What's worked best for your acne, if you have any? For me, it's been the combined oral contraceptive pill, salicylic acid, avoiding physical irritation, and a touch of witchcraft...
Mandelic changed my life. Sal-c helps, but overall removing dairy was the greatest change. Also, I had to stop pulling/plucking my facial hair. I’m still trying to heal the almost cystic acne sorta lesions I have left. Injectables seems to be the only thing that works.
Accutane, topical retinoids, a whole lot of moisturiser and sunblock. Oh, and swimming, surprisingly. Apparently the chlorinated water helps in combatting bacteria?
For years I tried managing my diet to prevent acne but instead I found my acne always increased. When I finally gave up and accepted that adult acne would be my life… my acne went away. Now I am way more mindful of my stress, meditation and tailoring my actives to how my skin feels has saved my skin.
SAME SAME SAME as soon as i entirely stopped stressing about my diet, all my issues vanished! it is insane how much my skin concerns had beed connected to the stress levels and the overthinking x
Same here! I did have fvckn 13 acnes on my face 4-8 months ago. I was stressed out and overwhelmed to the level of experiencing of mental health impairment. After watching a video from dr. Davin Lim about adult acne, specifically he mentioned that one of the biggest root causes of persistent adult acne in women are due to the depletion of estrogen level (while androgen level stays pretty much the same), I knew I just need self- acceptance despite my efforts to address the acne issue. Now my face is pretty much cleared up from the bumps and I'm really working hard to address the hyperpigmentation afterwards. What a journey!
TYSM for this nuanced video. I’m so sick of “experts” telling me to cut out dairy, gluten, sugar, soy, fat etc. etc, People don’t realize how dangerous something like that can be. 4 years ago I tried to eat healthier and luckily noticed soon enough that food was starting to terrify me because I was scared of doing something wrong. I know not to let unsolicited advice get to me anymore but I feel sorry for those who develop terrible relationships with food as a result
@@analitycznie That is a stupid question, I DO EAT A BALANCED DIET AND EXERCISE REGULARLY. I am not a moron, where do you get off asking a ridiculous question like that? I mean, I don't think gluten is my problem as I only eat whole grains, fresh veg, fruit, lean meat, low/non fat dairy. Why would you even have the nerve to ask that?!
@Etevaldo Skylab You should be aware of the food but never scared of it, that's how u get an eating disorder, and that u definitely should be scared of
This made me feel so much better about “not trying hard enough”. I never wanted to change my diet, especially for acne, so knowing there isn’t that much data to support it makes me feel a lot better.
Just because theres no data yet, doesnt mean u shouldn't observe and listen to ur body and try out new ways.. diet changes my skin like nothing else. No creams no doctors help, but a change in diet and lifestyle for me.
me too! I love dairy, cutting it out of my diet would make me pretty miserable... and surprise surprise the best thing for my acne has been the medication I got prescribed by a derm.
@Etevaldo Skylab I eat worse now than I did a couple years ago and my acne is almost completely gone apart from a couple flair ups when I'm stressed from university. My acne did not improve until I got treated for my PCOS with the pill and through a cream for it my dermatologist prescribed me. Yes, no obviously diet can cause acne for SOME people but it is far to simple to wave it away as "lol just diet and exercise duh stupid" when that doesn't work for millions of others. It can be a recommendation for someone to try, especially swapping out one thing at a time (sometimes sugar is a person's cause other people it could be dairy so its important to make one change at a time to find any cause) to try figure out if its a reason but for so, so, so many it can be literally nothing to do with their diet or exercise, that also includes people who aren't super skinny western ideal. No one is disagreeing that dietary changes can help treat some people's acne but far too often is it used as a dismissive comment or unhelpful advice when it isn't the end all be all and isn't the root of everyone's acne problems.
@Etevaldo Skylab that is because poison is always a matter of dosage. 4l of water in an hour is poison, and chemotherapy is controlled poisoning, where you hope the cancerous cells die before the human does. saying that a remedy doesn't work in all cases and that even poison doesn't always work kinda shows that there is a lack of understanding of what poison really is. Of course not everything is going to work for everyone, that's really not saying much about anything.
I don't have acne but have type 2 rosacea and everyone always says remove gluten, dairy, sugar, caffine. I was vegan for 8 years , then vegetarian, then paleo and any strict diet you could think of when this started. It is no help - I already ate insanely "healthy" to a point where I was unhealthy. I also experience OCD so the food obsession content that has been all over the internet really gets to me. I am so glad I found your channel. It has really helped me apply logic to my thinking when I get into those spirals and see fearmongering content. Thank you
Finally a good explanation, tik tok just "tells" ppl what to do/not to do and I'm so done with it. Acne is way more than diet. I am so careful with diet yet still break out whereas my friends smoke,drink and eat wtv they want and they have perfect skin and they are 35 yrs old. Low and behold, I started eating what I want and didn't notice an adverse effect so I'm sticking to that. Don't deprive yourself for false beauty claims coming from 15 yr olds on tik tok.
That is a great video. I sometimes feel as if my acne gets worse when I eat a lot of junk and sugary foods, but as I am a stress eater these are also the periods when I am very stressed, don't sleep well and spend hours on working (and consecutively touching my face which is what I do when I concentrate), so... Better not worry too much about that extra bit of chocolate.
The only thing I found that causes acne for me is sugary foods like ice cream and candies. I’ve never had a problem with junk food nor dairy causing acne. I eliminated dairy once and it did nothing. I also cut down on sugary foods and that seemed to help.
I'm a medical student, I'm really glad you covered this topic. I think acne and other skin conditions are influenced by way more than just food, and most likely if you DO have acne, you are probably already doing WAY more than just eating better (like using skincare products, exercising often, drinking more water, etc) and so often it's impossible to know what helped and what didn't, because it wasn't all done in isolation, and everyone has different responses and pre-disposing factors. It can be very frustrating for both us to deal with and for professionals to explain because one size truly does not fit all. More research could definitely be done but it's amazing what we have so far. Don't give up, take care of yourselves!
I'd like to add, that we often think that what works for everyone works for us too, and that the norm reacts well towards more exercise, more water and more skincareproducts. When I was going to the gym, I developed acne because I decided to take a 10 minute walk home from the gym rather than showering there, and this 10 minute walk was enough to make me break out from the sweat stuck on my skin and clothes. It took me a while to figure this out, because I was focusing on food and also assumed that more exercise would improve my skin.
When I had acne it was cause I never watched my face, and had a poor diet (underweight - anemic) but I lied to others and myself by pretending I was doing the most when in reality I wasn't even trying. Now that I care and try I realize it is easy it take a commitment and patient
I suffered with awful acne for decades. Mine most definitely was triggered by diet. However it turns out I have several food intolerances and celiac disease. When I’m exposed to gluten or any of my food intolerances (including caffeine and chocolate) it definitely triggers breakouts. So I feel like if you have an issue with a type of food, such as dairy, and continue to eat it (as many people do, especially if they only have mild GI issues)I have no doubt it could trigger acne. But in someone with no kind of dairy intolerance or other issues with those foods I don’t think they’re going to have the same reaction. So a blanket statement like “dairy contributes to acne” really isn’t going to be true outside of food intolerances. That being said, my journey of tracking down food intolerances does lead me to believe that there are many people out there with undiagnosed food intolerances, and in some cases, such as mine, acne could be the first sign. However tracking such issues down is best done with the guidance of a doctor, since just randomly cutting foods can be overwhelming and unproductive. It seems to me that in diet triggered acne the triggers are extremely individualized, and really have nothing to do with eating “clean” or healthier; in my case it is a manifestation of a separate underlying condition.
Completely disagree. I don't have any allergies or intolerance to any food, however that don't stop from them making my face burst in acne. That's why every person is different and so is the simptoms that may happen to you.
@@rafinha7081 you wouldn’t consider specific foods that break you out to be an intolerance? I do. Caffeine breaks me out, I figure that’s my body having a negative reaction to that specific food. Feels like an intolerance to me.
@@rafinha7081 getting breakout from certain foods IS an intolerance though. My sister is allergic to a certain type of fungus that Pops Up in Wood chavings now and then. We found that Out when she was coming Home from school with pimples all over her Arms. Thats an allerdic reaction to physical contact, but good allergies can have similar effects. Weaker Nut allergies frequently Manifest in outbreaks. Food intolerance can Manifest in all kinds of ways from indigestion to nausea to Low Energy to skin outbreaks and Red skin.
@@annabeinglazy5580 Foods with a high glycemic index has been shown to cause acne. This is definitely the case for me. Does that mean that I have an intolerance to all starch? Because if I add fiber to the diet and thus reduce the glycemic load, I don't break out. Thus you can't really call it an intolerance as it is not the food itself causing it, but the rapid elevation of insulin secretion.
Speaking from my own personal experience, I was an individual that was convinced that my acne was a result of my diet. I had tried every diet out there to heal my acne: vegan, paleo, keto. I cut out dairy, grains, nuts, sugar, and even fruit. Even after cutting out all these foods, I still had acne! At this point I had essentially developed an ED. After I started taking oral medication for my acne, my acne has cleared up significantly. Now I'm a lot more lenient with my diet and the acne hasn't come back.
I mean, sorry that diet didn't help, but you have to count for how many months you tried these diets too. If you try for a month, that's not good enough to see results, because your body may work different speed than mine or any other person.
@@rafinha7081 Why in the everloving fuck are you trying to give dieting advice to someone who has literally stated that they are recovering from an eating disorder, do you have no sense of shame? Do you realize that eating "clean", whatever the hell that means, isn't the magical cure for everything that your type like to make it out as? Are you incapable of understanding that some conditions need to be treated with actual medicine and that whatever magical new diet that just came out isn't gonna do squat to fix it? Can you and the rest of your kind just go away and stop trying to push your bullshit onto people who are already struggling enough as is, especially already vulnerable people like this person here.
What I find so frustrating about the theory about chocolate causing acne is how surface level it is. "Chocolate" is not just one thing. It's made up of different components and different kinds of chocolate have different compositions. I myself have put a tablespoon of cocoa (cacao?) powder in my smoothie almost every morning for like two years. Not once have I noticed it affecting my skin. Now this is of course anecdotal evidence, but I have a pretty strong feeling that the cacao itself is not the culprit. It's probably the sugar and butter, but even then, let people live. If you need chocolate when you're on your period, go for it. What fun is clear skin if you can't enjoy food in peace?
People are different , we all react different.. My uncle rubbed his skin on dirt and motor oil and never had a single pimple.... Nobody is saying chocolate causes acne, but for people that have already tried everything else and still have constant flares of acne they might want to look at their diets for answer
As someone with acne and a history of disordered eating, it was very important to me to explore the acne-food connection in a careful, non-triggering way. And I did, by very slowly and patiently watching my reaction to certain foods, and figuring how much of anything I can tolerate. That certainly helped my skin. But skincare, fixing a nutrient deficiency, and managing my emotional health are the other things that help me keep my acne under control.
Nobody would dare to suggest that a person who developed diabetes or cancer probably did something wrong. But when it comes to acne there' s always been a shadow of suspiction and guiltiness over us (hygiene habits, eating junk food, lazyness, neglect...) *I WAS BORN WITH A GENETICAL PREDISPOSITION TO IT* Thanks, Michelle 🖤, thanks to my derm🙌🏻
Yea diabetes type 2 is diet based, you gave yourself the disease. You killed your pancreas until it wasn't able to produce insulin, all we do or say has impact. You are important take care
BEST VIDEO OUT THERE regarding acne and diet! i can’t thank you enough as a fellow scientist. i hope one day people learn not to BULLY people with acne over food.
