Acne

[JoeJoe]

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Glad it worked! I am a firm believer that gluten cannot be included for OPTIMAL health, however i'm still against treating it as the devil. People still lead very healthy lives with it, the question is how serious do you want to take diet for health over how restrictive you want to be be from an enjoyment perspective.

I've seen alot of material on the potential causes of acne, and gluten was not mentioned in many of them.
Only heard about this two months ago.....can't believe I suffered so much through my teens because of gluten.

When out last night and had some chicken coated with bread-crumbs or flour...woke up this morning with a tiny red bump on my nose... I did not have any for at least 2 weeks.
I'm now a firm believer in the acne trifecta - Gluten, Dairy and Soy.
Although I don't react to whey, I think I should reintroduce dairy, as a test, now that I eliminated gluten.

[MJ.23]

Previously I mentioned about the potential positive effects of whey protein on acne; and as this is a site with a large number of members who use this popular supplement, I thought I would elaborate on the point a little further.

Whey itself is a collection of globular proteins which are seperated from milk plasma. One of these proteins goes by the name of lactoferrin. If anyone has used any over the counter acne medications before you may have come across this in the ingredients list. It seems commonly known as an anti-inflammatory, yet I have not revealed much scientific data based on this claim.

Lactoferrin itself is quite a magical protein boasting a number of important properties. It is an iron-binding protein which has anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral functions as well as plenty more!

There have been some rough studies conducted on the proteins' effect on acne vulgaris; and I feel their conclusions do warrant study.

Here is the first I stumbled across:

Efficacy and tolerability of oral lactoferrin supp... [Curr Med Res Opin. 2011] - PubMed result

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The aim of the present study was to explore the efficacy and tolerability of oral bovine lactoferrin supplementation in subjects with mild to moderate facial acne vulgaris.

As is similar with numerous studies there are no guidelines as to the severity of acne. What constitutes mild,moderate or severe acne? I would love for a study to be more specific on this. This study does not cover severe acne; but I believe it would be safe to say the conclusions will still apply.

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In this open-label, single-arm study, 43 adolescents and young adults were enrolled to take a chewable tablet formulation of bovine lactoferrin twice daily for 8 weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint was the improvement in acne lesion counts compared with baseline. Tolerability was evaluated on the basis of adverse event frequencies.

Here is another frustration of the test! It is conducted as a uncontrolled open-label study; as well as boasting a small sample size and a short time frame.

The results are interesting though:

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At the end of the study (week 8), a mean reduction in inflammatory lesion count of 20.2% (-2.2 ± 7.0, p = 0.054)

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in non-inflammatory lesion count of 23.5% (-6.2 ± 9.8, p < 0.001)

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and in total lesion count of 22.5% (-8.4 ± 13.1, p < 0.001) was observed as compared with baseline.

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76.9% (30 of 39) of subjects showed a reduction in total lesion count. The results for inflammatory acne lesions were variable over the study course. None of the subjects experienced a lactoferrin-related adverse event during the trial.

So this rough study is providing some credibility for lactoferrin's use against acne vulgaris. There are no dosages specified in the study; so that warranted further research.

Here is another study:

Dietary effect of lactoferrin-enriched fermented m... [Nutrition. 2010] - PubMed result

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Lactoferrin, a whey milk protein after removing precipitated casein, has a prominent activity against inflammation in vitro and systemic effects on various inflammatory diseases have been suggested.

They too are mentioning the lack of scientific basis for the argument.

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Patients 18 to 30 y of age were randomly assigned to ingest fermented milk with 200 mg of lactoferrin daily (n = 18, lactoferrin group) or fermented milk only (n = 18, placebo group) in a 12-wk, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Once again a small sample size!

The dosage they are using (200mg) is double the advised daily dosage of 100mg.

The results once again are impressive:

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Acne showed improvement in the lactoferrin group by significant decreases in inflammatory lesion count by 38.6%, total lesion count by 23.1%, and acne grade by 20.3% compared with the placebo group at 12 wk. Furthermore, sebum content in the lactoferrin group was decreased by 31.1% compared with the placebo group. The amount of total skin surface lipids decreased in both groups. However, of the major lipids, amounts of triacylglycerols and free fatty acids decreased in the lactoferrin group, whereas the amount of free fatty acids decreased only in the placebo group. The decreased amount of triacylglycerols in the lactoferrin group was significantly correlated with decreases in serum content, acne lesion counts, and acne grade. No alterations in skin hydration or pH were noted in either group.

One good positive about this study is their systematic approach to grading the acne using skin ph, skin hydration as well as legion count.

Take the fermented milk out of the equation and look at the lactoferrin individually.

It does certainly appear that lactoferrin has acne healing properties and as a component of whey protein. one can extrapolate it would yield the same effect. The big problem here is the other ingredients which make up whey protein. A single ingredient could easily be offset by numerous others.

I still believe whey protein is not a supplement to be overly concerned over when it comes to acne. I feel for the majority of individuals; you will see little correlation between consumption and an increase in acne. An increase in acne will more likely come from training or other constituents of your diet. As I mentioned though; this is my generalised opinion and some individuals may see a drastic correlation.

Lactoferrin is available as an individual supplement and I may experiment with it myself in the near future.

[dowdy16]

there is a decent article on will brinks website about lactoferrin and its anti-inflam properties, it doesn't go into detail about acne just about how its a lovely little peptide that does some serious good. . . have a read if you get a chance

[duane]

My acne was getting out of control and was pretty desperate to try anything. For about 4 years I've been taking 6 grams of vitamin b5 I buy from myprotein spread over 2 doses per day. I just mix it in with a drink and some dextrose if the drink isn't strong enough to mask the b5 taste. I started off with 5 grams a day and worked my way up to 10 grams over about 2 weeks. Before the end of the first month I noticed a huge difference and when all the acne was gone I bought it down to 6 grams a day.

I miss a day here and there and I get a couple of spots which I'm not bothered about. Nothing like the huge beasts I used to get.

Really hope you find what works for you.

Oh yeah, I've not had any side effects at all.

Good luck.

[kemslie89]

I've been on roaccutane 3 times now for it. It's quite a crazy drug but it works 1st time for most. Need referred by your GP though

[MJ.23]

I have mentioned roaccutane a few times before. Imo it is not advisable. It is a megadose (and I mean megadose!) of vitamin A. The side effects list is longer than my arm and as you stated; it will most likely require multiple runs as it only masks the symptoms.

I will need to update this thread soon. I have some good research papers I have been reading on the topic. I would like to go more into zinc; as it is a supplement that people hear mentioned alongside acne, but it is not clear to a lot of people on what it does.

[NU_nutrition_TS]

Listening to this podcast right now: Naturally Get Rid Of Acne By Fixing Your Gut

Finding it fascinating - not least because this information has been in the medical literature for over 100 years but has languished in obscurity until the last 10 years. Reminds me of the low carb diet - been around for over 100 years (including the medical literature) at least but considered a recent fad (ascribed to Atkins)!

[MJ.23]

Nice find Nu. I like how they linked the studies they discuss. I am part way through the podcast and will have a good read through the studies.

[Atom]

Of those that had/have acne and dairy/grain was the cause, are any of you suffering from excess fat around the abdominal area?