Hi everybody! This is Monica Reinagel and you're listening to The Nutrition Diva: Quick and Dirty Tips for Eating Well and Feeling Fabulous. Lots of you have e-mailed and phoned with questions about diet and acne so today, we’ll talk about whether what you eat can make a difference in your complexion. But first, a quick word from the sponsor of this week’s show.

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There are a lot of old wives’ tales about certain foods causing acne, such as chocolate, potato chips, or pizza. Conventional dermatologists, on the other hand, are more likely to tell you that there is no link between diet and acne.

I think the truth may be somewhere in between. There is some new evidence that certain foods may be linked to acne, but it looks like we’ve been focusing on the wrong foods. It turns out that chocolate and oily foods don’t seem to affect acne. But refined carbohydrates and dairy products just might.

The evidence against dairy is chiefly based on epidemiological studies. That means that when we look at big groups of people and what they eat, there seems to be a correlation between dairy and acne. Specifically, we see that people who eat less dairy seem to have less trouble with acne.

A Smoking Gun

In nutrition, this is the equivalent of a smoking gun. It doesn’t definitively prove anything but it gives you an idea where to look for the bullet. The next step would be a controlled trial. For example, we could take a big group of people that have acne and have them stop eating dairy but keep everything else exactly the same. Then, we’d see if it made a big enough difference in their symptoms that we could be sure it was not due to chance or placebo effect.

You don’t have to wait for the researchers to get this organized, though. If you’re frustrated with acne, you can do an experiment of one: If cutting back on dairy improves your acne, you’ve got your answer! If avoiding dairy does make a difference, it doesn’t mean that you can never eat dairy again, by the way. It’s possible that after several weeks or months, you can gradually reintroduce dairy to your diet without triggering break-outs.

Instead of or in addition to cutting back on dairy, there’s something else you can try.

Do Refined Foods Cause Acne?

Dr. Loren Cordain, among others, argues that a diet high in refined foods is the main culprit in acne. This theory has been tested in a couple of small trials, where the people avoided sweets, highly-processed foods and refined carbohydrates like bread, baked goods, and other things made with white flour. Instead, they ate a whole-foods diet including lots of fruits, vegetables, protein and healthy fats. And it worked! Their acne improved and they also lost weight.

Most of the subjects were delighted by this outcome. But, actually, this presents a bit of a problem for the researchers because it’s hard to tell whether the improvement in acne had to do with the changes in diet or the fact that they lost weight. You see, a lot of Dr. Cordain’s theory has to do with how a diet rich in refined foods affects blood sugar and hormone levels. But losing weight tends to affect these factors in much the same way that eating a less refined diet does.

So, we have another smoking gun. Or rather, we have two smoking guns. Researchers will have to try to figure out which one fired the bullet. The next step, for example, would be to see if a whole-foods diet improved acne even if the subjects don’t lose any weight.

Do Try This At Home

But, once again, you don’t need to wait for the researchers. Dr. Cordain is already marketing a complete program which will explain his dietary cure for acne. Before you spend that $80, though, it might be worth doing a little experiment on your own. If you want to explore whether changing your diet might improve your acne, I think it makes sense to start by cutting back on refined carbohydrates and/or dairy products.

Not only might these changes help your skin look better, but reducing your intake of refined carbohydrates and increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables can reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes and help slow the aging process, to boot. If you’re lucky, you’ll end up with fewer blemishes AND fewer wrinkles!

If you’re interested in reading more, there’s a lively discussion taking place on my blog on Nutrition Data.com, involving some of the researchers studying this issue, as well as lots of readers sharing their own experiences. I’ll put a link to that in my show notes, along with a link to Dr. Cordain’s website. You’ll find all of that at nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com.

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Administrative 

This is Monica Reinagel, the Nutrition Diva, reminding you that these tips are provided for your information and entertainment and are not intended as medical advice. Because everyone is different, please work with your health professional to determine what’s right for you. If you have a comment or question for me, you can post it on my Nutrition Diva page on Facebook, or leave me a voice mail at 206-203-1438.

Have a great day and eat something good for me!

RESOURCES:

Diet and Acne discussion on the NutritionData.com Blog

The Dietary Cure for Acne (Loren Cordain)