Turpentine baths

'Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food' HIPPOCRATES C400 BC

Of course we all know how important our diet is in relation to general health and well being but does it have a direct influence on acne? Diet has long had a non-proven association with acne. I think because so many people suffer from acne to some degree or other they all think they're qualified to comment on it. It's really no wonder pearls of wisdom and old wives tales remain in society's conscience. And it's really no surprise that a non-acne sufferer can think it okay to jump to what is basically a logical solution to a seemingly superficial problem.

What most people with a little bit of common sense realise, is that acne is affected by your general health, and diet is one of the main constituents of being healthy. Of course there are some super-fit healthy vegetarians around who eat no artificial ingredients and still get acne.

I'm ashamed to admit that personally I lived up to my role as a teenager and rebelled against my parents and others who shared their 'chips equals acne' wisdom and did my best to eat as poor a diet as I could, not only poor in terms of nutrition but after a childhood regime of three meals a day at set intervals I seemed to relish the freedom of not eating anything all morning until a plate full of cheese covered curly fries at three in the afternoon. I loved the chance to demonstrate my superior knowledge and state categorically there was no link between acne and diet and I'll eat as many hamburgers as I please.

When I was around 20 I decided to start looking after my body a little better. It was quite a road to Damascus moment and all at once I gave up smoking, improved my diet and started going to the gym regularly. It wasn't many weeks before I realised how improved my skin was, I still had acne but it was definitely reduced and my skin looked generally healthier. Over the next few months it stayed consistently improved, I definitely wasn't acne free but it was by far the biggest improvement I'd ever seen. A that time I really didn't think of any specific cause other than being generally healthier meant less acne.

It was a few years later, after I'd taken Accutane and my acne had become much more a case of sporadic outbreaks that I began to seriously experiment with individual foods and food groups to try and find a link between diet and acne. And I did find some specific foods that without a doubt give me acne, it wasn't until that time that I started researching to see if other people had reached similar conclusions. What I found, interestingly, was my initial diagnosis years before was not too far from the mark in that rather than trigger foods a generally poor diet can be the main cause of acne.

There have been some interesting studies done on both the skin quality of peoples on remote isles and how the Westernisation of their diets affected their health and skin. One such study [1] shows how a group of 1200 peoples from an island in Papua New Guinea existing on a diet of fruit, vegetables and fish showed absolutely no signs of acne. Not one mark - in comparison to an average of over 80% of Western teenagers who show signs of acne [2].

Now of course such a stark contrast makes me think that maybe there's a genetic difference, it would've been nice if the writers of that study could've picked a few teenagers from the 1200 people examined and asked them to eat a milky-way and a glass of milk every day for a few months and then see if there was a change in their skin condition.

Unfortunately for us Western diet lovers there are a few other studies that do just that (okay not the milky way part). A study by Otto Schaefer [3] looked at the rapidly changing health of a population of Eskimos in Northern Canada when they were introduced to a Western diet and observed many medical conditions previously unseen in their population including acne. For generations Eskimos survived on a diet of predominantly of meat and fish until around 150 years ago Russian settlers introduced them to low Glycaemic Index (GI) foods such as cabbage, barley and potatoes but it wasn't until the Canadians brought them high GI foods consisting of refined sugars and flour that their health and skin condition deteriorated [4].

So if a low GI diet is the common factor in people with no acne, what is it about a high GI diet that causes acne? Well basically a cascade of hormonal effects take place. A high GI means a high blood glucose level, this promotes Insulin production which means more hormones such as Insulin Growth Factor IGF1 which increase the production of Androgen hormones such as Testosterone, this in turn increases Sebum - the greasy oil that is the underlying cause of acne.

The link between Insulin production and acne can be verified by the prevalence of acne in women who suffer from PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) which can be treated with hypoglycaemic medication that reduces Insulin sensitivity. Insulin can also promote the growth of Keratin in skin cells which is what causes hair follicles to become blocked trapping sebum and causing acne [5].

So it does seem that science is showing us there is a link between diet and acne, it's just not as simple as greasy food equals greasy skin.

Personally I wouldn't care if the scientists did say there was no link between diet and acne. My personal experience is all that matters and unfortunately I know only too well that a little Ben & Jerry's over-indulgence is soon gonna be regretted when I look in the bathroom mirror next week...

References:

[1] Loren Cordain; Staffan Lindeberg; Magdalena Hurtado; Kim Hill; S. Boyd Eaton; Jennie Brand-Miller
Acne Vulgaris: A Disease of Western Civilization
Arch Dermatol. 2002;138(12):1584-1590.

[2] British Medical Journal - Clinical Evidence - Acne Vulgaris

[3] Schaefer O. 'When The Eskimo Comes To Town' Nutrition Today 1971: 6: 8-16.

[4] Schaefer O. Pre- and post-natal growth acceleration and increase sugar consumption in Canadian Eskimos. Can Med Assoc J 1970; 103: 1059-68

[5] Dr Neil Mann & Robyn Smith - Spotting The Problem - Does Diet Play A Role In Acne - NutriDate Vol 18 No 2 May 2007