Acne, also know as acne vulgaris, is typical in teens, but can occur later in life. Its cause is still not well understood, but some simple strategies such as regularly and gently cleaning your skin, avoiding touching your skin and avoiding excessive sun exposure can help lighten your acne. Although chocolate and greasy foods were wrongly blamed for causing acne for many years, some foods, especially low-glycemic-index foods, can help make most of your pimples disappear.
Western Diet and Acne
Acne is more common in Western populations. It affects 79 to 95 percent of adolescents and 40 to 54 percent of the population over the age of 25, but is very scarce in non-Westernized populations. Although some factors such as genetics and environment may play a role, it seems that the prevalence of acne raises as people adopt a Western lifestyle, showing the strong influence of diet. Western diets often have a higher dietary glycemic index and glycemic load.
Glycemic Index Vs. Glycemic Load
The glycemic index is a tool invented in the early 1980s to classify carbohydrate-containing foods according to their potential to raise blood sugar levels, indicating the quality of carbohydrates. A high-glycemic-index food makes your blood sugar surge after eating it compared with a low-glycemic-index food.
The glycemic load, on the other hand, takes into account both the quantity of carbohydrates available in a food and the quality of these carbohydrates. The glycemic load value is obtained by multiplying the carbohydrate content in a typical serving of food, in grams, by its glycemic index value, which ranges from 0 to 100. A high-glycemic-load diet has been shown to independently predict the risk of developing some chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, some cancers and possibly acne.
High Glycemic Index and Acne
The consumption of carbohydrates lead to insulin secretion, a growth-producing hormone. The higher the glycemic index of a food, the more insulin is produced. Loren Cordain hypothesized in 2003 in ''Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology'' that hyperinsulinemia, or high concentrations of insulin in the blood, alters different hormones that are involved in acne pathophysiology. Therefore, high-glycemic-index diets consumed in Western countries could be a factor contributing to the high prevalence of acne.
Low Glycemic Index and Acne
A randomized controlled trial published in the July 2007 issue of ''The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition'' studied the impact of dietary glycemic load on the pathogenesis of acne over a period of 12 weeks. The low-glycemic load group replaced high-glycemic index foods with a protein, such as lean meat, chicken or fish, or with low-glycemic-index carbs such as fruit or whole-grain bread. Acne was significantly reduced, by almost 25 percent, in the low-glycemic-load group compared with the control group eating a medium-to-high-glycemic load diet. Moreover, insulin sensitivity was improved with the low-glycemic-load diet.
Low-Glycemic-Index Foods
Acne is likely to improve with the consumption of low-glycemic-index foods and by lowering the dietary glycemic load. Low-glycemic index choices include breakfast cereals such as oatmeal, rolled oats and muesli; breads such as sourdough, wholegrain pumpernickel and stone-ground breads; whole wheat pasta; barley; sweet potatoes; legumes; milk; cheese; yogurt; nonstarchy vegetables and fruits.
References
- MedlinePlus: Acne
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; "A low-glycemic-load diet improves symptoms in acne vulgaris patients"; a randomized controlled trial
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; "International Table of Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load Value"
- "Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology"; "Hyperinsulinemic diseases of civilization"
- The Glycemic Index Diet: High, Medium and Low Glycemic Index Foods
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