing. Consumer Lab tests supplements, and it is a pay site.

http://www.consumerlab.com/

I have always had a few occasional zits, whitesheads and a few cysts on my face. I read lots of blogs, articles about skin health and then I decided to change my diet for a few months and see what happens. Eventually my skin has improved tremendously and I wanted to share my experience with you.

My recommendation is: stay away from fruits, artificial sweeteners, alcohol and glucose-fructose. Don't drink too much coffee or black tea. Also don't eat any kind of dairy food and don't eat rice, white bread, pasta, pizza, fried food, processed food, spicy food...

What you can eat are whole grains, red meat, olives, raw olive oil, fish or chicken once a week (don't eat everyday because they can be allergenic), vegetables (except onions, tomatoes, garlic, spinach because they can cause irritation for skin), soups and if you want to eat a sugary thing, eat bitter chocolate. 

Drink water, fennel tea, green tea and lemon balm tea.

Besides all these, I sleept well. I washed my face twice a day, dried it with a clean towel and moisturized it with a few drops of distilled tea tree oil.

Now my skin is not perfect but it feels and looks much better than it was 2 months ago. And with that diet my extra weight is gone too

Sorry for my english, it's not my first language.

I hope I could help. 

Wish you love.

On October 1, 2015 at 249 PM, AJM00001 said:

Skin Problems - Acne

Foods that Cause Acne

Beans Kidney beans

 

Berries Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and red raspberries;

inflammation over days

 

Chocolate Whiteheads, one to two days

 

Citrus Inflammation, very fast, pineapple especially, within two hours

Lemon oil Found in jams and jellies, and other food stuffs (have to read label)

Cocoa Both whiteheads and inflammation, takes many days

 

Dairy

Milk Whiteheads, within 24 hours

Eggs Whiteheads within 24 hours, severe

Butter OLIVIO

Dates, Figs Inflammation that day, if eat large quantity over an eight hour period

 

Fish / Seafood:

Hong Kong Sea Bass Whiteheads within two hours

Sea Scallops Whiteheads within 24 hours

Salmon Inflammation after two or three days

Shrimp Very slow, very low inflammation

Rainbow Trout Very slow, very low inflammation

Grouper Inflammation after two or three days

Halibut Very slow, very low inflammation

Foul:

Chicken A few whiteheads in 24 hours. Very bad if eaten on consecutive days

Turkey A few whiteheads in 24 hours. Very bad if eaten on consecutive days

Fruits Apples, peaches, Kiwi

 

Grains:

Rice Whiteheads within two hours

Soy (and tofu) Whiteheads within two hours

Grapes; Whiteheads in 24 hours

Wine Little first day, increases every following day

Raisins Whiteheads, over many days, slow development

Melons:

Watermelon Very small amount, takes a couple of days

Nuts:

Almonds Inflammation that day, if eaten all day long

Walnut Inflammation that day

Cashew Inflammation, and do not fell well, if eaten all day long

 

Meat (Red) All

 

Salt Small amount 24 hours later

 

Syrup Agave

 

Vegetables - Nightshades (All):

Tomatoes Inflammation within 24 hours, tomatoes are severe

Potatoes Inflammation within 24 hours

Red, Green, Yellow Peppers Inflammation within 24 hours

Yams:

Sweet potato Very small amount, takes a couple of days

Foods that may Cause Acne

 

Pectin Found in jams and jellies

Acidic Acid Found in jams and jellies

Manufactured Food Fake butter: Melt, Nutiva buttery spread

 

Foods that do not Cause Acne

 

Fruits Bananas

 

Grains: Sorghum, Buckwheat, Quinoa, Oats

 

Melons Cantaloupe

 

Nuts: Peanuts, peanut butter

 

Oils: Olive oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil

 

Seafood: Rockfish, Mahi-mahi, Cobia, Swordfish, Vermillion Snapper

 

Syrup: Maple syrup

 

Vegetables: Carrots, spinach, asparagus, green beans, cucumbers, squash, pickles

 

Acne Aids

Benzoyl peroxide only works to aid in healing acne after the acne has broken the skin. It helps to stop inflammation in the area near the breakout, but does not stop new acne or heal the break out.

 

Clindamycin Phosphate and Benzoyl Peroxide - only works to aid in healing acne after the acne has broken the skin. It does not stop new acne. But is much more effective than benzoyl peroxide alone.

 

Iodized salt caused acne. However after reading a blog by a heath care professional who was arguing people in general are short iodine. And he said some people say iodized salt causes acne, it should not as we need iodine. So I took the challenge to add iodine to my food for one month, no matter how bad the acne became. I added one drop of Atomic iodine to my food per day. The first day I had a lot of new acne, the same for seven straight days. In fact, I go two stepping , and the ladies looked at me like something was very wrong. But on the eighth day the new acne was like before I began iodine.

 

One month after adding iodine to my diet the acne was about 50% less than the acne was before I began iodine. Two months after starting iodine, the acne was down 90% less than the acne was before I started iodine. After 3 months I was able to determine that red meat, grouper, blueberries, red raspberries, apples and peaches cause acne, all of which I previously thought did not cause acne.