I hate these simple charts of „bad … for acne“ that spiral everywhere these days. Thank you, Michelle, for using your expertise and putting it into such an entertaining format, like always! 🧡 And special thanks for dealing with the topic of ED’s in such a sensible way. That video made me feel a kind of calmness, that I don’t usually get with topics like these, since I have suffered from ED‘s for quite some time.
Milk is the only thing I have found to link to my acne/pimple breakouts. Also upsets the stomach sometimes, SO that's the one thing I've axed from my diet. The biggest contributors for me is DEFINITELY stress, and hormones, both mostly uncontrollable.
Same, i dont have Acne, but pimples but theyre not really linked to my diet unless i really overdo it on the sugary food. But thats also usually when im stressed. It's Not that any amount of sugar is Bad for my skin. But If i have barely slept, am working towards a Deadline AND been living of chocolate Bars? Thats asking for my skin to cry for help 😅
I've literally seen people cut gluten and dairy from their own diet easily and find an improvement in their skin to telling everyone that gluten and dairy cause all acne ever and advocating that everyone cut them out and result in a lot of anxious people who blame themselves for not sticking to the diet well enough because their acne didn't improve
Yeah, that's very much a danger! I think it's a good part of human nature to want to spread the word about what worked for you and to help others, but... sometimes it can have some unintended bad outcomes :(
@twentyfivekgplants tomake1kgbeef yes but that doesn't mean it'll also help everyone else with cystic acne. That's the point of doing scientific studies to see whether there is a correlation or not. Like both Dr Mahto and and Michelle said, cutting dairy out isn't easy for everyone and can give people a lot of stress and anxiety which definitely doesn't help acne
@@shivika1000 I came to this video by a dermatologist who shared it and said that is a myth that food (dairy and sugar) increase acne. And that is as bad as stressing people about cutting their dairy. I think that is misinformation. For me, cutting dairy and sugar did an extremely change in my face. I’m not telling anyone that they have to do it too, but we can’t misinformed people because they’re weak minds and don’t want to hear a fact.
@@xaviergarcia8342 So here's the thing, a large portion of people will see small to no change in their acne due to these things, and some will see a significant change. Out of those who cut these things out, some even find that they can reintroduce sugar and dairy in a controlled manner (for e.g. a little milk and sugar in tea, a biscuit/cookie) and not have their acne flare up. I agree you shouldn't call it a myth, but giving that as a first line of defence against acne seems wrong when it doesn't work for most people. From what I understand that's what the two experts are saying in the video too. Also we need to remember that most people are biased by their personal experience. Some who've seen a difference because of their diet will jump to it when talking to people about dealing with acne. People like derms who've seen patients struggle with their diets and find no improvememt in their acne will be biased against it
@@shivika1000 Yes. My point wasn’t to the ladies in the video, but to those people that say acne relation with food is a myth (like the derm whom following me to this video). Not because I haven’t hormonal issues with acne means it isn’t a cause for acne or a myth. At least in my country, food (dairy, sugar, alcohol) do have a lot to do with acne. I don’t know if it has to do with cultural manners. But, most people in my country have issues with dairy, and gastritis (and others stomach issues) isn’t a rare condition.
My brother used to tell me that I should stop eating junk food and maybe my acne will get better. Jokes on him because my diet is even worse than before and my skin is a thousand times better. Thank you Yaz and Benzoyl Peroxide 🥰
I love this comment - my diet is that of a very picky toddler, due to sensory processing issues - but I have the clear, bright skin of a Swiss milkmaid. And it's the mini pill and Tretinoin - definitely not juice fasts!
@Etevaldo Skylab dude she tried and the diets don't work. she could just have an underlying condition unrelated to her eating habits. if she doesn't have issues now then there's no point in saying that she "didn't do it the right way" she found a way to help herself and that's it.
@@brutus3631 The medication is just a temporary fix for a symptom (acne) caused by an underlying problem. Acne is not normal or an illness in itself, it’s an external manifestation of some sort of issue you are dealing with like poor gut health or a hormonal imbalance (things that are all affected by your diet). If the medication actually did solve the problem from its root, the acne wouldn’t return as soon as you stopped doing all the band aid solutions.
I happened to be dairy-free for other reasons, and it helped my acne and hay fever. However, there are some other factors that affect these conditions: (acne) stress, not cleaning my face, drying my face with an unclean towel, hormonal changes, etc. (hay fever) not eating enough vegetables or fruits, not taking enough precautions, not taking medication because I'm less worried, climate change factors, etc.
This is such a well made and well researched video, Michelle! You can clearly see the amount of effort that has gone into it. Everything from the in-depth analysis of multiple studies, to the illustrative animations on the flowchart, to the derm's advice video was all so informative and comprehensible. And of course your dancing tiktok videos, how could I forget, they were the best part.
I am so grateful that people like you, who have educations and experience in the cosmetics industry and teach public correct and fact based information. Nowadays internet is overfilled with false, non evidence based materials and it is hard to understand what sources have credibility information. You are doing a phenomenal job. Thank you ❤
I’m lactose intolerant and as it got worse as I aged it did contribute to acne but that’s not applicable to everyone! I had come off oral contraceptives after many years which had been doing an amazing job of keeping my acne at bay, so was back at square one in my 30s, my top three things that have helped are retinol and ahas (salicylic acid gives me a rash 😢), switching to oil cleansing only (i have very dry skin) and training myself out of skin picking behaviours that would damage surrounding skin and lead to spreading ❤️
Thank you, Michelle. _One size fits all_ NEVER works. A good derm will tell you if your acne reacts to food by blood checks, allergy tests and whatever is needed to achieve a scientific answer. In my particular case, it was not related at all. For other people, certain modifications or restrictions make a difference. As always, the conclusion ends up being the same: *Keep a healthy lifestyle for your self wellness and GO TO A PRO DERM* 🧛🏻♀️🖤
I've tried literally every single dietary thing for my acne and none of it had worked for me 😂 I started on accutane at 17 and that made a huge huge difference in my skin but afterwards mild acne returned (even after several more courses of accutane). After seeing the perfect skin accutane gives while you're on it - I wanted perfection... so I went down the "natural path" of initially cutting milk out...then that led to gluten free/no soy, which I did for 2 years eating the same food every single day because I felt it made a difference when in reality it was just the accutane's long-lasting effects. I ended up then eating bread again and going vegan (which I still am for the animals), and then doing low fodmap which was absolutely horrible, no one should have to weigh and limit the vegetables they eat to mere grams. The ability to be able do all of this probably was helped by anorexia in my teen years, although recovered it was easy to still cut foods out for goals I had. Only recently I've kind of realised there's really no point to any of it and there's no honor in doing things the "natural way" when there's so many amazing medications to use. I didn't even know there was a word for what I was doing until I watched this... orthorexia. I just started using tretinoin and I'm a lot more relaxed about my skin than I have been for a long time. There's enough crap in life to worry about without worrying if every single food you're eating is giving you acne and then hating your life because you're not eating what you'd like or hating yourself because you are eating what you'd like. TL;DR: Don't be obssesive with food, try the bare minimum cutting out milk for a few weeks and then cutting out high GI/GL foods for a few weeks...see if either of them make a difference and if not get on a tried and proven medication your dermatologist recommends. Sorry for the rant! Hope this helps anyone in a similar position and I appreciate the video.
I agree, over the years I have been to many dermatologist and not one of them told me to change my diet. Roaccutane lasts for me for about 10 yrs. ATM I am on trentenion and I love it. Over the years I have cried as people lecture on what not to eat. I have upped my whey protein, eggs and fats and this has helped my skin repair. These are foods I was told not to eat, by uneducated people. My acne was at it worst when I was on a low fat diet with an extremely low cholesterol level. I think it effected my hormones.
@@nancykerrigan Quick version: Low FODMAP is a restrictive medical diet (like a prescription!) to treat IBS that will also reduce gut bacteria diversity. This could *worsen* skin health, and it’s not a recommended acne treatment. Do NOT go on it without a doctor’s supervision. Full version (since we’re on Lab Muffin and thus not scared off by science!): The Low FODMAP diet is a medical diet prescribed to reduce symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome aka IBS. It’s a set of guidelines to keep IBS sufferers from eating too much of common fermentable molecules that don’t absorb easily in the gut. FODMAP is an acronym for all the different types of these molecules. In a healthy person, FODMAPs might give you a few toots after dinner (ie beans). In a person with IBS, eating too much of FODMAPs can lead to extreme quantities of gas, visible painful bloating, bowel changes, really bad cramps, running to find the nearest toilet, spending hours on the toilet, and other awful IBS symptoms. Yay. Since the amount of FODMAPs depends on how much of a food you ate at one sitting, exact serving sizes matter, hence weighing out food. Ex: 60g of Brussels sprouts is low in FODMAPs, but 70g of Brussels sprouts is too high and will set off bad symptoms in some people with IBS. To bring this all back to skincare, I’ve been on low FODMAP for IBS for a few years now, and I haven’t seen any improvement in my acne. It might actually be worse now. I’ve never heard of low FODMAP for acne before. It’s proven that avoiding FODMAPs will *reduce* your gut bacteria’s diversity over the long run. Since gut microbiome health is linked to skin health, this means that you may actually *hurt* your skin by avoiding FODMAPs when you don’t need to!
@Etevaldo Skylab Tried gluten free, soy free, dairy free for years (I’m still vegan to this day). Tried low FODMAP for 2-3 months. I think I’m forgetting a few other diets I’ve tried… Accutane was clearing my skin even a month into using it from what I remember.
Blessings of the algorithm. 🙌 This is so important, particularly when you consider how we correlate virtuousness and respectability to clear skin. It's just another way to make people feel guilty about what they're eating.
Underrated comment! I think this is a huge part of it. If we can keep (mostly) young women off-balance by focussing on their "failures" then they're less likely to burn it all down.
Thank you for the eating habits part. When I had severe acne I ended up with extremely disordered eating not even at my own devices either, I lived home with my parents that don’t like science 😵💫
Thank you so much Michelle for this debunking and for addressing the risk of orthorexia as well. This is badly needed and I hope this video reaches a wide audience, especially since you always do such an amazing job of science communication.
I've really gotten into this channel recently and idk I just really wanted to say I appreciate this video a lot. As an adult who still really struggles with some fairly severe acne I've always kinda blamed myself, and I have always had a horrible guilt for eating chocolate. Whilst I do think it does something for my breakouts, it was just nice to hear this advice
Omg i love you so much Michelle! You are doing the best educational videos. I'm so tired of trying to explain to people why everything they think they know about science or skincare or diet is just wrong. Everything in life is far too individual to try explain complex ideas into an inspirational simple quotes. I wish you were my science teacher 🥺
What they ate when they were teenagers?! I can’t even remember what I ate 3 days ago. For me, developing a good and consistent skin care routine has been the best change for my skin. No amount of diet change has benefited my skin, at least appearance wise, like simple, effective topical products and stress control.
I was lucky enough to collect solid evidence that food doesn't affect my acne in my late teens. The clearest my skin has ever been was in college when I was eating my worst diet yet. I ate ice cream for breakfast on more than one occasion because I simply forgot to buy breakfast, it was that terrible. The good news is that I can just laugh it off when people point out that I eat a lot of chocolate and that has to be the cause of any pimples I might have.
Consider that a high sugar diet aggravates things like PCOS and other hormonal issues, so it can still be related, thought indirectly. For me, lowering blood sugar has helped with hormone-related symptoms and acne.
