Diet & Acne.
Eating processed breads and cereals could be a significant factor
behind teenage acne, according to US scientists.
A team of researchers, led by Professor Loren Cordain from Colorado
State University in Fort Collins, believe that because highly
refined breads and cereals are easily digested, the resulting sugar
rush created in the body results in high levels of insulin and
insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1).
High levels of these chemicals result in an excess of male hormones,
which cause the skin to produce large amounts of sebum - the greasy
substance beloved by acne-promoting bacteria.
Furthermore, IGF-1 is known to encourage skin cells called
keratinocytes to multiply, which is a feature of acne, according to
the researchers whose report appears in the December edition of
Archives of Dermatology.
Now researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, are to
test this theory by studying 60 teenage boys who will be put on a
low-carbohydrate diet for three months to see if it makes a
difference to their skin.
"There’s lots of anecdotal evidence," said lead researcher Neil
Mann. "Dermatologists will tell you they have put patients on low-
carbohydrate diets and seen improvements. This will be the first
controlled study."
Between 60 and 90 per cent of teenagers in the developed world
suffer from acne, however, the condition is almost unheard of in
subsistence societies, such as those in Papua New Guinea and the
Amazon, Prof Cordain points out.
"The only foods available to these populations are minimally
processed foods," he said. "They don’t know refined sugars or
refined grains."
He added that Inuits in Alaska were acne-free before they were
exposed to the Western diet, but now teenagers there suffer from the
condition like most other adolescents in the West.
The research is reported in New Scientist magazine.