Healthy Tips for Managing Acne

Although the old adage that "eating chocolate gives you zits" is considered out-of-date, new research suggests that your diet does play a role in the overall health of your skin. Should you suffer from acne or someone in your family is experiencing difficulty with it, here are a few nutritional tips that can help.

Acne in Infants

Nutritional ways to dealing with baby acne generally call for changes in the mother's diet or in the formula type, since baby acne generally occurs in newborns. For nursing mothers, here are some tips:

• Cut out dairy and soy products from your diet (these two substances are common allergens in newborns).
• Cut out citrus fruits from you diet as well, as citrus fruits can transfer to breast milk and may cause skin inflammation.
• Take in healthy amounts of good fats like flax and olive oil.

For those who feed formula, check with your pediatrician to make sure no allergies to soy and/or dairy present in the formula are worsening the acne.

Teens

As a teen, it is usually really tempting to bask in junk food. And many teens have those amazing metabolisms that allow them to eat pizza and nachos three times a day and never put on weight! But nutritional tips for acne healing still apply to teens.
These include a recommendation to eat low-glycemic foods.

Many interesting research indicates a connection between insulin levels and acne - increased insulin correlating with increased acne. If you eat lots of sugar and refined grains, your insulin levels increases in order to keep blood sugar levels stable in the midst of an influx of sugar.

The increased insulin levels may worsen acne. So in a very real sense, sugar may make your acne worse.

Low-glycemic foods include lean protein, whole grains, and vegetables. Whole fruits have a lower glycemic level than juice.

Here are some specific ways you can incorporate or substitute high-glycemic foods with low-glycemic ones:

• Homemade popcorn instead of potato chips or corn chips
• Granola instead of sugary cereal
• Naturally-sweetened beverages instead of sugary drinks like colas
• Whole grain pasta instead of refined semolina pasta
• Whole grain breads (homemade if possible) instead of white
Adults

A lot of the dietary guidelines for teens affect adults, also - insulin can always play a role in adult acne. Thus switching to low-glycemic foods can be quite a good idea (it is regarded as a healthier diet anyway). Other tips for adults include:

• Include healthy fats in the diet
• Take a high-quality multi-vitamin supplement
• Limit sugar and refined grains
• Emphasize high-fiber foods

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