In my case, I can 100% say diet had a big part in my acne problems. My father had a lot of acne when he was younger - plus his entire family has diabetes. I inherited the genes obviously, however I noticed (it took me almost 2 years to understand that) that there were moments in my menstrual cycle where my skin would be particularly prone to acne, and if I ate lots of sugary things during those moments, I'd observe HUGE flare of acne the next day. This has been mostly noticeable to me in December 2023 and December 2022, you know with all the chocolate and cakes you'd eat at home around Christmas (and apart from the sugar I have a quite balanced diet actually, and I've already removed dairy from it too). In January: *instant regrets* So for me I'd say the causes were: genetics, hormones and diet. I have no control over the first two, but if there's a way I can minimize my acne by controlling what I eat, I'll do it
BTW: she's not saying food can't/doesn't affect the skin at all. She is saying that changing your diet is not a one-size-fits-all solution for acne and shouldn't be preached as such. Especially since a) it literally doesn't help everyone b) demonizing food in this way can cause disordered eating and c) not everyone can easily change how they eat. If changing your diet helped you that's great! But it's not the only way, everyone's bodies are different!!
Woow this is so useful - never connected the dots about oat milk potentially being as bad/worse than cow's milk. Also thanks for trying to combat all the pop science and nonsense out there ❣
That's funny because i switched from almond milk to oat because I noticed there was a decrease of sodium levels from almond milk to oat milk (from the products I've seen l) I can't win can I? Lol.
I saw one of these healthfluencers (a derm I think) recommend someone cut out basically all flavorful foods but especially garlic, peppers, things like that to cure severe body odor. It was such an ick to me, even if it works. There has to be a better way that isn't never eat anything that tastes good.
I had perfect skin when I was in my 20's, eating like crap, drinking copious amounts of alcohol and on birth control. As soon as I stopped taking birth control my skin freaked out. So there
Tysm ! I sought help from a dermatologist at a point where I had already been restrictive eating for a long time for my skin and was quite vulnerable, little did I know they were a hack who recommended I cut MORE and go on the “acidity diet”. I had so many mental breakdowns and was functioning at like 10% from never eating after that. I didn’t deserve to be made to feel responsible for my GENETIC ROSACEA. These ‘professionals’ need to get a grip and stop trying to shill their products and diets.
My skin goes crazy when I‘m stressed, depressed, or forget to drink enough, but eating too much fried food or any deep fried food often gives me really painful and inflamed pimples as well… so I try to go for air fried stuff instead, or stick to having less of it. Luckily I haven‘t noticed anything else that makes me break out. PS: My stomach is bad with fried stuff, cream, and other very fatty food as well, so there might be a connection. Good thing I can eat other fats like nuts, avocado, salmon, etc. without issues.
First, I would like to thank you very much for all your efforts! I’m a medical doctor, and I really enjoy the highly researched and evidence based content you put out there. I’m a bit saddened that this type of content isn’t one that’s very rewarding financially in this age of 20 seconds short videos that barely scratch the tip of the iceberg. I struggle with the uncommon (or not as reported at least) association of very dry skin(eczema prone) and acne prone(this trait is exclusive to my back). Acne that is probably caused by the inflammation and the hyperkeratinization. I manage it with tretinoin. But I found out that whey protein is also a culprit in making it worse, so I’m avoiding it. I also suffer from cholinergic urticaria, that flares up with sudden temperature changes, eating spicy food, sudden emotions(anger, fear…). And I made the association that whenever I eat chocolate, the threshold for my uritcaria episodes is lower; and often I will need to bump up my antihistaminic dose to avoid getting flares on days I eat chocolate.
Food, health, skincare products and skincare knowledge is all play important role in archiving good looking skin. We should not put much pressure on ourselves tho
Thank you so much for this video! I am so fucking sick of unsolicited advice I have recieved about my skin over the years in general (always from people that have never suffered with acne in the way that I have) and I have recently been getting it from colleagues regarding my diet. Last month I was eating a small chocolate that had been brought in by a coworker in the lead up to christmas and was commenting that I was overindulging so much this year it would be very difficult for me to get back on track agani in January. My coworker then told me that I really should cut down as my acne is getting worse and chocolate causes acne. I politely defended myself that I have done all sorts of dietary adjustments in the past and that actually going vegan and gluten free produced much worse acne for me in the past. What I DIDN'T say was that in actual fact my skin care routine has actually gotten worse recently (in addition to my diet) as a result of crippling depression from this bullshit job. I am struggling to make it through every single day and am fighting the urge to ask to be allowed to go home. I am doing the utmost just to come in every day and I am stuggling to take care of myself in the morning as a result. To hear that absolutely infuriated me. I'm so sick of my skin blemishes apparently being public property so that people can interject their own bullshit opinion about it. I have literally been on accutance before because everything else didn't work. What the fuck makes people so cocky they have the answer to my skin woes. Do they think I haven't tried everything? Do they think I just can't be bothered to educate myself??? They;re the uneducated ones. I am genuinely ready to smack a bitch about it. First of all, even if it what they say WERE true it's my skin, my diet and my fucking business. Just let me have the goddamn indulgance if I want to
I'm pretty sure that as a kid, I heard constantly that chocolate in particular causes acne - possibly "greasy foods" as well with an obvious implicit connotation. But I think it was also one of those easily-busted myths in the American-Girl-Health genre of books, so I've always known it's not legit. A lot of people I knew told me otherwise of course. But you know, as an elementary/middle schooler, my parents got recommended "Eat Right For Your Blood Type" by my chiropractor with a nutrition degree. I told my parents how I knew (the child version of) how blood types work and how the book made no sense, but that also did not get far :)
Thank you so much Michelle for talking about eating disorders and taking them seriously. They are so under-discussed for how relatively common they are and how much physical and mental suffering they cause, and for how much these topics aggravate the disease. When I'm in a more vulnerable place in my ED remission these kinds of pseudo-scientific discourses about X entire food group being bad for you can really burrow into my brain, and the work you and other science communicators do is such a support in those times. ❤
Gonna send this to people every time they try to tell me that specific foods cause acne in people. For me, dairy + hormones are my most obvious factors. But I choose not to completely cut out dairy - it's a great source of quick protein for me, as long as I have a lactase enzyme on hand. Unfortunately, I have never had the pleasure of meeting with a good dermatologist who knew what they were doing. All three I saw in my life wanted to throw tretinoin and spironolactone at me, with no instructions on easing into retinoids, and now regard for my low blood pressure. It was all about getting me out of the office, but back asap for a refill authorization. It sucked. I am so thankful for you and the online acne specialist dermatologists who, ironically, have put more time into explaining things to me than anyone I ever paid has.
This is a really great video. As an individual, my acne *does* get better when I reduce/eliminate certain foods, primarily high sugar and high carb foods - BUT that isn't the case for everyone. It's all well and good to know certain things that might impact acne, but I get frustrated with people making promises about being able to cure acne with diet when that's by no means guaranteed.
This is such a well put together and thoroughly researched video Michelle! I'm soooo glad that you are calling attention to this issue - there is so much content especially on TikTok spreading misinformation about foods being linked to all kinds of problems like acne and various diseases, and if you aren't paying attention, it's really easy to passively assume these claims are scientifically backed since everyone seems to be saying so. Thanks for throwing your knowledge and expertise into the ring and helping to debunk these claims.
This makes me think of all the diet advice for people with endometriosis. I was so desperate to lessen my pain, so I tried cutting out the foods that supposedly make symptoms better and it did absolutely nothing to help my symptoms. What did work was applying a heating pad and getting my endometrioma removed.
I agree with every point in this video. I personally am the case of cutting out foods helped, BUT! my intention of quitting food wasn't because of acne! I had extremely horrible IBS symptoms where I would literally faint out of the pain I was experiencing. This forced me into having a food diary and with help of it I ruled out my triggers which were Chilli and Dairy. Dairy came off as a surprise as I was not expecting it at all, but once I started illuminating it I started to feel so much better! So yes, I agree, it's not the food that makes your acne, but rather body reaction to something that doesn't go right in your body, like in my case where my body wasn't able to digest lactose and capsaicin which surely were making a party in my guts and my body was protesting with pain and acne as a result. If it's food that makes you get acne you will know it because you will have other digestive issues much more worrying you than your acne!
Excellent video, resonates with me. I do resistance training 3-4 times a week, on low carb, intermittent fasting yet I get acne. Even got blood sugar tested. Tried citing dairy for a fortnight but no avail, in fact currently have the worst flare up. So now trying to change bed sheets & covers frequently, cleaning face more often. Guessing that my skin barrier is compromised for reasons I can’t fathom. But generally, stress is a main factor to trigger the most stubborn acne. Im also on prescription btw. But I want new acne to stop. It’s frustrating because you really can’t conclude down to a single factor, it’s just guesswork about variables.
I really appreciate the discussion at the end about disordered eating. When I was a teen, I was convinced that dairy was causing my acne/making it worse (this wasn't actually true), so I cut it out. This meant I basically stopped eating breakfast because cereal was my go to and I felt like I couldn't drink milk and didn't have access to an alternative. I'm glad people have a resource like this to lead them down a safer path to clearer skin. Thanks for sharing!
I personally have found a strong correlation between sugar in my diet and acne. I've stopped eating sugar two years ago, and my skin has significantly impoved. If you are struggling with acne as well, you could try reducing or cutting off sugar, because sugary products are not healthy anyway.
I'e tried cutting out sugar, dairy, gluten and all animal products out of my diet in intervals of about 6 months during the past 5 years. Nothing effected my skin whatsoever. The ONLY thing that I ever noticed a difference from was my alcohol intake. If I have a weekend with heavy drinking, I can definitely expect to see my skin change within the next couple of days. The important thing is to listen to your body.
Seeing this video on the last day of 2021, yet I must say : BEST VIDEO of 2021. Thank you, for your work and all the valuable information you give to us!
I think it makes more sense that acne would be more prevalent when you're not taking care of yourself, physically and mentally, not necessarily only because you're having dairy or something. Genes are probably the number one factor, and you can't change that. I eat shitty things often and have pretty good skin, but I noticed that pimples come more so when I don't change sheets when I should, when I am stressed, when I don't drink enough water and when I have milk chocolate. I also noticed that my skin looks really good when I work out, don't wear my glasses, sleep enough, can relax and drink enough water. At least for me, it seems like things I do when I am in a bad state of mind, contributes to making my skin misbehave.
I have tried all sorts of things for my acne, including accutane, which only worked temporarily. Over the nearly 10 years I’ve had acne I really haven’t seen any correlation with food and my acne. The only thing that has made a stable and significant difference has been combined oral birth control. I am now starting differin to combat the mild acne I still deal with. However I don’t doubt that diet has an influence on my and most peoples skin. I generally view it like this; we don’t have proper evidence but we know the skin is impacted by inflammation and hormonal changes, and we know certain foods can impact both of those factors. However there are a lot of things that contribute to inflammation and hormonal changes, and there are a lot of ways to treat or manage acne. Some people find success with dietary changes and can do so healthily and sustainably, but I don’t think it’s a realistic route for most people. All things in moderation! At the end of the day if it came down to choosing between severe cystic acne and a more restrictive diet, I’d make those changes because I know the toll severe acne takes on my life. But if it’s between mild occasional acne and enjoying my favorite foods? I’ll take the imperfect skin!
