Quote from Zenfish:

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Thanks.

But what I really want to know is, if I eat too much of something that influences a bunch of those internal biological/chemical reactions, will I aggravate my acne? Yes, or No?

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All of that wasn't for you, but yes. =) You alrealdy know this based on your experiences here vs. in Japan, so why aren't you assured by that? In fact, you explained it beautifully right here:

[quote]Saying "sugar does not cause acne," is like saying "gasoline does not cause mobility." True, by itself sugar does not cause acne, nor does gasoline cause mobility.

But put sugar into your body, where it interacts with and disrupts your hormones, causes chemical imbalances and stress, and you definitely get acne. But sugar alone doesn't cause it.

It's true, sugar alone doesn't cause acne, ask any Type I Diabetic. These individuals have way too much sugar in their blood stream, due to lacking in (enough) Insulin, which is the pro-hormone that's giving some of us that follow these diets problems (others its food allergies or food intolerances or combination) a variety of issues (hyperandrogenism, increased inflammtoary products, hyperkeritinization). If you do study the chemistry of a Type I Diabetic, you'll see how likely it really is that it's micoorganisms that causing your acne as well.

Of course micoorganisms can contribute, but when you actually think about why there's an overgrowth of naturally occuring micoorganisms on your skin, its usually becase they are trapped in a clogged pore. It the pore wasn't clogged, they wouldn't be overgrowing and possibly contributing to the problem by further irritating our skin. A Type I Diabetic, before they're diagnosed, doesn't even make enough growth hormones, androgens, etc to develop normally sometimes, notice that they are thin and not usually overwieght, so they don't have enough of the neccessary products to produce the reactions neccessary for acne to develop. That's not to say that no one with Type I Diabetes has acne, it's just that they are far less likely to have it then someone that is a Type II Diabetic or Insulin Resistant (regarding glucose intolerance issues).

You know this and when the time come for your daughter, the sooner the better for her, you will teach her I'm sure. If not, I guess it's just what young people do. Acne started for me when I was 10 and by the time I was 12 I was seeking out natural solutions. Never could get it right, despite dietary changes (avoided soda & chocolate for 10 years), because the doctors hadn't diagnosed me yet (HAIR-AN synderome subtype of PCOS). Once I got the diagnosis (at 20) I still didn't understand why I should follow a low or moderate carb diet as I was already thin and wanted to gain weight not loose it. I thought taking the medication (avandia) would solve my problem, but it was only a bit more effective than birth control was. That's when I started reading more and more into the diets of an acne sufferer on these boards and why things like bread can cause acne for us. I swiched my diet before I fully understood it and since then I have learned how the diets we eat have a HUGE involvement in the development of acne, as well as other "preventable" diseases on the rise today such as Type II Diabetes (90% of cases), Obesity, Hyperlipidemia, and even certan cancers.

With health care costs rising along with the rate of "preventable" health problems, we are all much wiser to do what we can through diet, exercise, and proper sleep (all can contribute to or increase insulin resistance) habits as it will cost us far too much in the long run if we do not. Thankfully, you figured this out and I wish you the best with your helping your daughter through this. ;-)

Yelps,

To further clarify something here about the whole Diet & Acne connection (taken from above study). "Follicular keratinocytes fail to differentiate by apoptosis and produce hypergranulosis similar to the impermeable skin outer layer, resulting in the formation of microcomedones." and this is a result of something called Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Cells (mentioned in a prior article about acne). These are genes that can be upregulated (turned on) or downregulated (turned off) by our diets (or supplements) and they also happen to interact/bind with the retinoid X receptors!

In fact Avandia, an Insulin Sensitizer binds to PPAR-gamma to help our bodies become more insulin sensitive, thus decreasing our insulin resistance. Yet if we eat foods that support insulin resistance we can increase our production of PPAR-beta/delta receptors cells that are responsible for 95% sebum production, inflammation, as well as hyperkeritinization. Yet if we eat in a way that decreases Insulin Resistance we can also upregulate PPAR-alpha & PPAR-gamma (oppose PPAR-beta/delta) and the cells will differentiate normally! This is why I say that you MUST understand the human body before you can begin to use diet in a therapeutic way to help you! You don't need to understand to follow it, but if you want to change the world you do ;-)


[QUOTE]Dermatology. 1998;196(1):171-5. Related Articles, Links


Polymorphisms in the human cytochrome P-450 1A1 gene (CYP1A1) as a factor for developing acne.

Paraskevaidis A, Drakoulis N, Roots I, Orfanos CE, Zouboulis CC.

Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Benjamin Franklin, Free University of Berlin, Germany.

Cytochromes P-450 are a supergene family of enzymes involved in the metabolism of a wide range of endogenous and foreign compounds. The existing genetic variations of the distinct isozymes lead to interindividually different metabolic capacity. Since vitamin A, endogenous retinoids and their natural metabolites are morphogenic for the sebaceous gland, we investigated the polymorphisms of cytochrome P-450 1A1, as being one of the most active isozymes involved in their interconversion. From the known mutations, two were investigated; an additional cleavage site for MspI in the 3'-flanking region identified as a thymine-to-cytosine transition 1,194 bp downstream of exon 7 (m1) and an adenine-to-guanine transition at position 4889 in exon 7 (m2). We studied 96 acne patients for m1 and m2 mutations by restriction fragment length polymorphism and allele-specific polymerase chain reaction, respectively, and compared the results with 408 reference individuals. No statistically significant difference was found in the distribution of m2 alleles; the frequency was 3.13 and 3.06% of the alleles, respectively (odds ratio = 1.02, confidence limits 0.41-2.52, p = 0.96). In contrast, a trend to an overrepresentation of m1 alleles in acne patients was observed; allele frequency was 8.33 in the patients and 6.99% in the control subjects, respectively (odds ratio 1.21, 95% confidence limits 0.68-2.16, p = 0.52). As the m1 mutation might define a marker for alterations on regulatory sites, the biological efficacy of natural retinoids could be greatly impaired by their rapid metabolism to inactive compounds. The resulting deficit of active natural retinoids may lead to abnormal sebocyte differentiation and hyperkeratinization of the follicular canal implicating the development of acne in some patients.
[url]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9557256[/url]

I know that this is what you want to hear about, the genetic defect, but as of yet, we can not fix this defect. Thus, we intercept the pathway for acne in a multitude of ways: Diet (1st Level of Interception), Oral Drugs or Supplements (2nd Level of Interception), and/or Topicals (3rd Level of Interception). Based on what level of interception & method you use, your will results will vary. Most people can get away with only using the 3rd level, Topicals, but others like myself found that THE most effective level was the one where we can stop it pretty much before it can start and that began with our diets. Our diets provide the fuel neccessary for the defect to be present or expressed physically, so we just ceased providing the fuel, while still allowing enough fuel to grow & functionally normally elsewhere.

I honestly shouldn't bother with you anymore, but doesn't that show how MUCH I care about wanting you to be free of acne, even if I don't agree at all with the way you think (it's a bit self-defeating). Yet, I have nothing to prove, this effort is for YOU, not for me. I dont need you to believe me, but I do need for you to BELIEVE. If you are openseason, I want sooo badly for you to believe that there is something out there that could help you, but I'm not going to exhaust myself for your benefit, especially when you aren't willing to put in just a little bit of effort on your part to do the work & research for yourself. If you don't think that you are worth enough to do the work, to get the tests run, to try the diets, then why should anyone else?