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Is Your Diet Causing Acne?

May 16 09:54am

When new patients come to me complaining about acne, I always ask them about their diet. Despite what you may have heard, there is mounting evidence that sweets and junk food like chips, white bread and French fries can cause breakouts.

That's because these foods have a high glycemic index, meaning they cause your blood sugar to rise, forcing your body to bring it down with a surge of insulin. The insulin stimulates oil-producing hormones called androgens, leaving you with pimples.

Studies show that avoiding sugary, starchy foods and instead eating whole grains, lean meat and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables is not only good for you, but helps keep your skin clear. I also recommend that patients avoid dairy products, including cheese and yogurt. Though the evidence isn't quite as clear yet, research has found that people who drink more milk are more likely to experience breakouts. This is most likely due to the fact that milk--even if it's organic--contains the same hormones that cause acne in humans.

The good news is that some foods have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant qualities that can actually help fight acne, and many of them are very tasty.

Here are my top 10 acne-fighting foods:

Fish oil
Green tea
Avocado
Berries (blueberry, blackberry and strawberry are best)
Pomegranate
Beans
Whole grains
Nuts (walnuts are particularly good)
Dark green vegetables (Like kale, broccoli and spinach)
Ginger

If you suffer from acne, I encourage you to give these dietary changes a try. It may take a while to see improvement (usually about six weeks), but as long as you keep it up, the results are permanent!

Wishing you great skin!

13 Comments Report Abuse

11. frankedsm - May 30 01:02am

Of course your diet has an effect on your skin. You are what you eat - what else could you be? Well, environment counts too, so add in the air you breath and what you apply topically. But everyone is different so what greatly affects your skin may have no effect on someone else. I had rosacea for a couple of years and couldn't figure out what was wrong with my diet. It turns out that chemicals were leaching from the plastic containers that I was microwaving my food in. I still store food in plastic but transfer it to glass to cook. Tallow based soaps also gave me acne so I switched to an olive oil soap and stopped using any products with glycerin on my skin. I also stopped eating beef because if it isn't good for my outsides it wouldn't be good for my insides either.

12. gina-stewart@att.net - Jul 02 07:16am

this was interesting

13. lindamarrder - Jul 06 02:42am

Oh. Thank you! I can't believe how few doctors are recognizing the diet acne connection, which is not only obvious based on what we know about hormones and blood sugar, it's been demonstrated in studies and published in journals and mainstream publications. Why are 99% of derms and doctors not reading? Today Show's Dr. Nancy Sniederman just published a book on medical myths and promoted it on the Today show. And she says diet has no effect on acne. It's hormones. Which as a doctor she should know how diet affects hormones. Because of this I can't believe a word she says and wrote to her to say so. Not that it does anygood.

And blood sugar and androgens aren't the only ways diet affects acne.

Speaking as someone who cleared their skin from diet after decades of derms and prescription drugs did nothing.