For me, it’s the menstrual cycle. One week before my period, I start getting bursts of acne. They keep popping up until after the period. My skin is clear other than that period. I know it’s the cycle since I have to keep a strict diet because of stomach issues. I cook at home, and don’t have any sweets. Also, alcohol was a factor for me. I cut out alcohol completely after my stomach condition, and that helped contain the acne for only the menstrual period.
Im fructose intolerant and i used to have bad acne. I thought it was chocolate but it turned out it was the fructose in white sugar and the amount of fruits u used to ate. Acne was my first symptom before stomachaches. I found that food plays a role if you have an intolerance ore if your gut is overly sour, that does happen from eating junk food but the junk food in it self is not the reason, its the amount. For example i can eat dark chocolate just fine in smaller amounts because it has less sugar and fructose in it. Im fine with sweets that dont use fructose as a sweetener and my acne cleared up completely. Obviously i also use good skincare and cica was one ingredient that helped me the most
Using a sulfur clay mask, retinoid, and a moisturizer have been the biggest steps to finish off my acne. Still get period breakouts but it's only 1 or 2 instead of a chin full and skincare helps it heal faster than ever. Drinking whey protein, milk, and eating a lot of these food triggers people talk about hasn't affected my acne at all thankfully.
Most of the time I have mild to no acne, but when I start eating dairy, processed foods or any foods my digestive system finds irritating my acne starts to get significantly worse.
Most important for me to do to control my acne is to avoid dairy. I can cheat but I have to be mindful about how often it happens. Also, I limit my intake of bread, sugars and peanuts. But I do enjoy these foods too from time to time. In addition my skin is affected by stress, hormones and air pollution. But most importantly I avoid dairy and replace it with mainly soy and almond products. And making sure I have a balanced diet with lots of veggies, some carbs and protein seems to do the trick for my skin. I also feel good on the inside with this diet which is even more important I think. And on the rare occasion I do have pizza, I make sure to enjoy every single bite of it!
The number one acne curing thing I found was eating sauerkraut and kefir every day, a little portion with each meal. Both are rich in probiotics and I believe they healed my gut immensely helping with my acne. It’s amazing truly. I saw a girl talking about it in another video and how it basically cured her acne so I had to try because I can’t take birth control as I’m a guy 😳
I pick, my skin isn't that bad really (not anymore, as I did a Isotretonin treatment) but my picking problems makes it look way worse. To me, it seems that my intestines are what affects my skin the most. I have had stomach problems since childhood, and my acne started in my teens, but it really blow up, when I was in a trial, trying out a new hormonal contraception. After I did the Isotretonin treatment (went on for 7 months, and is really harsh) I had perfect skin for about a year.. And I learned that I don't pick, unless there's something to pick at... Anyway, for me, it's intestinal health, that I need to get under control, for my skin to seem to stabilize.
Thank you for such an excellent video, learned a lot. I’ve been struggling with acne for 15 years and this month I finally realized eating less dairy (especially skim milk and whey protein) has made my skin clear up drastically. I unconsciously cut out whey protein for a week and realized my redness diminished by a lot. I kept continuing with cutting out whey protein and any foods that included skim milk. my skin has never been better. I also avoid white sugar and bread.
Michelle, you are my favorite scientist to learn from! I would have loved to have you as my teacher or professor with your knowledge and humor combo. ❤
For me what causes my cystic acne is disturbing of my hormonal balance and damaging my guts! All due excessive consumption of refined sugar and flour, i live next to a bakery!! Every time i stop and heal my gut and get my hormones on the right track my skin follows immediately. So for me yes diet affect my skin indirectly.
About diet questionnaires: It's not about exactely what you have eaten last week or month, but what your eating paterns are (you know what you usually buy/eat). So it is much more reliable. And the scientists making those questionnaires are aware of this and trained for this.
I used to consume a lot of milk in cereal and coffee and I saw a noticeable improvement after limiting dairy . My teenaged brother used to have severe acne and after he reduced dairy it became more manageable. Maybe it’s a genetic thing.
@Etevaldo Skylab If you're going to make comments like this, I highly recommend citing studies. Dairy, yes, is widely known to be inflammatory to the bodies of many people, but I don't think that's enough to indicate a causal relationship between dairy and acne. I'm all about using personal experiences to guide your own decisions --- that's literally how human beings operate, but this video seems to be pretty clearly aimed at not giving prescriptive advice/reassuring people that some people's experiences do not an universal recommendation make. That's literally just the complexity of human bodies at play. Furthermore, the health field is well-known, at least in the US, as being just as close-minded as the scientific/academic field (and the venn diagram here, let's be real, is mostly a circle), so I don't think that mention really adds any credibility...
I feel like it's different foods for different people...for me I only get acne when I eat extremely spicy(hot) food or eat chillies with my dinner/lunch...where as my sister only gets acne when she eats dairy...so best to figure out what is causing it by simple process of elimination
Always the best content Michelle! Could you do a video about sleep deprivation/ stress and acne? Think it has a good correlation and not so much studies about it.
I’ve never given much credence to foods causing acne, but as my skin has changed in my late 20s I’ve noticed dairy (especially milk and ice cream) causes me to break out. I’m a researcher so I’m automatically skeptical of placebo, but it’s happened enough times over the years that I’m fairly confident in saying that ice cream = breakouts FOR ME.
I actually found that my diet really did influence my skin, if I had any sugar on an empty stomach I would get massive painful nodules a few days later. If I had a meal before eating anything sugary and my skin has been flawless, not even a tiny clogged pore.
This is honestly such a relief, Iv always had “food issues” as I rarely feel hungry and have sensory issues with certain food textures. I was tempted to cut out certain food groups (dairy, carbs, sugar.. you name it) but was concerned I wouldn’t be able to meet my calorie intake if I did!
I think that diet can affect acne, but doctors should help with that. By that I mean that you should take a blood allergy test to see if you are allergic to something. I no longer trust dermatologists just because I've tried so many different ones and, in the end, they ended up doing more harm than good. They prescribed me every antibiotic they could which wreaked havoc in my intestines (years later still trying to recover from that) and when I asked if food could impact my acne this was the answer I received "maybe if you eat pizza that will make your skin oilier since pizza is greasy, but apart from that food has no effects on acne". Another derm told me that it was my fault my skin wasn't getting better (even though I took the meds she prescribed and followed her instructions religiously), and then another one gave me skin care which contained both SA and retinol in one product, he told me to use it every day, morning and night, which made my skin sensitive, which in the long run made my acne worse. Then I went to a doctor who was a naturopath but had also gotten her degree as an actual doctor. First thing she made me do was take a blood test. I had to cut out dairy and a few other things. Next thing you know my cystic acne was mostly gone. Even though I did get rid of the cysts my acne was still there and severe, and I made it worse with my "all natural" phase in which I wrecked my skin barrier. Later I learnt more about skincare and finally my acne was gone and has been gone for over a year. In the end I know both my diet and skincare played vital roles, when I have stomach issues or eat dairy I get a cysts that stays there from 2 weeks to almost 2 months. So yes, food is important when it comes to acne (for many people), but it should be supervised by a doc or derm (I'll be shocked if a derm ever suggests food allergies).
We all know people who eat only garbage, smoke, don' t remove make up AND HAVE PERFECT SKIN!🤯 Genetics is a bad b*tch when it' s the opposite case... I never did any of these things and my acne was horrific. Only multiple rounds of isotretinoine killed it.
I know the trigger for my acne. It's sugar. I've noticed when I ate "extra" sugar daily for a week, nothing happened that week, but the next week my skin freaked out with reddish painful pimples that I jad to take care of for the whole week and even more. There were 3 occasions I experienced this and they made me sure one of the biggest villain for me is sugar. But that doesn't make me avoid sugar at all cost. I like sweets, I just need to limit my sugar intake and make sure not to consume it excessive sugar everyday.
The only thing that makes me break out now is sugar. I wash or sanitize my hands before touching my face, so that isn't an acne contributor for me anymore. I don't think sugar makes everyone break out, but it certainly does irritate my body over a certain threshold. I lower the amount of white sugar in my life (and real maple syrup, which is also a trigger) or I consume it with other foods to dilute it. My acne is significantly better (until I eat ice cream other than Häagen-Dazs for dinner).
Una, a skincare youtuber who is very famous in korea, uploaded a video where she claimed that a lot of korean skincare have toxins in them. Can you tell us your opinion on that? The video is called "the hidden facts about beauty ingredients"
Firstly I think she uses the term "toxicity" in a misleading way. Maybe that's just a result of loose translation in the subtitles. But a better term would be "contaminants," because toxicity is dependent on the dosage of the substance. This aspect of the video seemed to mostly focus around pesticides, and on that topic, I have two main commentaries: 1) pesticides are used practically everywhere, so this isn't something that's limited to Korea, there are probably pesticide contaminants in beauty products all over the world, 2) if pesticides really are that bad for us, then I would be a lot more concerned with the contaminants in our food than in our skincare. We put on such a tiny amount of skincare each day compared to the amount of food we eat, and skincare is topical compared to actually ingesting food. In modern life, it's basically impossible to avoid pesticides unless you live in a remote place unconnected from globalized society. You'll do better in the long run if you just try to avoid stressing out about something that you can't really change. Instead, focus your efforts on supporting politicians and other public figures who trust in science and who value people over power/profit, and we may gradually be able to tackle big issues like this.
What's worked best for your acne, if you have any?
For me, it's been the combined oral contraceptive pill, salicylic acid, avoiding physical irritation, and a touch of witchcraft...
Merry Christmas in advance Michelle 😘. Enjoy the holidays !!!
Genes.
Mandelic changed my life. Sal-c helps, but overall removing dairy was the greatest change. Also, I had to stop pulling/plucking my facial hair. I’m still trying to heal the almost cystic acne sorta lesions I have left. Injectables seems to be the only thing that works.
Accutane, topical retinoids, a whole lot of moisturiser and sunblock. Oh, and swimming, surprisingly. Apparently the chlorinated water helps in combatting bacteria?
Azelaic acid and squalane oil
As a clinical psychologist who specializes in eating disorders, thank you for how careful and thoughtful you were in this video!
Thank you, I'm glad it was appreciated and up to your standards!
For years I tried managing my diet to prevent acne but instead I found my acne always increased. When I finally gave up and accepted that adult acne would be my life… my acne went away. Now I am way more mindful of my stress, meditation and tailoring my actives to how my skin feels has saved my skin.
SAME SAME SAME as soon as i entirely stopped stressing about my diet, all my issues vanished! it is insane how much my skin concerns had beed connected to the stress levels and the overthinking x
same with my eczema! :)
Same here! I did have fvckn 13 acnes on my face 4-8 months ago. I was stressed out and overwhelmed to the level of experiencing of mental health impairment. After watching a video from dr. Davin Lim about adult acne, specifically he mentioned that one of the biggest root causes of persistent adult acne in women are due to the depletion of estrogen level (while androgen level stays pretty much the same), I knew I just need self- acceptance despite my efforts to address the acne issue. Now my face is pretty much cleared up from the bumps and I'm really working hard to address the hyperpigmentation afterwards. What a journey!
Samee my acne is 80% triggered from stress.
I really believe this
TYSM for this nuanced video. I’m so sick of “experts” telling me to cut out dairy, gluten, sugar, soy, fat etc. etc,
People don’t realize how dangerous something like that can be. 4 years ago I tried to eat healthier and luckily noticed soon enough that food was starting to terrify me because I was scared of doing something wrong. I know not to let unsolicited advice get to me anymore but I feel sorry for those who develop terrible relationships with food as a result
Yes and people don't have to have acne to cause them to have disordered eating, it can be the fad of anti gluten - too often people self diagnose.....
