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A majority of the information I have seen about the causes of acne refutes the notion that greasy foods such as pizza and hamburgers are a contributing factor to bad skin, but this doesn't jibe well with me. It just seems counterintuitive that diet (which affects our health in every other way) wouldn't affect our skin as well. On a personal level, I have seen my pimples come and go when I have changed my diet, have been on medication, or during my menstrual cycle, so I decided to do a little research on whether or not certain foods caused acne. I found totally conflicted opinions. Most of the "articles" I found cited very little research and speculated that greasy foods and chocolate did not adversely affect the skin, while a lack of fruits and vegetables did. Often, greasy foods and a lack of fruits and vegetables go hand in hand, so it is difficult to isolate the two variables. On one site, the author claimed that the oil in the air wafting in the car after a stop at a fast food restaurant was responsible for clogging the pores, and thus creating pimples. Another site suggested that a strict raw vegetable diet for 7-10 days would be alleviate many of your pimples.
A different web site claims that stress, diet, and hormones are all contributing factors to acne, but had a different perspective on the relationship between acne and diet that really made sense to me. If acne is affected by hormones, acne is also affected by the food we eat because diet affects affects our hormone and insulin levels.
In addition, the author cited a 2002 study involving two tribes from Papua New Guinea and Paraguay. Neither tribe had been exposed to a western diet and the researchers suspected that the lack of western food may have played a role in the fact that none of them had any pimples. The evidence was not conclusive, but is interesting.
Now that I am older, I have less pimples, so there is hope. Obviously, changes in hormones are a major reason for this, but I believe that improving my diet also helped. If dietary changes alone fail to help you with your acne, there are some alternatives. Women in their 20's are often prescribed a low-dose prescription of birth-control pills that which change hormonal levels enough to alleviate acne symptoms.
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