 

After removing these foods from my diet, the acne appears almost gone, but it is not. If I eat foods I am sensitive to, acne appears within two hours. It appears a shortage of iodine results in more acne than would appear if iodine levels are normal.

 

Salt; now that the acne appears to be very close to being gone, salt (iodized or not) does cause a small amount of acne.

 

The problem with how scientists test food, such as chocolate, to determine if the food causes acne, is ineffective. The correct method to test if a food causes acne is to first place the patient on a no acne diet, a very boring diet, for three months. Then, after the skin improves sufficiently, add back in one food item. If the skin is clear, after eating a food item that causes acne, it will be obvious within two hours for most foods, but for some foods it is necessary to eat them for four straight days.

 

 

Osteoarthritis

About 2008 or 2009 it felt like I had a sprain in my left thumb, which kept becoming more painful, but I only noticed the pain when I was two-stepping (and sometimes when putting on my pants). In fact, after about a year and a half, I only used the last two fingers of my left hand to lead the lady. Then I discovered that night shade plants cause acne. I removed the night shade plants from my diet, and about three months later, the pain in the left thumb had reduced enough to use all my fingers when dancing. Within a year and a half, there is no pain, unless I intentionally throw the thumb to the left, but the pain is minimal.

I have since found that some other foods that cause acne also cause arthritis, but I did not record them.

 

 

Skin Problems - Eczema

The small sores on my left arm that never healed, became about a four inch long case of eczema. (I may have caused the eczema, because it occurred while I was testing cocoa for acne, and I did it for a month, during which time the acne was very bad.) Went to a dermatologist who gave me cortisone cream and some tape to put on at night. Neither worked. I stopped using the cortisone cream and tape. When I stopped the cortisone, muscles in the shoulder, back and wrist would cause a lot pain if stressed a little.

 

Went back to the dermatologist, new dermatologist, other retired. This time the dermatologist took a biopsy.

 

While waiting for the biopsy I came across iodine as a topical application for eczema. Within a week of topically applying iodine to the eczema, the bleeding stopped and some dried blood was left. Also, after topical application of the iodine, the eczema would have this low level burning sensation for about an hour.

 

Went back to the dermatologist, who said I had chronic Prurigo Nodularis and Lichen Simplex Chronicus. (Both are described as caused by scratching a continuous itching. Not true, I did not scratch nor did it ever itch. But the skin was very thick, and rarely flaked off.)

 

I told the dermatologist I stopped using the cortisone and tape, but topical iodine stopped the bleeding. She said stop using the iodine, and again to use the cortisone and tape as the tape will stop the itching. I told her it never itches and cortisone does not work. We went around this circle three times so I left, and started putting iodine on my eczema twice a day.

 

I was testing iodine for its effect on acne. However, after a week of taking iodine internally, there was no burning when I applied topical iodine to the eczema. After two months, the skin had improved by 75%. After three months the skin had improved over 90%. After five months, the eczema is 99% gone. A shortage of iodine appears to make eczema worse.

Haha, thanks for this 🙂

16 hours ago, Aquarist86 said:

I have always had a few occasional zits, whitesheads and a few cysts on my face. I read lots of blogs, articles about skin health and then I decided to change my diet for a few months and see what happens. Eventually my skin has improved tremendously and I wanted to share my experience with you.

My recommendation is: stay away from fruits, artificial sweeteners, alcohol and glucose-fructose. Don't drink too much coffee or black tea. Also don't eat any kind of dairy food and don't eat rice, white bread, pasta, pizza, fried food, processed food, spicy food...

What you can eat are whole grains, red meat, olives, raw olive oil, fish or chicken once a week (don't eat everyday because they can be allergenic), vegetables (except onions, tomatoes, garlic, spinach because they can cause irritation for skin), soups and if you want to eat a sugary thing, eat bitter chocolate. 

Drink water, fennel tea, green tea and lemon balm tea.

Besides all these, I sleept well. I washed my face twice a day, dried it with a clean towel and moisturized it with a few drops of distilled tea tree oil.

Now my skin is not perfect but it feels and looks much better than it was 2 months ago. And with that diet my extra weight is gone too

Sorry for my english, it's not my first language.

I hope I could help. 

Wish you love.

Brown rice is fine. Oats and quinoa are good too. I don't see anything wrong with fruits as long as it's in moderation. 

Maybe these foods cause acne but wonder why when I had clear skin my whole life now I'm 27 why didnt it affect me all those years?? It doesnt make scense to me...and I did go on a short diet where I was eating healthy and seemed to break out even more

45 minutes ago, jspencer said:

Maybe these foods cause acne but wonder why when I had clear skin my whole life now I'm 27 why didnt it affect me all those years?? It doesnt make scense to me...and I did go on a short diet where I was eating healthy and seemed to break out even more

Everyone's body and system ain't the same. When I take hot chocolate too much I break out., my friend takes like 2 cups daily and she doesn't.