So you prefere eatig antibiotics for acne and not eat ballanced diet which benefits skin and all health?
@@analitycznie not at all
@@analitycznie That is a stupid question, I DO EAT A BALANCED DIET AND EXERCISE REGULARLY. I am not a moron, where do you get off asking a ridiculous question like that? I mean, I don't think gluten is my problem as I only eat whole grains, fresh veg, fruit, lean meat, low/non fat dairy. Why would you even have the nerve to ask that?!
@Etevaldo Skylab You should be aware of the food but never scared of it, that's how u get an eating disorder, and that u definitely should be scared of
This made me feel so much better about “not trying hard enough”. I never wanted to change my diet, especially for acne, so knowing there isn’t that much data to support it makes me feel a lot better.
I think that's a big issue with diet advice - it really leads to a lot of self-blame.
Just because theres no data yet, doesnt mean u shouldn't observe and listen to ur body and try out new ways.. diet changes my skin like nothing else. No creams no doctors help, but a change in diet and lifestyle for me.
me too! I love dairy, cutting it out of my diet would make me pretty miserable... and surprise surprise the best thing for my acne has been the medication I got prescribed by a derm.
@Etevaldo Skylab I eat worse now than I did a couple years ago and my acne is almost completely gone apart from a couple flair ups when I'm stressed from university. My acne did not improve until I got treated for my PCOS with the pill and through a cream for it my dermatologist prescribed me. Yes, no obviously diet can cause acne for SOME people but it is far to simple to wave it away as "lol just diet and exercise duh stupid" when that doesn't work for millions of others. It can be a recommendation for someone to try, especially swapping out one thing at a time (sometimes sugar is a person's cause other people it could be dairy so its important to make one change at a time to find any cause) to try figure out if its a reason but for so, so, so many it can be literally nothing to do with their diet or exercise, that also includes people who aren't super skinny western ideal.
No one is disagreeing that dietary changes can help treat some people's acne but far too often is it used as a dismissive comment or unhelpful advice when it isn't the end all be all and isn't the root of everyone's acne problems.
@Etevaldo Skylab that is because poison is always a matter of dosage. 4l of water in an hour is poison, and chemotherapy is controlled poisoning, where you hope the cancerous cells die before the human does. saying that a remedy doesn't work in all cases and that even poison doesn't always work kinda shows that there is a lack of understanding of what poison really is. Of course not everything is going to work for everyone, that's really not saying much about anything.
I don't have acne but have type 2 rosacea and everyone always says remove gluten, dairy, sugar, caffine. I was vegan for 8 years , then vegetarian, then paleo and any strict diet you could think of when this started. It is no help - I already ate insanely "healthy" to a point where I was unhealthy. I also experience OCD so the food obsession content that has been all over the internet really gets to me. I am so glad I found your channel. It has really helped me apply logic to my thinking when I get into those spirals and see fearmongering content. Thank you
Finally a good explanation, tik tok just "tells" ppl what to do/not to do and I'm so done with it. Acne is way more than diet. I am so careful with diet yet still break out whereas my friends smoke,drink and eat wtv they want and they have perfect skin and they are 35 yrs old. Low and behold, I started eating what I want and didn't notice an adverse effect so I'm sticking to that. Don't deprive yourself for false beauty claims coming from 15 yr olds on tik tok.
That is a great video. I sometimes feel as if my acne gets worse when I eat a lot of junk and sugary foods, but as I am a stress eater these are also the periods when I am very stressed, don't sleep well and spend hours on working (and consecutively touching my face which is what I do when I concentrate), so... Better not worry too much about that extra bit of chocolate.
😍😍
Same lol
The only thing I found that causes acne for me is sugary foods like ice cream and candies. I’ve never had a problem with junk food nor dairy causing acne. I eliminated dairy once and it did nothing. I also cut down on sugary foods and that seemed to help.
I'm a medical student, I'm really glad you covered this topic. I think acne and other skin conditions are influenced by way more than just food, and most likely if you DO have acne, you are probably already doing WAY more than just eating better (like using skincare products, exercising often, drinking more water, etc) and so often it's impossible to know what helped and what didn't, because it wasn't all done in isolation, and everyone has different responses and pre-disposing factors. It can be very frustrating for both us to deal with and for professionals to explain because one size truly does not fit all. More research could definitely be done but it's amazing what we have so far. Don't give up, take care of yourselves!
I'd like to add, that we often think that what works for everyone works for us too, and that the norm reacts well towards more exercise, more water and more skincareproducts.
When I was going to the gym, I developed acne because I decided to take a 10 minute walk home from the gym rather than showering there, and this 10 minute walk was enough to make me break out from the sweat stuck on my skin and clothes. It took me a while to figure this out, because I was focusing on food and also assumed that more exercise would improve my skin.
When I had acne it was cause I never watched my face, and had a poor diet (underweight - anemic) but I lied to others and myself by pretending I was doing the most when in reality I wasn't even trying. Now that I care and try I realize it is easy it take a commitment and patient
I suffered with awful acne for decades. Mine most definitely was triggered by diet. However it turns out I have several food intolerances and celiac disease. When I’m exposed to gluten or any of my food intolerances (including caffeine and chocolate) it definitely triggers breakouts.
So I feel like if you have an issue with a type of food, such as dairy, and continue to eat it (as many people do, especially if they only have mild GI issues)I have no doubt it could trigger acne. But in someone with no kind of dairy intolerance or other issues with those foods I don’t think they’re going to have the same reaction. So a blanket statement like “dairy contributes to acne” really isn’t going to be true outside of food intolerances.
That being said, my journey of tracking down food intolerances does lead me to believe that there are many people out there with undiagnosed food intolerances, and in some cases, such as mine, acne could be the first sign. However tracking such issues down is best done with the guidance of a doctor, since just randomly cutting foods can be overwhelming and unproductive.
It seems to me that in diet triggered acne the triggers are extremely individualized, and really have nothing to do with eating “clean” or healthier; in my case it is a manifestation of a separate underlying condition.
Completely disagree. I don't have any allergies or intolerance to any food, however that don't stop from them making my face burst in acne. That's why every person is different and so is the simptoms that may happen to you.
@@rafinha7081 you wouldn’t consider specific foods that break you out to be an intolerance? I do. Caffeine breaks me out, I figure that’s my body having a negative reaction to that specific food. Feels like an intolerance to me.
@@rafinha7081 getting breakout from certain foods IS an intolerance though. My sister is allergic to a certain type of fungus that Pops Up in Wood chavings now and then. We found that Out when she was coming Home from school with pimples all over her Arms. Thats an allerdic reaction to physical contact, but good allergies can have similar effects. Weaker Nut allergies frequently Manifest in outbreaks. Food intolerance can Manifest in all kinds of ways from indigestion to nausea to Low Energy to skin outbreaks and Red skin.
@@annabeinglazy5580 Foods with a high glycemic index has been shown to cause acne. This is definitely the case for me. Does that mean that I have an intolerance to all starch? Because if I add fiber to the diet and thus reduce the glycemic load, I don't break out. Thus you can't really call it an intolerance as it is not the food itself causing it, but the rapid elevation of insulin secretion.
Speaking from my own personal experience, I was an individual that was convinced that my acne was a result of my diet. I had tried every diet out there to heal my acne: vegan, paleo, keto. I cut out dairy, grains, nuts, sugar, and even fruit. Even after cutting out all these foods, I still had acne! At this point I had essentially developed an ED. After I started taking oral medication for my acne, my acne has cleared up significantly. Now I'm a lot more lenient with my diet and the acne hasn't come back.
I mean, sorry that diet didn't help, but you have to count for how many months you tried these diets too. If you try for a month, that's not good enough to see results, because your body may work different speed than mine or any other person.
@@rafinha7081 Why in the everloving fuck are you trying to give dieting advice to someone who has literally stated that they are recovering from an eating disorder, do you have no sense of shame? Do you realize that eating "clean", whatever the hell that means, isn't the magical cure for everything that your type like to make it out as? Are you incapable of understanding that some conditions need to be treated with actual medicine and that whatever magical new diet that just came out isn't gonna do squat to fix it? Can you and the rest of your kind just go away and stop trying to push your bullshit onto people who are already struggling enough as is, especially already vulnerable people like this person here.
@@rafinha7081 maybe don't say that to someone that had/has an eating disorder? they found what helps and they don't need your tips now
what medication did you take?
@@brutus3631 Omg I don't know why I'm just seeing this now but thank you for your comment.
What I find so frustrating about the theory about chocolate causing acne is how surface level it is. "Chocolate" is not just one thing. It's made up of different components and different kinds of chocolate have different compositions. I myself have put a tablespoon of cocoa (cacao?) powder in my smoothie almost every morning for like two years. Not once have I noticed it affecting my skin. Now this is of course anecdotal evidence, but I have a pretty strong feeling that the cacao itself is not the culprit. It's probably the sugar and butter, but even then, let people live. If you need chocolate when you're on your period, go for it. What fun is clear skin if you can't enjoy food in peace?
People are different , we all react different.. My uncle rubbed his skin on dirt and motor oil and never had a single pimple.... Nobody is saying chocolate causes acne, but for people that have already tried everything else and still have constant flares of acne they might want to look at their diets for answer
As someone with acne and a history of disordered eating, it was very important to me to explore the acne-food connection in a careful, non-triggering way. And I did, by very slowly and patiently watching my reaction to certain foods, and figuring how much of anything I can tolerate. That certainly helped my skin. But skincare, fixing a nutrient deficiency, and managing my emotional health are the other things that help me keep my acne under control.
Nobody would dare to suggest that a person who developed diabetes or cancer probably did something wrong. But when it comes to acne there' s always been a shadow of suspiction and guiltiness over us (hygiene habits, eating junk food, lazyness, neglect...) *I WAS BORN WITH A GENETICAL PREDISPOSITION TO IT* Thanks, Michelle 🖤, thanks to my derm🙌🏻
unfortunately people absolutely do blame diabetes (especially type 2) on people's diet and weight. Cancer-- depends on the type and who you are.
Yea diabetes type 2 is diet based, you gave yourself the disease. You killed your pancreas until it wasn't able to produce insulin, all we do or say has impact. You are important take care
@@SieMiezekatze Hey you’re part of the problem.
Hope you self reflect and learn to be less of a judgmental prick.
people do blame and make fun of people for diabetes though
Acne is highly genetic, and so is diabetes and cancer. You can still reduce the risk of developing all three through your lifestyle choices.
Finally a video on this topic that mentions the connection between diet changes and eating disorders!
I'm so thankful that my mom took me to a derm when I was 13 to see my acne, instead of following some random diet on the internet
BEST VIDEO OUT THERE regarding acne and diet! i can’t thank you enough as a fellow scientist. i hope one day people learn not to BULLY people with acne over food.
I hate these simple charts of „bad … for acne“ that spiral everywhere these days. Thank you, Michelle, for using your expertise and putting it into such an entertaining format, like always! 🧡 And special thanks for dealing with the topic of ED’s in such a sensible way. That video made me feel a kind of calmness, that I don’t usually get with topics like these, since I have suffered from ED‘s for quite some time.
Milk is the only thing I have found to link to my acne/pimple breakouts. Also upsets the stomach sometimes, SO that's the one thing I've axed from my diet. The biggest contributors for me is DEFINITELY stress, and hormones, both mostly uncontrollable.
