I know vitamins are good
As far as I understand, the research is lacking in this topic. There is some evidence that suggests insulin spikes (from eating carbs/sugar) is correlated with acne. Some studies correlate acne with dairy consumption. And every now and then we have articles popping up blaming seed oils, chocolate, whey protein, etc. But these studies have their limitations (a lot of them are surveys). There is not enough high-quality evidence for programming an “acne friendly” diet.
The best you can do diet-wise is to cut hyper-palatable, highly processed foods, alcohol and drink enough water.
Spend your time and energy in building a good skincare routine instead.
I drank a smoothie with a ton of kale, spinach, and a bit of mixed berries for the taste for a couple weeks straight and my skin was literally glowing and no acne at all. I get acne all the time. Now that I think about it, I should start doing that again
A controversial topic for sure but I will share my long experience. I have been suffering from adult acne for years and felt like I tried everything under the sun short of prescriptions. I was convinced there was a lifestyle cause that triggered it because it was hormonal acne.
I consume a high dairy and meat diet, which some people believe are triggers. I cut these back for a year considerably and saw no change. During the pandemic I cut out junk food almost entirely from my diet and 90% of the time ate only what I had cooked for myself. Still saw no change.
Then I got into supplements. I gave each supplement about a month before deciding if it was helping with my acne. I tried the following:
Magnesium: lowers cortisol, so this did help slightly, but not enough
Vitamin D: needed for magnesium to process, didn’t change my acne (I also got strict about giving myself real sun exposure but continued to supplement)
Fish oil (cod liver oil): no change, but did improve my mood and sciatica
Fish oil (Thorne SuperEPA): no change, but great for other reasons
B complex: yes. I am seeing a considerable difference in new acne levels.
The B complex has really made a difference. I’m only about a month in, but I’ve only produced a handful of pimples when usually I’d have had double that. The ones I have had have been mostly very small, only one was normal sized for me. My face looks a lot more clear and I suspect after six months when the scars continue to shed skin, it will be great.
Fwiw, I am still on a high dairy and high meat diet. Lower simple carbs, and very little junk food.
Typically removing things that are inflammatory generally help, like dairy and gluten. Also, high GI carbs, processed and packaged foods that have a ton of random chemicals etc. Avoid high omega 6 vegetable oils like corn and sunflower etc. Avoid refined sugar and added sugars.
Stick to wholefoods, dark leafy green non starchy veggies. Nothing wrong with wholefood starches. Grains like rice and quinoa. Fats from nuts, fruits like avo, quality fatty fish like salmon. Unprocessed meat and poultry is fine. Get enough omega 3 fatty acids and vit D3.
Eating less sugar / eliminating added sugars really helps with keeping acne down.
Ensure you eat a nice diet of protein, fruit, veg and complex carbs. Obviously water intake.
Keep up good skincare. A good cleanser w salicylic acid, rinse properly. Make sure it really is rinsed off. Then use a thick moisturiser to hydrate your skin.
Clean your pillow cases a few times a week. Clean your bed sheets and duvet covers once a week or every 2 weeks.
Make sure you get enough sleep.
Try to eat less fatty fried food. Less alcohol. Limit coffee to once a day. Get good sleep.Clean your phone daily.
Anecdotal but for me dairy triggered it. Also sugar and junk food in general.So good for your health too to cut back on these things anyway.
Also zinc and vitamin C I would take. Drink a lot of water and get some (not too much) sun on your skin
Get good sleep and eat good unprocessed food. Like veggies and meat. Cut down on the grains especially the refined ones
Though the real best thing you can do is sleep and reduce stress. Easier said than done
Cut out sugar (all sugar, not just added) and simple carbs like white bread and chips. Limiting dairy seems to help for some people but I’ve had the opposite experience. Once I found out sugar was my culprit I started having way more dairy with no issues
My skin improved once I focused on two things in my diet.
I did this in addition to eating a plant-focused diet. No meat, very minimal dairy, just a bit of fish and eggs. All my other protein sources are legumes, complex grains, and seeds.
Sugar is bad. If you can cut out excess sugar, that would help.
It can also be the way you wash you face, what you wash with, how often you wash, and any face products you use. I used to think I had combination skin, but turns out I have normal skin. I wasn’t using the right products for my face.
water fasting clears out the skin for a lot of people, about 20-30 hours for me and my skin starts clearing itself, but dont go over 3 days without a doctor or doing thorough research. green tea. antioxidants. no processed stuff and added sugars. for some no gluten and dairy. berries and leafy greens. healthy fats omega 3 nuts seeds coconut and olive oil. maybe cocoa, turmeric, ginger. sunlight exercise sauna and lots of water besides that.
i think main causes for acne are lack of exercise, not eating enough healthy stuff and probably food intolerance or something like that. not sure about the last part something mysterious is going on but fasting clears it out so nicely for me.
Protein bars are an increasingly popular snack food that’s designed to be a suitable source of nutrients, especially protein. Protein Bars is great for digestive health and may reduce the risk of overeating between meals.
This is purely anecdotal, but bloggers Nina and Randa Nelson were able to clear their severe cystic acne by adopting an ultra low-fat, whole-food, plant-based diet. They tell their story in this video.
If your concerned about your face the best step you can take is to not touch it throughout the day and find a cleanser that you like to clean your face before bed. Diet is a factor but putting dirt and bacteria on your face causes more acne.
Lots of good suggestions here - it’s something in your diet. I have things I can eat which cause pimples. Now, I mostly don’t eat them. Everyone is different, and you need to invest time finding out what causes it for you. For me it’s processed foods, sodas, almost any kind of garbage food that comes in a package. Which is not that bad, as it forces me to eat well. Oh, and beer, unfortunately. I test to see if beer causes pimples almost monthly, just to be sure. :D
Eliminate seed oils.
VITAMIN A (which is retinol), since no one mentioed it : liver, cod liver, cod liver oil (supplement). Dairy and egg yolks only if grass fed. No, plants don’t have vitamin A.
Only RAW DAIRY, if you can’t find - just eliminate, more harm than good in conventional milk.
B vitamins, especially B3, B5 (again, liver😌 + bee pollen, nutritional yeast and many more). If you supplement just know that b5 depletes b4(biotin), which may affect nails and hair.
ZINC. DON’T supplement zinc, especially in isolation without
copper. Whole foods zinc - liver(dessicated in capsules exist), oysters (cheap canned or dessicated maybe); red meat too.
COPPER for collagen. Source - shellfish, shrimps, whole food vitamin C (for tyrosinase) - fruits and berries, parsley, bell pepper, all raw obviously.
VITAMIN C for collagen too, but now I believe it builds collagen due to tyrosinase -> copper. But it might help with overall radiance.
make sure you’re properly hydrated, you may chug gallons of water but if you don’t CONSUME enough MAGNESIUM (supplement) and POTASSIUM (potatoes, bananas, greens) and sodium (SALT💁🏽) you will still be dehydrated.
Dried barberries.
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/treating-acne-barberries/ you can watch the 4 minute video or click the sources cited tab if preferred. I believe he says 1 tsp 3 times per day for a month led to a better than 40% improvement in 30 days.
Aside from that, I agree with the other thumbs down to chocolate and dairy.