What you’re eating, when you’re eating, and how your foods are cooked all influence whether you will experience hormonal imbalances, and inflammation. Before digging into the details, we need to understand WHY food impacts acne, and how food can change the youthful appearance of your skin.

So the first thing I want you to know is that it has been scientifically proven that acne patients have fewer antioxidants in their bodies.

Antioxidants are natural compounds that limit damage to our cells caused by free radicals. 

Free radicals attack us daily and are found everywhere – from nature, our food, within our own bodies, and from man-made sources.

When we do not have enough anti-oxidants to keep free-radicals in check, a process called oxidative stress results, which triggers inflammation. Inflammation is what causes our immune system to overreact and attack our pores leading to acne.

Exactly which anti-oxidants do acne patients have less of?

Depleted antioxidant levels of vitamins A, C, D, & E, and beta carotene.

Also, acne patients have fewer of the following minerals that support anti-oxidant production: zinc, selenium, magnesium, and sulfur.

Yes, you need antioxidants to prevent acne AND premature aging of the skin. Oxidative stress not only leads to inflammatory acne, but it also breaks down collagen. We need to protect our collagen because it’s the protein that gives structure and elasticity to your skin. But oxidative stress is not all to blame, there is another element that’s very relevant to acne formation, and that’s sugar.

Did you know that in the past, acne was once called ‘diabetes of the skin’? This name came about because acne patients often had high blood sugar and insulin levels.

What is insulin?

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas. Its role is to transport glucose, a sugar broken down from carbohydrates, into cells for energy.

While the body does need glucose, having too much glucose in the blood stream is dangerous, so the pancreas must compensate by releasing more insulin to carry this away.

So basically, raised blood sugar (from a carbohydrate heavy meal) equals to raised insulin levels.

What’s the big deal with high insulin levels?

Spiked insulin levels trigger a hormonal reaction that floods the bloodstream with androgens. Because the skin has androgen receptors, it coverts these androgens into testosterone and DHT.

Testosterone and DHT in excess stimulate skin cell overgrowth, oil production, and inflammation, resulting in acne.

Overtime, this can lead to insulin resistance. This means your pancreas needs to pump out more insulin to do its normal job, because cells are more ‘numb’ and less responsive.

Scientific studies have confirmed that insulin resistance is not uncommon among those who have chronic acne.

A 2012 Italian study compared blood sugar metabolism between 22 young individuals with acne vs. 22 without acne.

On average, those with acne required almost 400% more insulin to process the same amount of glucose.

This a very telling study, since we don’t often link diabetic characteristics to people who suffer from acne. This justifies why researchers used to call acne as ‘diabetes of the skin’.

And yes, it pays off to be careful with all sugars, because both natural and added sugars break down into glucose within the body.

Unfortunately, high blood sugar levels do more harm than simply increasing insulin levels. This is where we get into the accelerated aging part.

If there is too much glucose that remains in the bloodstream, the sugar molecules attach themselves to tissue proteins, like collagen, to rearrange their youthful structure and create advanced glycation end products. They are called AGEs in short which is a very appropriate name considering what they do.

AGEs assault on the skin’s structural support system by making the collagen fibers harden and rigid overtime, leading to skin sagging and lines.

Your body thinks AGEs (advanced glycation end products) are harmful and launches an immune defense, which triggers inflammation.

Inflammation not only leads to acne, but also accelerated aging, because an over reactive immune system will release enzymes that breakdown collagen.

Higher AGEs in the body also lead to higher androgen levels in women, resulting in a hormonal imbalance that sets the stage for breakouts.

So If you guys have ever heard of the glycemic index, now you know why It pays to be mindful of the it.

The glycemic index measures how quickly a food affects your blood sugar levels.

If blood sugar increases rapidly by the direct absorption of glucose broken down from that food, then the food deserves a high glycemic index. If a food is rich in dietary fiber, this means they have a low glycemic index because it takes longer to break down into glucose, leading to more stable blood sugar levels.

This leads into our next lesson, where we will discuss exactly what kinds of foods to avoid. See you there!

Featured photo by Haute Stock