Same, i dont have Acne, but pimples but theyre not really linked to my diet unless i really overdo it on the sugary food. But thats also usually when im stressed. It's Not that any amount of sugar is Bad for my skin. But If i have barely slept, am working towards a Deadline AND been living of chocolate Bars? Thats asking for my skin to cry for help 😅
Fatty foods cause my acne, so I cut the amount I consume of them in half and it's helped a lot. Everyone is different, and it's really amazing.
Seems like milk isn't something you're good at processing. Makes sense your body reacts negatively to it then
try raw milk
It's because diet influences hormones so ofcourse it will influence acne which are caused by hormones which by turn is affected by diet.
I've literally seen people cut gluten and dairy from their own diet easily and find an improvement in their skin to telling everyone that gluten and dairy cause all acne ever and advocating that everyone cut them out and result in a lot of anxious people who blame themselves for not sticking to the diet well enough because their acne didn't improve
Yeah, that's very much a danger! I think it's a good part of human nature to want to spread the word about what worked for you and to help others, but... sometimes it can have some unintended bad outcomes :(
@twentyfivekgplants tomake1kgbeef yes but that doesn't mean it'll also help everyone else with cystic acne. That's the point of doing scientific studies to see whether there is a correlation or not. Like both Dr Mahto and and Michelle said, cutting dairy out isn't easy for everyone and can give people a lot of stress and anxiety which definitely doesn't help acne
@@shivika1000 I came to this video by a dermatologist who shared it and said that is a myth that food (dairy and sugar) increase acne. And that is as bad as stressing people about cutting their dairy. I think that is misinformation. For me, cutting dairy and sugar did an extremely change in my face. I’m not telling anyone that they have to do it too, but we can’t misinformed people because they’re weak minds and don’t want to hear a fact.
@@xaviergarcia8342 So here's the thing, a large portion of people will see small to no change in their acne due to these things, and some will see a significant change. Out of those who cut these things out, some even find that they can reintroduce sugar and dairy in a controlled manner (for e.g. a little milk and sugar in tea, a biscuit/cookie) and not have their acne flare up. I agree you shouldn't call it a myth, but giving that as a first line of defence against acne seems wrong when it doesn't work for most people. From what I understand that's what the two experts are saying in the video too.
Also we need to remember that most people are biased by their personal experience. Some who've seen a difference because of their diet will jump to it when talking to people about dealing with acne. People like derms who've seen patients struggle with their diets and find no improvememt in their acne will be biased against it
@@shivika1000 Yes. My point wasn’t to the ladies in the video, but to those people that say acne relation with food is a myth (like the derm whom following me to this video). Not because I haven’t hormonal issues with acne means it isn’t a cause for acne or a myth. At least in my country, food (dairy, sugar, alcohol) do have a lot to do with acne. I don’t know if it has to do with cultural manners. But, most people in my country have issues with dairy, and gastritis (and others stomach issues) isn’t a rare condition.
My brother used to tell me that I should stop eating junk food and maybe my acne will get better. Jokes on him because my diet is even worse than before and my skin is a thousand times better. Thank you Yaz and Benzoyl Peroxide 🥰
I love this comment - my diet is that of a very picky toddler, due to sensory processing issues - but I have the clear, bright skin of a Swiss milkmaid. And it's the mini pill and Tretinoin - definitely not juice fasts!
@Etevaldo Skylab no? lmao if the food was causing acne then the medicine wouldn't do anything.
@Etevaldo Skylab dude she tried and the diets don't work. she could just have an underlying condition unrelated to her eating habits. if she doesn't have issues now then there's no point in saying that she "didn't do it the right way" she found a way to help herself and that's it.
@Etevaldo Skylab IMO a more apt comparison would be not "doesn't sink in water" but "doesn't need to learn to swim" for the point you're making...
@@brutus3631 The medication is just a temporary fix for a symptom (acne) caused by an underlying problem. Acne is not normal or an illness in itself, it’s an external manifestation of some sort of issue you are dealing with like poor gut health or a hormonal imbalance (things that are all affected by your diet). If the medication actually did solve the problem from its root, the acne wouldn’t return as soon as you stopped doing all the band aid solutions.
I happened to be dairy-free for other reasons, and it helped my acne and hay fever. However, there are some other factors that affect these conditions: (acne) stress, not cleaning my face, drying my face with an unclean towel, hormonal changes, etc. (hay fever) not eating enough vegetables or fruits, not taking enough precautions, not taking medication because I'm less worried, climate change factors, etc.
This is such a well made and well researched video, Michelle! You can clearly see the amount of effort that has gone into it. Everything from the in-depth analysis of multiple studies, to the illustrative animations on the flowchart, to the derm's advice video was all so informative and comprehensible. And of course your dancing tiktok videos, how could I forget, they were the best part.
Thank you so much! I've been working on this video for a really long time 😊
@@LabMuffinBeautyScience I just realised you're based in Sydney too and we're both up at this ungodly hour. Probably not the best for our skin ahaha.
I am so grateful that people like you, who have educations and experience in the cosmetics industry and teach public correct and fact based information. Nowadays internet is overfilled with false, non evidence based materials and it is hard to understand what sources have credibility information.
You are doing a phenomenal job.
Thank you ❤
I get my acne most when I eat deep fried foods and right before my periods (hormonal).
I’m lactose intolerant and as it got worse as I aged it did contribute to acne but that’s not applicable to everyone! I had come off oral contraceptives after many years which had been doing an amazing job of keeping my acne at bay, so was back at square one in my 30s, my top three things that have helped are retinol and ahas (salicylic acid gives me a rash 😢), switching to oil cleansing only (i have very dry skin) and training myself out of skin picking behaviours that would damage surrounding skin and lead to spreading ❤️
Thank you, Michelle. _One size fits all_ NEVER works. A good derm will tell you if your acne reacts to food by blood checks, allergy tests and whatever is needed to achieve a scientific answer. In my particular case, it was not related at all. For other people, certain modifications or restrictions make a difference. As always, the conclusion ends up being the same: *Keep a healthy lifestyle for your self wellness and GO TO A PRO DERM* 🧛🏻♀️🖤
I've tried literally every single dietary thing for my acne and none of it had worked for me 😂 I started on accutane at 17 and that made a huge huge difference in my skin but afterwards mild acne returned (even after several more courses of accutane). After seeing the perfect skin accutane gives while you're on it - I wanted perfection... so I went down the "natural path" of initially cutting milk out...then that led to gluten free/no soy, which I did for 2 years eating the same food every single day because I felt it made a difference when in reality it was just the accutane's long-lasting effects. I ended up then eating bread again and going vegan (which I still am for the animals), and then doing low fodmap which was absolutely horrible, no one should have to weigh and limit the vegetables they eat to mere grams. The ability to be able do all of this probably was helped by anorexia in my teen years, although recovered it was easy to still cut foods out for goals I had.
Only recently I've kind of realised there's really no point to any of it and there's no honor in doing things the "natural way" when there's so many amazing medications to use. I didn't even know there was a word for what I was doing until I watched this... orthorexia. I just started using tretinoin and I'm a lot more relaxed about my skin than I have been for a long time. There's enough crap in life to worry about without worrying if every single food you're eating is giving you acne and then hating your life because you're not eating what you'd like or hating yourself because you are eating what you'd like.
TL;DR: Don't be obssesive with food, try the bare minimum cutting out milk for a few weeks and then cutting out high GI/GL foods for a few weeks...see if either of them make a difference and if not get on a tried and proven medication your dermatologist recommends.
Sorry for the rant! Hope this helps anyone in a similar position and I appreciate the video.
Wasn't a rant for me. What's "low fodmap"? I'm guessing weighting foods before eating it?
I agree, over the years I have been to many dermatologist and not one of them told me to change my diet. Roaccutane lasts for me for about 10 yrs. ATM I am on trentenion and I love it. Over the years I have cried as people lecture on what not to eat. I have upped my whey protein, eggs and fats and this has helped my skin repair. These are foods I was told not to eat, by uneducated people. My acne was at it worst when I was on a low fat diet with an extremely low cholesterol level. I think it effected my hormones.
@@nancykerrigan Quick version: Low FODMAP is a restrictive medical diet (like a prescription!) to treat IBS that will also reduce gut bacteria diversity. This could *worsen* skin health, and it’s not a recommended acne treatment. Do NOT go on it without a doctor’s supervision.
Full version (since we’re on Lab Muffin and thus not scared off by science!):
The Low FODMAP diet is a medical diet prescribed to reduce symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome aka IBS. It’s a set of guidelines to keep IBS sufferers from eating too much of common fermentable molecules that don’t absorb easily in the gut. FODMAP is an acronym for all the different types of these molecules.
In a healthy person, FODMAPs might give you a few toots after dinner (ie beans). In a person with IBS, eating too much of FODMAPs can lead to extreme quantities of gas, visible painful bloating, bowel changes, really bad cramps, running to find the nearest toilet, spending hours on the toilet, and other awful IBS symptoms. Yay.
Since the amount of FODMAPs depends on how much of a food you ate at one sitting, exact serving sizes matter, hence weighing out food. Ex: 60g of Brussels sprouts is low in FODMAPs, but 70g of Brussels sprouts is too high and will set off bad symptoms in some people with IBS.
To bring this all back to skincare, I’ve been on low FODMAP for IBS for a few years now, and I haven’t seen any improvement in my acne. It might actually be worse now. I’ve never heard of low FODMAP for acne before.
It’s proven that avoiding FODMAPs will *reduce* your gut bacteria’s diversity over the long run. Since gut microbiome health is linked to skin health, this means that you may actually *hurt* your skin by avoiding FODMAPs when you don’t need to!
@Etevaldo Skylab Tried gluten free, soy free, dairy free for years (I’m still vegan to this day). Tried low FODMAP for 2-3 months. I think I’m forgetting a few other diets I’ve tried…
Accutane was clearing my skin even a month into using it from what I remember.
Blessings of the algorithm. 🙌 This is so important, particularly when you consider how we correlate virtuousness and respectability to clear skin. It's just another way to make people feel guilty about what they're eating.
Underrated comment! I think this is a huge part of it. If we can keep (mostly) young women off-balance by focussing on their "failures" then they're less likely to burn it all down.
Yessss so sick of all the myths around this! I'm ready for some stellar myth busting.
Thank you for the eating habits part. When I had severe acne I ended up with extremely disordered eating not even at my own devices either, I lived home with my parents that don’t like science 😵💫
Thank you so much Michelle for this debunking and for addressing the risk of orthorexia as well. This is badly needed and I hope this video reaches a wide audience, especially since you always do such an amazing job of science communication.
I've really gotten into this channel recently and idk I just really wanted to say I appreciate this video a lot. As an adult who still really struggles with some fairly severe acne I've always kinda blamed myself, and I have always had a horrible guilt for eating chocolate. Whilst I do think it does something for my breakouts, it was just nice to hear this advice
Omg i love you so much Michelle! You are doing the best educational videos. I'm so tired of trying to explain to people why everything they think they know about science or skincare or diet is just wrong. Everything in life is far too individual to try explain complex ideas into an inspirational simple quotes. I wish you were my science teacher 🥺
What they ate when they were teenagers?! I can’t even remember what I ate 3 days ago.
For me, developing a good and consistent skin care routine has been the best change for my skin. No amount of diet change has benefited my skin, at least appearance wise, like simple, effective topical products and stress control.
