Peer Reviewed Studies Showing the Relationship between Acne and High Glycemic Diets, Dairy and Insulin-like Growth Factor 1.

Here's a list of Peer Reviewed Studies and Papers that Illustrate the Relationship between Diet and Acne.

Role of insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1, hyperglycaemic food and milk consumption in the
pathogenesis of acne vulgaris http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19709092

Takeaway:  The hormone IGF-1 is stimulated by insulin and in dairy and is a major factor in acne formation.

Short-term isotretinoin treatment decreases insulin-like growth factor-1 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 levels:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20128787

Takeaway: Isotretinoin, aka Accutane,  works by decreasing IGF-1, which you could instead reduce by avoiding a high glycemic diet and by limiting dairy neither of which have dangerous side effects.

 Insulin & Glucose role on Sex Hormone production http://www.ncbi.nlm....ist_uids=193114  

This is a study on men with heart disease, but resulted in one of the earlier discoveries in the relation ship between insulin and hormones.  

Takeaway:  Insulin and glucose stimulate hormone production. Excess insulin and glucose means excess hormones. 

Acne in Adolescence and Cause-specific Mortality: Lower Coronary Heart Disease but Higher Prostate Cancer Mortality  (Scary title, I know).  http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/161/12/1094.full

This is a Study on the relationship between acne and prostrate cancer. Because many of the same hormones, IGF1 and Androgens are involved in both conditions.   The researchers discuss the role of diet on these hormones

Diet, serum insulin-like growth factor-I and IGF-binding protein-3 in European women
http://www.nature.co...s/1602494a.html

Takeaway: Once again, another study finds diet affects the hormones involved in acne.

Decreased serum insulin-like growth factor I response to growth hormone in hypophysectomized rats fed a low protein diet: evidence for a postreceptor defect
http://www.eje-onlin...tract/117/3/320

Diet, insulin-resistance and chronic inflammation
http://www.tifn.nl/w...a...A009&Prog=A

Acne and chronic inflammation (and Delayed Type Hypersensitivity (allergy)
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/15688807
http://www.ncbi.nlm....t...h&db=pubmed

Inflammation and insulin resistance
http://www.pubmedcen...i?artid=1483173
http://www.scienceda...71106133106.htm
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlere...$=activity

There's a growing renewed interest in the diet acne connection and that in addition to studies on acne, they utilize data on other conditions with known connections to the factors involved in acne:
http://www.medscape....rticle/579326_1

Other article summarizing some connections
http://www.cancersup.....Diet Acne.pdf


Study on diet affecting PMS
http://www.greenjour...t/full/95/2/245

For Mor: 
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/topic/230714-good-things-for-the-many-factors-that-lead-to-acne/page-2#entry2637530

Aloe Vera Gel Stimulates Collagen Production, Increases Skin Elasticity, and Reduces Wrinkles

Researchers Find that a Small Daily Dose of Aloe Vera Gel Works Wonders on Wrinkles and Elasticity.

In a study done at Seoul National University Boramae Hospital, researchers found that an oral dose as small as  of Aloe Vera significantly improves wrinkles and elasticity in photoaged human skin, with an increase in collagen production both by upregulating procollagen and down regulating collagen degrading gene expression.

The study was performed on 30 females over the age of 45.  They received two different doses, however, the study found no significant increase in benefit from the larger dose.  And the larger dose is a bit less than one teaspoon! The lower dose is about one quarter of a teaspoon.

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/research-tsp-aloe-daily-reverses-signs-skin-aging

Consuming Aloe Vera to Improve Skin 

You do need to purchase aloe vera gel that is intended to be ingested from a health food, vitamin stores and the health food section of many grocery stores. Not the gels found in the sunscreen and moisturizer aisles.  Those might be 100% gel, but they aren't 100% aloe vera.  Better yet, grow your own.

Store it in the refrigerator and simply add it to your favorite beverage.  I recommend green smoothies made from greens and fruit you desire for the skin and health benefitting magnesium, caratenoids and multitude of other nutrients found in greens. They don't call them superfoods for nothing. Throw in a blender. You may also add yogurt or kefir, avocado, flax seed, nut or seed butter. Recipes are endless but I make them out of whatever I have on hand.  You can also make a savory one with herbs and spices. Instead of sweet fruits, try tomatoes and cucumber for a gazpacho like drink. Blending breaks down cell walls and starts enzyme actions. Both of these increase the amount of nutrients your body absorbs.  It's a great way to get both the greens and raw foods you should have daily.

