Food and Acne Connection: How Cow Dairy Can Contribute to Acne
Okay so this newsletter series I am going to do an overview of different foods that can influence acne each week. I want to preface this that if you are not acne prone, it is unlikely there is a food that would trigger acne, but these foods could trigger other immune or irritable responses within the body.
Acne is multifaceted and has many root causes, and our skin is a complex ecosystem. Not all of the foods I will review each week may be contributing to your acne, but it could be. There are many layers to acne. Even if you don’t have acne or are not acne prone, this may be helpful general knowledge that might help your kids, or somebody you know. I also want to say that I am not a doctor nor a dietician, and I am just sharing things I have learned and first handedly experienced. :)
What contributes to acne?
Thus, anything that clogs pores, and/or creates or worsens infection and inflammation, contributes. The major players in acne production are:
Excessive sebum (oil) production by the skin
Rapid division of skin cells
Delayed skin cell separation and death
Bacteria on the skin surface
Inflammatory response
The food we eat and our body fat cells play a role in sebum production, hormones, and inflammation. Hormonal changes likely have the greatest influence on acne (think birth control medications, anabolic steroids and puberty).
Food and Acne Connection: Cow Dairy
(This is a HUGE trigger for my acne personally)
Dairy is naturally a source of sugar. All forms of sugar raise glucose levels and can lead to breakouts in sensitive individuals. Milk sugar, lactose, raises blood sugar but also leads to allergenic reactions in many people. While there have been noted associations between dairy consumption and acne starting back in the 1800s, some data indicate no association.
The proteins in milk (casein and whey) can cause an immune response, and cause symptoms associated with allergies or intolerance including gastrointestinal, respiratory, and more.
It’s pro-inflammatory. dairy is one of the most inflammatory foods you can eat. To take care your skin, you want to eat as many anti-inflammatory foods as possible.
Casein protein has even been linked to food addiction and it’s the one reason cheese is so hard for people to give up.
The skin is the body’s biggest organ. Whatever toxins the body can’t digest and eliminate through the colon, the skin takes the hit and those toxins come out through the skin in the form of acne, or possibly even rashes. Dairy is very, very hard to digest, even in people that don’t have a diagnosed allergy.
Leaky Gut -The myth that milk coats the stomach isn’t completely misleading. Milk does somewhat coat the intestines, but this just leads to constipation, leaky gut syndrome, lactose intolerance, diarrhea, and excess mucus production. Some signs of digestive problems from milk include: pain, odd digestive functions, gas, bloating, feelings of painful fulness, delayed emptying, pain, and you may also experience a runny nose or may cough up mucus after consuming dairy.
Insulin Growth Factor - IGF1 is a hormone that is thought to be linked to many diseases and acne because of the way it affects our natural hormones such as estrogen and testosterone. When IGF1 is consistently high, it can activate internal signaling pathways that tell cells to keep dividing and promotes the dysregulation of apoptosis (cell death).
A study of almost 400,000 people identified a new link between raised levels of IGF1 and increased cancer risk in certain cancers. (I know this isn’t about acne, but it had me in a rabbit hole on PubMed)
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