I was lucky enough to collect solid evidence that food doesn't affect my acne in my late teens. The clearest my skin has ever been was in college when I was eating my worst diet yet. I ate ice cream for breakfast on more than one occasion because I simply forgot to buy breakfast, it was that terrible. The good news is that I can just laugh it off when people point out that I eat a lot of chocolate and that has to be the cause of any pimples I might have.
Consider that a high sugar diet aggravates things like PCOS and other hormonal issues, so it can still be related, thought indirectly. For me, lowering blood sugar has helped with hormone-related symptoms and acne.
I think lowering your blood sugar is a good idea regardless, for other health reasons!
In my case, I can 100% say diet had a big part in my acne problems.
My father had a lot of acne when he was younger - plus his entire family has diabetes. I inherited the genes obviously, however I noticed (it took me almost 2 years to understand that) that there were moments in my menstrual cycle where my skin would be particularly prone to acne, and if I ate lots of sugary things during those moments, I'd observe HUGE flare of acne the next day. This has been mostly noticeable to me in December 2023 and December 2022, you know with all the chocolate and cakes you'd eat at home around Christmas (and apart from the sugar I have a quite balanced diet actually, and I've already removed dairy from it too). In January: *instant regrets*
So for me I'd say the causes were: genetics, hormones and diet. I have no control over the first two, but if there's a way I can minimize my acne by controlling what I eat, I'll do it
BTW: she's not saying food can't/doesn't affect the skin at all. She is saying that changing your diet is not a one-size-fits-all solution for acne and shouldn't be preached as such. Especially since a) it literally doesn't help everyone b) demonizing food in this way can cause disordered eating and c) not everyone can easily change how they eat. If changing your diet helped you that's great! But it's not the only way, everyone's bodies are different!!
Woow this is so useful - never connected the dots about oat milk potentially being as bad/worse than cow's milk. Also thanks for trying to combat all the pop science and nonsense out there ❣
That's funny because i switched from almond milk to oat because I noticed there was a decrease of sodium levels from almond milk to oat milk (from the products I've seen l) I can't win can I? Lol.
@@nancykerrigan What's the fun in things being easy 😂
I saw one of these healthfluencers (a derm I think) recommend someone cut out basically all flavorful foods but especially garlic, peppers, things like that to cure severe body odor. It was such an ick to me, even if it works. There has to be a better way that isn't never eat anything that tastes good.
I had perfect skin when I was in my 20's, eating like crap, drinking copious amounts of alcohol and on birth control. As soon as I stopped taking birth control my skin freaked out. So there
CONGRATS ON THE 300K FOLLOWERS! 🎉👏🥇
Your content is so great, well done. You constantly make me want to do more science dissemination, so thank you.
Tysm ! I sought help from a dermatologist at a point where I had already been restrictive eating for a long time for my skin and was quite vulnerable, little did I know they were a hack who recommended I cut MORE and go on the “acidity diet”. I had so many mental breakdowns and was functioning at like 10% from never eating after that. I didn’t deserve to be made to feel responsible for my GENETIC ROSACEA. These ‘professionals’ need to get a grip and stop trying to shill their products and diets.
My skin goes crazy when I‘m stressed, depressed, or forget to drink enough, but eating too much fried food or any deep fried food often gives me really painful and inflamed pimples as well… so I try to go for air fried stuff instead, or stick to having less of it. Luckily I haven‘t noticed anything else that makes me break out.
PS: My stomach is bad with fried stuff, cream, and other very fatty food as well, so there might be a connection. Good thing I can eat other fats like nuts, avocado, salmon, etc. without issues.
First, I would like to thank you very much for all your efforts! I’m a medical doctor, and I really enjoy the highly researched and evidence based content you put out there. I’m a bit saddened that this type of content isn’t one that’s very rewarding financially in this age of 20 seconds short videos that barely scratch the tip of the iceberg.
I struggle with the uncommon (or not as reported at least) association of very dry skin(eczema prone) and acne prone(this trait is exclusive to my back). Acne that is probably caused by the inflammation and the hyperkeratinization. I manage it with tretinoin. But I found out that whey protein is also a culprit in making it worse, so I’m avoiding it.
I also suffer from cholinergic urticaria, that flares up with sudden temperature changes, eating spicy food, sudden emotions(anger, fear…). And I made the association that whenever I eat chocolate, the threshold for my uritcaria episodes is lower; and often I will need to bump up my antihistaminic dose to avoid getting flares on days I eat chocolate.
Food, health, skincare products and skincare knowledge is all play important role in archiving good looking skin. We should not put much pressure on ourselves tho
Thank you so much for this video! I am so fucking sick of unsolicited advice I have recieved about my skin over the years in general (always from people that have never suffered with acne in the way that I have) and I have recently been getting it from colleagues regarding my diet. Last month I was eating a small chocolate that had been brought in by a coworker in the lead up to christmas and was commenting that I was overindulging so much this year it would be very difficult for me to get back on track agani in January. My coworker then told me that I really should cut down as my acne is getting worse and chocolate causes acne. I politely defended myself that I have done all sorts of dietary adjustments in the past and that actually going vegan and gluten free produced much worse acne for me in the past. What I DIDN'T say was that in actual fact my skin care routine has actually gotten worse recently (in addition to my diet) as a result of crippling depression from this bullshit job. I am struggling to make it through every single day and am fighting the urge to ask to be allowed to go home. I am doing the utmost just to come in every day and I am stuggling to take care of myself in the morning as a result. To hear that absolutely infuriated me. I'm so sick of my skin blemishes apparently being public property so that people can interject their own bullshit opinion about it. I have literally been on accutance before because everything else didn't work. What the fuck makes people so cocky they have the answer to my skin woes. Do they think I haven't tried everything? Do they think I just can't be bothered to educate myself??? They;re the uneducated ones. I am genuinely ready to smack a bitch about it. First of all, even if it what they say WERE true it's my skin, my diet and my fucking business. Just let me have the goddamn indulgance if I want to
Hey, I hope you're doing better now 🖤
Thank you for consulting with a dietitian and acknowledging the potential harm in regards to disordered eating ❤️ great video
I'm pretty sure that as a kid, I heard constantly that chocolate in particular causes acne - possibly "greasy foods" as well with an obvious implicit connotation. But I think it was also one of those easily-busted myths in the American-Girl-Health genre of books, so I've always known it's not legit. A lot of people I knew told me otherwise of course. But you know, as an elementary/middle schooler, my parents got recommended "Eat Right For Your Blood Type" by my chiropractor with a nutrition degree. I told my parents how I knew (the child version of) how blood types work and how the book made no sense, but that also did not get far :)
med student here! you explain things soooo clearly! i wish i had teachers like you 💫
Thank you so much Michelle for talking about eating disorders and taking them seriously. They are so under-discussed for how relatively common they are and how much physical and mental suffering they cause, and for how much these topics aggravate the disease. When I'm in a more vulnerable place in my ED remission these kinds of pseudo-scientific discourses about X entire food group being bad for you can really burrow into my brain, and the work you and other science communicators do is such a support in those times. ❤
Gonna send this to people every time they try to tell me that specific foods cause acne in people.
For me, dairy + hormones are my most obvious factors. But I choose not to completely cut out dairy - it's a great source of quick protein for me, as long as I have a lactase enzyme on hand.
Unfortunately, I have never had the pleasure of meeting with a good dermatologist who knew what they were doing. All three I saw in my life wanted to throw tretinoin and spironolactone at me, with no instructions on easing into retinoids, and now regard for my low blood pressure. It was all about getting me out of the office, but back asap for a refill authorization. It sucked. I am so thankful for you and the online acne specialist dermatologists who, ironically, have put more time into explaining things to me than anyone I ever paid has.
This is a really great video. As an individual, my acne *does* get better when I reduce/eliminate certain foods, primarily high sugar and high carb foods - BUT that isn't the case for everyone. It's all well and good to know certain things that might impact acne, but I get frustrated with people making promises about being able to cure acne with diet when that's by no means guaranteed.
Improving my insulin sensitivity is what did the trick for me.
This is such a well put together and thoroughly researched video Michelle! I'm soooo glad that you are calling attention to this issue - there is so much content especially on TikTok spreading misinformation about foods being linked to all kinds of problems like acne and various diseases, and if you aren't paying attention, it's really easy to passively assume these claims are scientifically backed since everyone seems to be saying so. Thanks for throwing your knowledge and expertise into the ring and helping to debunk these claims.
This makes me think of all the diet advice for people with endometriosis. I was so desperate to lessen my pain, so I tried cutting out the foods that supposedly make symptoms better and it did absolutely nothing to help my symptoms. What did work was applying a heating pad and getting my endometrioma removed.
I agree with every point in this video. I personally am the case of cutting out foods helped, BUT! my intention of quitting food wasn't because of acne! I had extremely horrible IBS symptoms where I would literally faint out of the pain I was experiencing. This forced me into having a food diary and with help of it I ruled out my triggers which were Chilli and Dairy. Dairy came off as a surprise as I was not expecting it at all, but once I started illuminating it I started to feel so much better! So yes, I agree, it's not the food that makes your acne, but rather body reaction to something that doesn't go right in your body, like in my case where my body wasn't able to digest lactose and capsaicin which surely were making a party in my guts and my body was protesting with pain and acne as a result. If it's food that makes you get acne you will know it because you will have other digestive issues much more worrying you than your acne!
Excellent video, resonates with me. I do resistance training 3-4 times a week, on low carb, intermittent fasting yet I get acne. Even got blood sugar tested. Tried citing dairy for a fortnight but no avail, in fact currently have the worst flare up. So now trying to change bed sheets & covers frequently, cleaning face more often. Guessing that my skin barrier is compromised for reasons I can’t fathom. But generally, stress is a main factor to trigger the most stubborn acne. Im also on prescription btw. But I want new acne to stop. It’s frustrating because you really can’t conclude down to a single factor, it’s just guesswork about variables.
I really appreciate the discussion at the end about disordered eating. When I was a teen, I was convinced that dairy was causing my acne/making it worse (this wasn't actually true), so I cut it out. This meant I basically stopped eating breakfast because cereal was my go to and I felt like I couldn't drink milk and didn't have access to an alternative.
I'm glad people have a resource like this to lead them down a safer path to clearer skin. Thanks for sharing!
I personally have found a strong correlation between sugar in my diet and acne. I've stopped eating sugar two years ago, and my skin has significantly impoved. If you are struggling with acne as well, you could try reducing or cutting off sugar, because sugary products are not healthy anyway.
I'e tried cutting out sugar, dairy, gluten and all animal products out of my diet in intervals of about 6 months during the past 5 years. Nothing effected my skin whatsoever. The ONLY thing that I ever noticed a difference from was my alcohol intake. If I have a weekend with heavy drinking, I can definitely expect to see my skin change within the next couple of days. The important thing is to listen to your body.
These are such good points! It would be so difficult to control all the variables in this.
I'm dead at your Tiktok skincare dance though.
*The shade*
Thank you for the excellent myth busting, as usual.
Seeing this video on the last day of 2021, yet I must say : BEST VIDEO of 2021. Thank you, for your work and all the valuable information you give to us!
Cow's milk and processed sugar breaks me out. Cutting out dairy was easy given all the plant milk options.
I think it makes more sense that acne would be more prevalent when you're not taking care of yourself, physically and mentally, not necessarily only because you're having dairy or something.
Genes are probably the number one factor, and you can't change that. I eat shitty things often and have pretty good skin, but I noticed that pimples come more so when I don't change sheets when I should, when I am stressed, when I don't drink enough water and when I have milk chocolate.
I also noticed that my skin looks really good when I work out, don't wear my glasses, sleep enough, can relax and drink enough water.