Numerous Benefits of Aloe Vera Gel to Skin and Health

Aloe vera has numerous other benefits. Taken orally it helps to restore mucin linings of your digestive tract damaged by gluten and other anti-nutrients and lowers blood sugar (which also benefits your skin). It also improves periodontal disease.

Topically, it's a fabulous, soothing for numerous skin ailments and injuries from acne, rosacea and psoriasis to rashes and burns.  Years ago, after first being diagnosed with rosacea, I used a prescription topical treatment. When it ran out, I discovered that Aloe Vera gel worked just as well.  And later I found diet worked even better. 

It's even a fabulous hair gel.  I only use it to tame flyaways when I have my hair pulled back, but I've heard from others that have a more serious hair gel need that it does really work.

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/article/aloe-gel-significantly-improves-wrinkles-and-elasticity-photoaged-human-skin

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/research-tsp-aloe-daily-reverses-signs-skin-aging

You can't blame your Genes

You can't blame your genes for your Acne, Your wrinkles, Your metabolism.  Your tendency towards Cancer and other Disease.  Not entirely.

 The Human Genome Project was completed over ten years ago.   And yet, this little detail is still so unknowm.  After the mapping was done, it turns out we have far fewer genes than previously thought. Not nearly enough to account for all the activity going on in your body.  There are only 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA, not the hundreds of thousands previously suspected.

Epigenetics

Quote

There are not even enough genes in the human body to account for the existence of the basic protein building blocks that make it possible, much less explain the behavior of these proteins in health and disease states!

The "blueprint" model of genetics: one gene -> one protein -> one cellular behavior, which was once the holy grail of biology, has now been supplanted by a model of the cell where epigenetic factors (literally: "beyond the control of the gene") are primary in determining how DNA will be interpreted, translated and expressed. A single gene can be used by the cell to express a multitude of proteins and it is not the DNA itself that determines how or what genes will be expressed.

Rather, we must look to the epigenetic factors to understand what makes a liver cell different from a skin cell or brain cell. All of these cells share the exact same 3 billion base pairs that make up our genetic code, but it is the epigenetic factors, e.g. regulatory proteins and post-translational modifications, that make the determination as to which genes to turn on and which to silence, resulting in each cell's unique phenotype.

Moreover, epigenetic factors are directly and indirectly influenced by the presence or absence of key nutrients in the diet, as well as exposures to chemicals, pathogens and other environmental influences. Thoughts and emotions also play a role in how these epigenetic factors are articulated.

****In a nutshell, what we eat and what we are exposed to in our environment directly affects our DNA and its expression.*****

Take cystic fibrosis

In CF many of the adverse changes that result from the defective expression of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) gene may be preventable or reversible, owing to the fact that the misfolding of the CFTR gene product has been shown to undergo partial or full correction (in the rodent model) when exposed to phytochemicals found in turmeric, cayenne, and soybean. Moreover, nutritional deficiencies of seleniun, zinc, riboflavin, vitamin e, etc. in the womb or early in life, may "trigger" the faulty expression or folding patterns of the CFTR gene in Cystic Fibrosis which might otherwise have avoided epigenetic activation.

The implications of these findings are rather extraordinary: epigenetic and not genetic factors are primary in determining disease outcome. Even if we exclude the possibility of reversing certain monogenic diseases, the basic lesson from the post-Genomic era is that we can't blame our DNA for causing disease. Rather, it may have more to do with what we choose to expose our DNA to, and even more surprisingly: how we choose to think and feel about our embodiment.

http://www.greenmedi...s-1-all-disease

And please, remember when speaking with  your doctors that they are likely still operating under the pre-genomic mapping beliefs  they were taught in med school. Much like how your dermatologist still believes that diet has nothing to do with acne despite the research that goes back decades showing that diet does indeed have a huge affect on acne.

Who Cooks Your Food may be a one of the Most Important Factors to your Health

Micheal Pollan has a new book out called Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. 

the gist of this book, as he said in a recent Stephen Colbert interview, is that the biggest factor in the health of your diet is who cooks your food, a corporation or a person you know.  