A tip that works for me when it comes to sweets: switch dark/ milk chocolate for white chocolate. I believe it's the cocoa that makes all the difference. Somehow, cocoa BUTTER doesn't bother me, but cocoa does.

On 12/10/2015, 218, Chloe123 said:

I could never see myself following a diet like this for the rest of my life just to avoid breakouts to be honest. Its so restricted and some of the foods you stated are great for overall health.

You should not follow the list of foods that cause me acne. You have to determine the foods that cause you acne.

Suggest you do what competent Doctors and Dermatologists have recommended for decades. (I am an old guy).

Pick a food you want to test.
Do not eat that food for two or three weeks.
Then eat a lot of the food you are testing each day for four days.

You will know if that food causes acne.

This is a slow test, as you can only test one food item at a time.

You need to do the same test for any food you suspect as causing you acne: dairy, nightshade plants, citrus, soy etc.

There are several popular studies that demonstrate a link between dairy and acne. Basically, the hormones in the milk cause your sebaceous glands to become over active and product too much oil.

Dates give me cystic acne, no joke. Even if it's in small about a smoothie, I'll get a couple deep ones 9 times out of 10. Could be the sugar...

On 16/10/2015 at 9:31 AM, AJM00001 said:

You are correct. It has been about ten years of testing. And the reason I started is I became diabetic, which required I eat three meals a day, as I used to ignore breakfast. So I started eating six eggs for breakfast, which caused a lot of whiteheads. And I conducted the egg test multiple times because I like eggs. I learned my lesson. Milk also was very bad. I decided to grow tomatoes, and when three matured I eat all three (tomatoes have few calories), it was again bad. As were the other nightshade plants. Also citrus was very bad. For example, I purchased a container of fresh sliced pineapple, eat the whole container and had many new whiteheads within two hours.
You are correct about the difficulty in conducting the test. As I eliminated foods that caused very bad acne, the acne was a little bit better, which allowed me to identify other foods that do not cause as much acne. One technique is to eat a large quantity of the test food for at least four days. For example, I was sure chicken did not cause acne, but I tested chicken. I purchased a cooked plain chicken, and eat the chicken over four days. The first day I was not sure, but by day four it was obvious chicken causes acne. I did the chicken test three times.

I don't normally eat nuts, but after I retired it was easy to test nuts. And I did it the way you suggested, I snacked on one type of nut all day long. By the end of the day there was a lot of new acne, or in the case of peanuts, there was no new acne.

After I brought my iodine level to normal, and the acne improved, I started retesting all the foods that are on the Do Not Cause Acne list. Many of the previously safe foods do cause acne. In fact, while retesting the previously safe foods, I saw my doctor as I am diabetic, and gave him the list of foods that cause acne, but the list still contained foods that needed to be retested. He looks at me an says "you still have acne". That is because I had tested a food four days earlier. I responded with, "I have had no new acne for four days for the first time in fifty years".

I completed the testing, and found I could also not eat red meat, berries and some of the fish, previously I thought were safe to eat. And I published the list on this forum.

The three curses in conducting an acne food test:
1. When you go out to eat, have the food prepared with no sauces on any items. The sauces often contain dairy, soy, etc. It is the sauces that make food taste good.
2. If a food you test causes acne, you have to wait a couple of weeks for the acne to calm down before you conduct your next test.
3. For processed foods you have to read the ingredients.

My suggestions are to be sure your iodine level is normal (your doctor can test you); start with the foods on the do not cause acne list; then add in one food item at a time and eat a lot of the item over many days.

For example, to test carbohydrates, flour plus water, and make pancakes. Eat a lot of pancakes over many days. Put nothing on the pancakes.

Good Luck

I'm sorry but though this might be accurate for you - no two individuals have the same body or have their bodies work/react in the same way. It's interesting that you spent so many years narrowing down what does and does not trigger acne FOR YOU but ultimately that's all your research can determine. You have no way to certify how anyone else's body/skin would react to those food listed and more than likely everyone else's results would dramatically differ from your own. Suggesting these results are in anyway fact or true has no basis whatsoever.

OP is arrogant. Not everyone is the same as you, you also have no evidence to back up what you're saying other than "I'm right, you're wrong!".

On 10/14/2015 at 11:25 AM, alternativista said:

Wrong., Many of those foods listed would be beneficial for most people's acne. I.e. Salmon and other high omega 3 fish, And many people will break out from peanuts.

Really, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to your list You say peaches cause acne, and yes, many people are intolerant to stone fruit. Therefore, the other stone fruit & almonds should be on the list of foods that may cause an individual to break out.

And there has been tons of research demonstrating the relationship between high glycemic foods & the factors that lead to acne such as elevated hormones, inflammation & hyperproliferation & hyperproliferation of skin cells. And even studies on low glycemic diets showing imrpovement in people with acne.

High glycemic meal habits are extremely bad for you in ways far more important than acne. I suggest you never eat mass quantities again.

OP sounds young and under informed. His list of "acne causing" (more like acne aggravating) are rather random. But one note about peaches, we do know that certain fruits spike insulin like grapes ect. Peaches are probably quite high carb too. Remember what robert atkins said about fruit,