brianl59

Hi Jim, I think if you take B5 with other vitamins, including biotin, you may be okay. I think the important thing is that you take B5 in a healthy proportion with other vitamins.

You may want to read my post on the potential for problems in taking high amounts of B5 (http://acne.org/messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=8157). It may be worthwhile to see (and tell others) if you have any of the symptoms I mention in the post.

In browsing the board, I've read many messages about the effectiveness of B5(pantothenic acid) against acne. However, I am concerned about the recommendation of taking 10g of this vitamin daily. Dr. Leung's theory is based on the idea that pantothenic acid deficiency causes a distrubance in fatty acid metabolism. Indeed, as reviewed in a scientific article, "Plasma triacylglycerol and nonesterified fatty acids are moderately elevated in pantothenic acid deficiency. However, this is unlikely

I did a search at premier search engine for biomedical research (http://www.pubmed.gov) for the ingredients listed at the web site, and only one ingredient has been studied in relation to acne (Sphaeranthus indicus). This ingredient has only been studied in vitro, i.e. no human clinical trials to test the efficacy of this herb in treating acne. The remainder of the ingredients mostly have antihepatotoxic effects, i.e. beneficial for the liver by protecting against toxins. However, the liver

No problem. I probably would not take any of those oils if there was a pregnancy on the horizon, because the oils may alter your hormonal profile (important for a baby's development). But, since you're already taking contraceptives, it shouldn't matter. Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice.

Hi, I'm neither a woman nor a doctor, but if your acne is indeed hormonal (and you do not wish to take contraceptives against acne), I'd recommend taking either evening primrose or borage oil. In one of your other posts, you asked about evening primrose oil. I suspect that the acne-fighting compound present in evening primrose oil is gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), which has been shown to inhibit synthesis of dihydrotestosterone, a male sex hormone believed to be a key factor in acne. If this is

Salicylic acid and aspirin are not the same thing. http://chalkboard.nupedia.com/wiki.cgi?Salicylic_Acid

I'd say that drinking green tea couldn't hurt your overall health, but may be unlikely to help acne specifically; however, it may depend on if you're a male or female (green tea may be more likely to benefit females with acne). Please note: I'm not a dermatologist or a medical doctor, however. Still, I feel it's worthy to go into a scientific explanation. I presume that the key molecule in the green tea cream is EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate), because previous research on EGCG (revie

http://www.nature.com/nsu/021125/021125-10.html

I managed to dig up the text of the original article of the B5 theory (http://www.pantothenic-acid.com/acne_vulgaris.html). B5 = pantothenic acid. Basically, the gist of Dr. Leung's theory is that B5 is responsible for producing Coenzyme A. This coenzyme is thought to be responsible for two things: sex hormone synthesis and fatty acid metabolism. Dr. Leung speculates that when you don't have enough B5 to go around, you only get the synthesis of sex hormones and no metabolism of fatty acids