Just stay away from the chemical-filled ultra-processed  imitation food from Nabisco, General Mills, Nestle, Hershey, Kraft, Pepsi, Coke, Hormel, Tyson, ConAgra, etc.  And big chain restaurants.   If it's advertized on TV you probably don't want to eat it.

"Relying upon corporations to process our food means we consume large quantities of fat, sugar, and salt; disrupt an essential link to the natural world; and weaken our relationships with family and friends. In fact, Cooked argues, taking back control of cooking may be the single most important step anyone can take to help make the American food system healthier and more sustainable. Reclaiming cooking as an act of enjoyment and self-reliance, learning to perform the magic of these everyday transformations, opens the door to a more nourishing life."  http://michaelpollan.com/books/cooked/

Protect skin from Sun Damage--Eat lots of anti-oxidant rich foods.

Routine consumption of all kinds of anti-oxidant rich foods:

lycopene (cooked tomatoes and some pink/red fruits like watermelon, pink guava)
Green tea -  which can also be applied topically. Make a green tea/ACV toner.
Linoleic acid- use a quality oil for a moisturizer or for oil cleansing.
Cacao - cocoa, dark chocolate
Proanthocyanids found in purple/black berries, fruits, tea, cocoa, purple cabbage and purple onions.

The best sun blocks include zinc and clothing. 

After sun exposure, you can apply a source of vitamin C, green tea, aloe vera.

Doctors and other Experts Admitting the Diet and Acne Connection

Contrary to what the average American dermatologist tells you, diet affects acne in so many ways. It isn't possible for it not to. Many, not-so-average, doctors know this and researchers have been proving it for decades.  

I've had that statement at the top of my blog since I started. I think it's time I posted the list I've been gathering of those doctors and other experts. Most of these are over a year old. I haven't come across a new one lately. If you have, please let me know. 

Dr Arthur Agatston, the doctor who created the South Beach Diet and an important cardiologist, prescribes a low to moderate glycemic load diet for acne. 

In a survey of South Beach dieters, a mainstream moderately low Glycemic diet, 86% reported improvement in their acne. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/589308.  

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Here are some others:

Dr. Leslie Bauman, author of bestseller The Skin Type Solution, professor and Director of Dermatology at the U of Miami and textbook author, mainstream doctor  recommends a low Glycemic Load, anti-oxidant rich diet for acne. 

In the book and in her website and blogs. In this blog post, she also admits to dairy containing the same hormones (IGF-1) that cause acne.  http://health.yahoo.com/experts/skintype/1...xXnBqdTeKbd1IZ4

In  another blog post she explains how sugar/high GL, inflammatory diet ages your skin and causes wrinkles.
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Doctor Oz, when asked by audience members will briefly mention how a high glycemic food can stimulate oil and exacerbate acne.  

In one episode he had as guests:
Dr Arthur Agatston,
OB/GYN Dr. Christiane Northrup, who is a more interested in diet and lifestyle than drugs and surguries.

And Dr. Perricone, a dermatologist and nutritionist well known for talking about diet for healthy skin and has a book called something like the Acne Prescription Diet. 

And so when Dr. Oz asked Dr. Perricone about anti-inflammatory diets and acne, Perricone confirmed that such diets clear skin. And then Dr. Oz asked the other two if they'd noticed the same thing in their practice, and they both confirmed that they had. 

Then when it was Dr Agatston's turn, he brought up the survey done on South Beach dieters that showed dieters experienced clearer skin.  

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Dermatologists, Dr William Danby and Dr. Valori Treloar, who were interviewed in the articles below,  advocate no dairy and a low-glycemic diet for acne. 

A Clear Connection? Most dermatologists tell their patients diet plays no role in acne. New research suggests that's wrong.

How a pint of milk a day can give you acne

One article states, "Treloar and Danby say they can count on both hands the number of US dermatologists and researchers who lend their voices and efforts to helping prove a food-acne connection." That statement alone shows that the diet-acne connection isn't being taken seriously. Until that changes, when it comes to diet, people are better off listening to the experiences of other acne sufferers and their conclusions or to the few derms that believe in the diet-acne connection!