At least for me, it seems like things I do when I am in a bad state of mind, contributes to making my skin misbehave.
I have tried all sorts of things for my acne, including accutane, which only worked temporarily. Over the nearly 10 years I’ve had acne I really haven’t seen any correlation with food and my acne. The only thing that has made a stable and significant difference has been combined oral birth control. I am now starting differin to combat the mild acne I still deal with. However I don’t doubt that diet has an influence on my and most peoples skin. I generally view it like this; we don’t have proper evidence but we know the skin is impacted by inflammation and hormonal changes, and we know certain foods can impact both of those factors. However there are a lot of things that contribute to inflammation and hormonal changes, and there are a lot of ways to treat or manage acne. Some people find success with dietary changes and can do so healthily and sustainably, but I don’t think it’s a realistic route for most people. All things in moderation! At the end of the day if it came down to choosing between severe cystic acne and a more restrictive diet, I’d make those changes because I know the toll severe acne takes on my life. But if it’s between mild occasional acne and enjoying my favorite foods? I’ll take the imperfect skin!
For me, it’s the menstrual cycle. One week before my period, I start getting bursts of acne. They keep popping up until after the period. My skin is clear other than that period. I know it’s the cycle since I have to keep a strict diet because of stomach issues. I cook at home, and don’t have any sweets. Also, alcohol was a factor for me. I cut out alcohol completely after my stomach condition, and that helped contain the acne for only the menstrual period.
Im fructose intolerant and i used to have bad acne. I thought it was chocolate but it turned out it was the fructose in white sugar and the amount of fruits u used to ate. Acne was my first symptom before stomachaches. I found that food plays a role if you have an intolerance ore if your gut is overly sour, that does happen from eating junk food but the junk food in it self is not the reason, its the amount. For example i can eat dark chocolate just fine in smaller amounts because it has less sugar and fructose in it. Im fine with sweets that dont use fructose as a sweetener and my acne cleared up completely. Obviously i also use good skincare and cica was one ingredient that helped me the most
Using a sulfur clay mask, retinoid, and a moisturizer have been the biggest steps to finish off my acne. Still get period breakouts but it's only 1 or 2 instead of a chin full and skincare helps it heal faster than ever. Drinking whey protein, milk, and eating a lot of these food triggers people talk about hasn't affected my acne at all thankfully.
Most of the time I have mild to no acne, but when I start eating dairy, processed foods or any foods my digestive system finds irritating my acne starts to get significantly worse.
Most important for me to do to control my acne is to avoid dairy. I can cheat but I have to be mindful about how often it happens. Also, I limit my intake of bread, sugars and peanuts. But I do enjoy these foods too from time to time. In addition my skin is affected by stress, hormones and air pollution. But most importantly I avoid dairy and replace it with mainly soy and almond products. And making sure I have a balanced diet with lots of veggies, some carbs and protein seems to do the trick for my skin. I also feel good on the inside with this diet which is even more important I think. And on the rare occasion I do have pizza, I make sure to enjoy every single bite of it!
The number one acne curing thing I found was eating sauerkraut and kefir every day, a little portion with each meal. Both are rich in probiotics and I believe they healed my gut immensely helping with my acne. It’s amazing truly. I saw a girl talking about it in another video and how it basically cured her acne so I had to try because I can’t take birth control as I’m a guy 😳
I pick, my skin isn't that bad really (not anymore, as I did a Isotretonin treatment) but my picking problems makes it look way worse.
To me, it seems that my intestines are what affects my skin the most. I have had stomach problems since childhood, and my acne started in my teens, but it really blow up, when I was in a trial, trying out a new hormonal contraception.
After I did the Isotretonin treatment (went on for 7 months, and is really harsh) I had perfect skin for about a year..
And I learned that I don't pick, unless there's something to pick at...
Anyway, for me, it's intestinal health, that I need to get under control, for my skin to seem to stabilize.
Thank you for such an excellent video, learned a lot. I’ve been struggling with acne for 15 years and this month I finally realized eating less dairy (especially skim milk and whey protein) has made my skin clear up drastically. I unconsciously cut out whey protein for a week and realized my redness diminished by a lot. I kept continuing with cutting out whey protein and any foods that included skim milk. my skin has never been better. I also avoid white sugar and bread.
This really is the best skincare channel on TH-cam! Thank you for your amazingly well researched videos.
Wow, thank you! 🥰🥰
Michelle, you are my favorite scientist to learn from! I would have loved to have you as my teacher or professor with your knowledge and humor combo. ❤
For me what causes my cystic acne is disturbing of my hormonal balance and damaging my guts! All due excessive consumption of refined sugar and flour, i live next to a bakery!! Every time i stop and heal my gut and get my hormones on the right track my skin follows immediately. So for me yes diet affect my skin indirectly.
so glad your channel exists
About diet questionnaires: It's not about exactely what you have eaten last week or month, but what your eating paterns are (you know what you usually buy/eat). So it is much more reliable. And the scientists making those questionnaires are aware of this and trained for this.
HOW adorable is that tiktok at the end?? Really appreciated your sensitivity around EDs here 💖
I used to consume a lot of milk in cereal and coffee and I saw a noticeable improvement after limiting dairy . My teenaged brother used to have severe acne and after he reduced dairy it became more manageable. Maybe it’s a genetic thing.
Funnily enough, when I began consuming more (higher quality) dairy my acne improved.
@Etevaldo Skylab If you're going to make comments like this, I highly recommend citing studies. Dairy, yes, is widely known to be inflammatory to the bodies of many people, but I don't think that's enough to indicate a causal relationship between dairy and acne. I'm all about using personal experiences to guide your own decisions --- that's literally how human beings operate, but this video seems to be pretty clearly aimed at not giving prescriptive advice/reassuring people that some people's experiences do not an universal recommendation make. That's literally just the complexity of human bodies at play. Furthermore, the health field is well-known, at least in the US, as being just as close-minded as the scientific/academic field (and the venn diagram here, let's be real, is mostly a circle), so I don't think that mention really adds any credibility...
I feel like it's different foods for different people...for me I only get acne when I eat extremely spicy(hot) food or eat chillies with my dinner/lunch...where as my sister only gets acne when she eats dairy...so best to figure out what is causing it by simple process of elimination
You're literally in my top 3 favorite youtube scientists, I love your transparency and down to earth approach. Keep educating us! 💜💜
Who are the other two?
Always the best content Michelle!
Could you do a video about sleep deprivation/ stress and acne? Think it has a good correlation and not so much studies about it.
I’ve never given much credence to foods causing acne, but as my skin has changed in my late 20s I’ve noticed dairy (especially milk and ice cream) causes me to break out. I’m a researcher so I’m automatically skeptical of placebo, but it’s happened enough times over the years that I’m fairly confident in saying that ice cream = breakouts FOR ME.
Oil-Free Acne Wash (Neutrogena Salicylic Acid 2%), azelaic acid 15%, tretinoin 0.05%, and Santeria helps control my acne 😂😭
Great roundup of info here including those dietary swaps. Thanks for linking to her full video too.
I actually found that my diet really did influence my skin, if I had any sugar on an empty stomach I would get massive painful nodules a few days later. If I had a meal before eating anything sugary and my skin has been flawless, not even a tiny clogged pore.
This is honestly such a relief, Iv always had “food issues” as I rarely feel hungry and have sensory issues with certain food textures. I was tempted to cut out certain food groups (dairy, carbs, sugar.. you name it) but was concerned I wouldn’t be able to meet my calorie intake if I did!
I think that diet can affect acne, but doctors should help with that. By that I mean that you should take a blood allergy test to see if you are allergic to something. I no longer trust dermatologists just because I've tried so many different ones and, in the end, they ended up doing more harm than good. They prescribed me every antibiotic they could which wreaked havoc in my intestines (years later still trying to recover from that) and when I asked if food could impact my acne this was the answer I received "maybe if you eat pizza that will make your skin oilier since pizza is greasy, but apart from that food has no effects on acne". Another derm told me that it was my fault my skin wasn't getting better (even though I took the meds she prescribed and followed her instructions religiously), and then another one gave me skin care which contained both SA and retinol in one product, he told me to use it every day, morning and night, which made my skin sensitive, which in the long run made my acne worse. Then I went to a doctor who was a naturopath but had also gotten her degree as an actual doctor. First thing she made me do was take a blood test. I had to cut out dairy and a few other things. Next thing you know my cystic acne was mostly gone. Even though I did get rid of the cysts my acne was still there and severe, and I made it worse with my "all natural" phase in which I wrecked my skin barrier. Later I learnt more about skincare and finally my acne was gone and has been gone for over a year. In the end I know both my diet and skincare played vital roles, when I have stomach issues or eat dairy I get a cysts that stays there from 2 weeks to almost 2 months. So yes, food is important when it comes to acne (for many people), but it should be supervised by a doc or derm (I'll be shocked if a derm ever suggests food allergies).
Okay, but those TikTok videos of yours brought great joy to my morning. Thank you very much.
We all know people who eat only garbage, smoke, don' t remove make up AND HAVE PERFECT SKIN!🤯 Genetics is a bad b*tch when it' s the opposite case... I never did any of these things and my acne was horrific. Only multiple rounds of isotretinoine killed it.
I know the trigger for my acne. It's sugar. I've noticed when I ate "extra" sugar daily for a week, nothing happened that week, but the next week my skin freaked out with reddish painful pimples that I jad to take care of for the whole week and even more. There were 3 occasions I experienced this and they made me sure one of the biggest villain for me is sugar. But that doesn't make me avoid sugar at all cost. I like sweets, I just need to limit my sugar intake and make sure not to consume it excessive sugar everyday.
The only thing that makes me break out now is sugar. I wash or sanitize my hands before touching my face, so that isn't an acne contributor for me anymore. I don't think sugar makes everyone break out, but it certainly does irritate my body over a certain threshold. I lower the amount of white sugar in my life (and real maple syrup, which is also a trigger) or I consume it with other foods to dilute it. My acne is significantly better (until I eat ice cream other than Häagen-Dazs for dinner).
Its probably best to listen to your OWN body as everyone is different anyway
Oooh the video that I did not know I needed !! Thanks !
Dr Mahto's make up tho, fab!
My acne triggers:
Dairy, especially cheese
Smoked meats (deli meat)
High glycemic index meals
Una, a skincare youtuber who is very famous in korea, uploaded a video where she claimed that a lot of korean skincare have toxins in them. Can you tell us your opinion on that? The video is called "the hidden facts about beauty ingredients"
Firstly I think she uses the term "toxicity" in a misleading way. Maybe that's just a result of loose translation in the subtitles. But a better term would be "contaminants," because toxicity is dependent on the dosage of the substance. This aspect of the video seemed to mostly focus around pesticides, and on that topic, I have two main commentaries: 1) pesticides are used practically everywhere, so this isn't something that's limited to Korea, there are probably pesticide contaminants in beauty products all over the world, 2) if pesticides really are that bad for us, then I would be a lot more concerned with the contaminants in our food than in our skincare. We put on such a tiny amount of skincare each day compared to the amount of food we eat, and skincare is topical compared to actually ingesting food. In modern life, it's basically impossible to avoid pesticides unless you live in a remote place unconnected from globalized society. You'll do better in the long run if you just try to avoid stressing out about something that you can't really change. Instead, focus your efforts on supporting politicians and other public figures who trust in science and who value people over power/profit, and we may gradually be able to tackle big issues like this.
@@simonsaysism thanks for your comment! Very insightful