Diet and Acne

Answer to acne found in our food

- by Larissa Cummings

Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)
Thursday, November 24th 2005.

Teenagers who eat less processed foods have a better chance of avoiding acne, diet experts have found.

Although dermatologists have denied the skin condition has a direct link to diet, a recent nutritional study has proved the connection.

Basing their research on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection, two professors of nutrition and anthropology have teamed up to find a solution to diseases suffered in developed societies.

As part of their study, Professor Loren Cardain of Colorado State University and Professor Michael Richards of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, studied the diet habits of two remote communities in Paraguay and Papua New Guinea.

"We examined more than 3000 people in total and we didn't find any acne in those communities. That led us to the conclusion that acne is indeed a disease of civilisation." Dr Cordain said.

"We then back-engineered the biochemistry and physiology behind it and the final step was to do a dietary intervention in which we gave teenagers a diet comprised entirely of fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats and seafoods."

"We gave them no cereal grains, no dairy products and no processed food and lo and behold the acne went into remission."

Presenting this research in a seminar in Sydney yesterday Dr Cordain said the acne finding was just one positive outcome of the study.

"We're no different to any other animal on the planet." he said. "You wouldn't feed a lion grain and an antelope meat because they're genetically adapted to their diets."

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