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Now.... if only the derms would investigate the role of cruciferous veggies and their powerful ability to help clear skin!!  

Dr. Joel Fuhrman is one doctor who admits to cruciferous vegetables being crucial in the recovery of his patients with acne.

Acne: Diet a Major Determining Factor 

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Jillian Michaels, trainer on The Biggest Loser and author of Master Your Metabolism: The 3 Diet Secrets to Naturally Balancing Your Hormones for a Hot and Healthy Body!  names acne, PMS, fatigue, among the symptoms of poor hormone regulation.

Article and excerpt from her book http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/30072993/ 
And a video of her Today show appearance. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/30087875#30087875 

Nutritionist Dr. Loren Cordain, author of The Dietary Cure for Acne

Dr. Cordain is a Professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. His research emphasis over the past 15 years has focused upon the evolutionary and anthropological basis for diet, health and well being in modern humans. Dr. Cordain's scientific publications have examined the nutritional characteristics of worldwide hunter-gatherer diets as well as the nutrient composition of wild plant and animal foods consumed by foraging humans. Over the past five years his work has focused upon the adverse health effects of the high dietary glycemic load that is ubiquitous in the typical western diet. A number of his recent papers have proposed an endocrine link between dietary induced hyperinsulinemia and acne.

www.thepaleodiet.com, wikipedia article.

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Dr. Joseph Mercola:

"Plagued by Pimples?"
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles...e-for-good.aspx 

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Dr. Mark Hyman:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyma...a_b_822163.html

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Dr Jeanette Graf.  I Don't know anything about her except she appeared on CBS national news and spent most of the time talking about mainstream OTC and prescription treatments so she's mainstream, not at all holistic. And big enough to do a spot on national news. At the end, she does mention diet and stress. Specifically saying they affect hormones and that there are studies showing dairy and sugars affect acne.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRwWd3AhPtM 

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The Royal Melbourne Hospital Dermatology researchers Dr George Varigos, and Associate Professor Mann - conductors of probably our most well known studies demonstrating the connection between high Glycemic diets and acne. And several years back, there were people here on the acne.org board conversing with them as they completed the study. They had such high hopes about getting the word out to everyone and making this common knowledge. It was in quite a few publications, but not enough. 

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Not a doctor but a mainstream skin care expert, Paula Begoun aka the Cosmeticscop is now telling people that there is a diet connection. After many years of telling people diet had no affect.

The Diet & Skin Connection: From Acne to Wrinkles!

"Are we what we eat? In essence, yes! The foods you eat can have a tremendous impact on how your skin looks, how it ages, and how it heals. Find out what to add to your diet, and what to avoid. It's a critical step in having the skin you've always wanted! "  View article »  

However, she says conflicting things on various pages on her website which changes all the time so do the links.  Elsewhere the site says the only way diet affects acne is if you are intolerant to some food, which is actually just one of the many ways diet affects acne. But, at least she admits to a food intolerance connection there. Not many 'experts' do.

Integrative Dermatologists

So, now there's a group calling themselves Integrative Dermatologists. Integrative medicine is about doctors that know how important nutrients are to bodily function and illness, unlike the average doctor that only has a vague idea that nutrients are good while being quite certain that what you really need is some drugs.

http://www.integrati...al-information/ The site doesn't have much info on it. They are selling a book and appointments. 

Split Pea and Coconut Soup - filled with high antioxident spices!  And as I always say, add some chopped greens to wilt at the end of cooking.  And I'd use dried coconut.  See the dried coconut/coconut flour thread: http://www.acne.org/...est-thing-ever/

• 2 cups green or yellow split peas, rinsed and soaked in cold water 2 to 3 hours

• 1 -- (14-ounce) can light unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup finely sliced cilantro stems
• 1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
• 3/4 cup diced celery
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 2 cups chopped red potato, unpeeled
• 2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 to 2 -- limes, cut into wedges

• Drain peas, place in a large saucepan and add 4 cups cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Peas should be whole, but tender.
• Combine coconut milk, onion, ginger, cilantro stems, curry paste and celery in a large pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add carrots and potatoes; simmer until potatoes are almost tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add peas, fish sauce and salt. Simmer 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in cilantro leaves. Serve with lime wedges

Read more: http://relish.com/re.../#ixzz2OgBIfwf2