Diet and acne?

I've found that chocking the chicken often helps prevent acne.

It can have mild to moderate effects under normal circumstances. There're plenty of anecdotes of people getting really bad acne during iodine cleanses (taking iodine to remove bromine from your body). Avoiding dairy can help. Avoiding herbicides and insecticides can help too. The info I've usually read from the medical field suggests lots of fruit and vegetables, no dairy, and avoiding spikes in blood sugar.

Like I say, diet isn't going to turn a pizza-face into a neutrogena model, but it can help.

curiouspete wrote:

Does a bad diet have a direct impact on acne? It seems like whenever I go a few days of eating crap and pigging out, my complexion goes to crap and clears up when I'm eating healthier. Does exercise also influence acne?

I have no doubt that diet has an impact. Of course, I'm sure we all have a friend who eats horribly yet has perfect complexion. That's because genetics are the most important factor in acne (and everything in life). For those of us who struggle with acne, diet has a BIG impact. Every time I've avoided coffee, my complexion has cleared up. It makes sense because caffeine, in addition to making me awake and alert, causes me to have anxiety and stress, causes my face to become oily.

Even if diet didn't have a positive impact on complexion, I doubt it has a negative effect on complexion, and I KNOW it has a positive impact on overall health. So why not try eat healthy? The worst that can happen is your complexion stays the same and your fitness gets better.

Guppy wrote: The info I've usually read from the medical field suggests lots of fruit and vegetables, no dairy, and avoiding spikes in blood sugar.

The last time I visited a dermatologist, he told me, "I can't tell you this for sure, since the research is still underway, but dairy, 'supposedly', is a big contributor to acne." The way he said it implied that he knew the link between dairy and diet is real. It makes sense considering that all the Asians I know who come to the U.S. had clear complexions (Asian countries eat 0 dairy) and immediately acquired acne after taking on an American diet.

Personally, I'm prone to acne, but I've avoided it by:

* Being done with puberty

* Doing a lot of indoor cardio workouts like spinning class that make me 100% sweaty and thus clean out my pores.

* Avoiding sugar, caffeine, oily foods, processed crap

* Avoiding stress by meditating, attending AA meetings, living spiritually, etc.

* Not touching my face (This is crucial!)

* Showering with hot water, which dries out your face

* Applying Epiduo to pimples. It requires a prescription. I'm claiming that this stuff kills pimples on site. The only problem is the residual redness and flakiness.

* Changing my pillow case every few nights

There have not been good, conclusive studies linking diet to acne.

BUT if you tend to eat oily/greasy foods and put your hands on your face without washing beforehand, this will contribute to your acne.

Acne is because you're not all growed up yet. Once you're solidly into you're 20's it will go away.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Acne is because you're not all growed up yet. Once you're solidly into you're 20's it will go away.

Maybe, maybe not. I'm 28 and still am not 100% clear of it. I've had issues since I was probably 13 or so. As annoying as it's been, I'll acknowledge that in the grand scheme of things it would probably have been considered "moderate" acne at its worst. Two rounds of Accutane in high school only helped temporarily. I have noticed very gradual improvement over the past 4-5 years, but it's been very slow. I still get occasional issues, including cysts on my neck that necessitate a trip to the dermatologist to get taken care of.

As far as diet, I've also heard the dairy thing, but I've never really tested it out. As one poster said, diet can probably make a bit of difference, but it's never going to make someone with bad acne turn into a neutrogena model. As with most things, I think getting plenty of sleep probably helps a bit too.

vitamin a and prescription meds help. retin a is a form of vitamin a, as is accutane. If you have big problems, a and accutane can do wonders.avoid sugar and dairy, it looks like. Good article:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/do-milk-and-sugar-cause-a_b_822163.htmlmany of cokehead's recommendations don't do a lot, though, especially if you have hormonal problems.

very very very very very little to do with it.

Thanks for the info guys. I wonder why dairy has anything to do with acne? Also, do you guys see any noticeable differences when using cleansers, Proactiv, etc.?

I pretty much still get acne flair ups in my mid-20s. My face has stopped breaking out as often lately. Back in my teens and early 20's I had it pretty rough. Still have a few scars on my cheek bones.

Things I have noticed break me out:

-Lack of sleep

-Stress

Things I have done over the last 3 years to alleviate the issue:

-Stopped using all products

-Wash my face with water

-Wash my pillow case bi-weekly

-Stopped milk consumption(I haven't drank any in 3 years)

if you have it bad accutane is where it's at. It did wonders for me.

Maybe I should have added that I noticed a pretty significant improvement in my own skin when I cut out dairy. The single most important thing for me, however, was not touching or squeezing my face and washing with only mild soaps (no alcohol or peroxide). If you have a prominent white head it's good to lightly squeeze it, but other than that, leave your face alone.

Processed grains increase certain hormone levels that cause acne. Stick to only 100% whole grains for any bread you eat and see if that helps.

accutane is a wonder drug that sometimes gives you colitus (or whatever it is called).

What is funny is that based on this thread I'm going to start drinking more milk. I'll take all the hormones I can get.