How it affects acne?

Hormones: Nutrients like vitamin D, magnesium, B vitamins, zinc, and selenium are all involved in supporting our hormones like estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, insulin, and cortisol. Deficiencies in nutrients can cause an imbalance in hormones which can lead to an increase in acne.
Gut health: Fiber and probiotics can positively influence our gut health and the diversity of our gut microbiome. The microbiome supports our skin health, immune system, inflammation and more. Our gut and skin communicate via our gut-skin axis. The condition of our gut can determine the risk of acne on our skin.
Blood Sugar: High and low blood sugar can cause inflammation in our body and on our skin. When our blood sugar is unbalanced, this can cause an increase in sebum on our skin which leads to acne.
Inflammation: Certain foods can increase inflammation within our body which increases inflammation on our skin. Adhering to an anti-inflammatory diet, whole foods diet can help our skin thrive.

Common acne diet triggers

Fried foods such as french fries, donuts, fried chicken, and chips are inflammatory for our skin. These foods are often low in nutrients that our body needs to maintain clear skin.

Processed foods such as prepackaged self-stable foods, processed meats, frozen dinners and more are typically high in sugar, sodium, refined carbohydrates, and inflammatory oils which inflames our skin.

Sugary foods such as cakes, cookies, pastries, candy, soda, and cereals are
inflammatory for our skin by dysregulating our blood sugar.

Dairy products may increase IGF-1 which can trigger acne for some. This is highly individualized and must be explored per individual

Elimination diet

To understand if foods could be triggering your acne, it may be helpful to trial an
elimination diet. An elimination diet is a short term elimination of common food triggers, monitoring your response without them, and then slowly reintroducing to see differences.
The elimination and re-introduction of foods like dairy, processed sugars, alcohol, fast food, and gluten can help us determine what your individual response to these foods are.

We also want to focus on adding healthy, colorful, and whole foods to your diet while doing an elimination.