Dairy Aggravates Acne

John McDougall, M.D., wrote an article called “Acne Is Caused by Diet, Especially Dairy Products” in his March 2011 newsletter. Although it has long been debated whether or not diet plays a role in acne, Dr. McDougall wrote about two studies that clearly show the connection. The typical Western diet does aggravate acne.

A study published in November 2010 in the European Journal of Dermatology examined the diets of 783 Koreans with acne to see if their outbreaks were aggravated by certain foods. Researchers concluded “A high glycemic load diet, dairy food intake, high fat diet, and iodine in Korean foods appear to play a role in acne exacerbation.”

It seems that avoiding pizza and chocolate bars was sage advice after all.

Why is this? The answer may be in an article published by B.C. Melnik and G. Schmidt, which Dr. McDougall referenced in his e-letter. These researchers explained the systemic changes which result from eating high-glycemic foods as well as foods containing dairy.

When you eat a diet high in sugar, it causes your insulin levels to rise. These foods include highly processed foods, including junk food, which convert to sugar and cause surges of insulin in the blood stream. High levels of insulin create inflammation throughout the body. Since acne is an inflammatory disease of the skin, anything that increases inflammation should be avoided.

These same highly processed foods (sometimes called refined carbohydrates) cause an increase in the growth hormone “insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1).” An increase in IGF-1 has also been shown to encourage acne growth.

Dairy products affect hormones in two ways that contribute to skin problems. First, dairy contains a milk protein that causes IGF-1 to rise. Fat is not to blame, because studies show there are increases in insulin-like growth factor regardless of whether you drink whole milk or a low-fat version.

The same milk protein promotes a rise in androgen levels. Although a male hormone, androgens are present in women and men (girls and boys). Androgens cause an increase in oils and sebum (a greasy substance in the pores)—a perfect environment for bacteria growth, which often leads to breakouts and acne.

If you are concerned about your skin, particularly if you are plagued by teen or adult acne, consider removing dairy from your diet. Know that if you are eating a Western diet, which is high in fat, sugar, meat, dairy, and junk food, its inflammatory properties are likely affecting the condition of your skin.

References:

1. Jung JY, Yoon MY, Min SU, Hong JS, Choi YS, Suh DH. The influence of dietary patterns on acne vulgaris in Koreans. Eur J Dermatol. 2010 Nov-Dec;20(6):768-72.
2. Melnik BC, Schmitz G. Role of insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1, hyperglycaemic food and milk consumption in the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris. Exp Dermatol. 2009 Oct;18(10):833-41.

 

Vitamin D on ABC Good Morning America with Dr Oz

I found this video from some time ago from Good Morning America with Dianne Sawyer and Dr Oz.

He does a good job of summarizing the important points about Vitamin D.

Remember take pills for your D and check your blood levels twice a year …November and March. My store sells a pharmaceutical quality Vitamin D which guarantees you get what is on the label !

Whole Food Plant Based Diet for a Healthy World

I am delighted to let all my patients, readers and friends know that I have completed the eCornell online six week intensive training program in Whole Food Plant Based Nutrition.

The course was fantastic! It was led by Dr. T. Colin Campbell and it was based on his tremendous research from his book The China Study. I learned in the course that a whole food plant based diet is able to  prevent as well as to treat the two most common diseases in America, heart disease and cancer.

Aside from Dr. Campbell's excellent lectures, there were many other speakers as well. One of my favorite lectures was by Douglas Lisle Ph.D. who spoke on "The Pleasure Trap". This lecture was about how our own biochemistry and neurochemistry get stimulated by street drugs and junk foods into a persistent cycle that keeps us trapped in our addictive drug or food behavior. Of course he talked about how to get out of this painful cycle that SO many Americans are stuck in. I recommend his book The Pleasure Trap to you. Or you can get the DVD.

My other favorite lecture was by Caldwell Esselstyn, M.D. His lecture was on how to prevent and reverse heart disease using the Whole Food Plant Based Diet. He is a prominent surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and after many years of working as a breast cancer surgeon he wanted to look into how to prevent the chronic diseases of America. He focused on heart disease and in his amazing lecture in the course he showed us before and after photographs of coronary angiograms showing how advanced heart disease had completely reversed when people followed a Whole Food Plant Based diet for a few years.

I was truly impressed, and I am already speaking with my patients who have coronary artery disease about using this diet as a treatment. In recent days the most prominent individual to adopt this diet is President Bill Clinton. President Clinton was interviewed about this diet by Wolf Blitzer of CNN and you can watch his interview at this site:

President Clinton lost weight back to his High School weight and looks forward to seeing the diet bring him benefit for his heart disease. He had to have coronary by-pass surgery and some years later the newly implanted arteries clogged again and he need a stent put in to keep the new artery open. That was the stimulus for him to go on this diet.

If you or your family has heart disease, please do consider reading Dr Esselstyn’s  book and trying the diet !

To learn more about this course go to this site for the course.

and you can watch the intro video here

Also a wonderful new movie about the Whole Food Plant Based Diet just came out starting Dr Campbell and Esselstyn and others. I highly recommend it ! It is called Forks over Knives.

I look forward to writing more articles on my blog about the benefits of a Whole Food Plant Based Diet.
Please let me know your thoughts!