Articles on Diet and Acne

losingforgood120

Here's an article (news) from the American Academy of Dermatology:
http://www.aad.org/stories-and-news/news-releases/growing-evidence-suggests-possible-link-between-diet-and-acne

It didn't mention omega 3, states the link w/ dairy is still "weak." The highest amount of evidence so far is for acne and foods with a high-glycemic level.

I thought this line was interesting: "Diet changes are only a small part of an acne treatment plan and are meant to be used in conjunction with proven medical therapies for acne."
My cynical side thought- yeah you don't want to lose all of those acne patients! My less cynical side thinks- maybe they are trying to say diet may increase or decrease acne but isn't the "cause" and the acne still needs medical attention.

Anyway- feel free to post articles to share and discuss.

losingforgood120

Here's one more- for a more scholarly article.

This is from 2007. It was a randomized controlled trial looking at acne and low-glycemic level diet.

Here's the abstract:

Background: Although the pathogenesis of acne is currently unknown, recent epidemiologic studies of non-Westernized populations suggest that dietary factors, including the glycemic load, may be involved.

Objective: The objective was to determine whether a low-glycemic-load diet improves acne lesion counts in young males.

Design: Forty-three male acne patients aged 15-25 y were recruited for a 12-wk, parallel design, dietary intervention incorporating investigator-blinded dermatology assessments. The experimental treatment was a low-glycemic-load diet composed of 25% energy from protein and 45% from low-glycemic-index carbohydrates. In contrast, the control situation emphasized carbohydrate-dense foods without reference to the glycemic index. Acne lesion counts and severity were assessed during monthly visits, and insulin sensitivity (using the homeostasis model assessment) was measured at baseline and 12 wk.

Results: At 12 wk, mean (±SEM) total lesion counts had decreased more (P = 0.03) in the low-glycemic-load group (−23.5 ± 3.9) than in the control group (−12.0 ± 3.5). The experimental diet also resulted in a greater reduction in weight (−2.9 ± 0.8 compared with 0.5 ± 0.3 kg; P < 0.001) and body mass index (in kg/m2; −0.92 ± 0.25 compared with 0.01 ± 0.11; P = 0.001) and a greater improvement in insulin sensitivity (−0.22 ± 0.12 compared with 0.47 ± 0.31; P = 0.026) than did the control diet.

Conclusion: The improvement in acne and insulin sensitivity after a low-glycemic-load diet suggests that nutrition-related lifestyle factors may play a role in the pathogenesis of acne. However, further studies are needed to isolate the independent effects of weight loss and dietary intervention and to further elucidate the underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms.

Very interesting and encouraging. It's also interesting that they lost weight! However, I think that this diet change would be quite challenging for me.