Dietary Toxic Load, Exaggerated Hygiene Practices And Acne

Today we return to Examine.com and a short summary of yet another somewhat flawed and backwards-thinking study looking at “dietary glycemic load” and the occurrence/severity of acne.

Quick Summary

“In this 12-week randomized controlled trial in 50 girls and women in Pakistan with acne, reducing the dietary glycemic load seemed to improve acne, but the study had methodological limitations.”

Before we continue, let’s establish some definitions. The “dietary glycemic load” (GL) is a measure that takes into account the amount of carbohydrates in a serving of food and its alleged “glycemic index” (GI,) which is a measure of how quickly the carbohydrate in a food raises blood sugar levels. In essence, the “glycemic load” is calculated by multiplying the GI of a food by the amount of carbohydrates it contains. This supposedly provides a more comprehensive picture of a food’s impact on blood sugar levels compared to the GI alone, as it considers both the “quality” and quantity of the carbohydrates.

Now, the glycemic index is complete rubbish, as it does not really matter how quickly the carbohydrates (as glucose) reach the bloodstream. What matters is the amount of carbohydrates consumed that gets converted into toxic glucose and that the body has to neutralize in order to bring down blood glucose levels to normal again (as elevated blood glucose damages all our soft tissues.) I’ve explained this in-depth in several articles.

So, let’s just establish the fact that the “researchers” reduced the amount of carbohydrates, and especially “fast-acting” sugars, in this study, which according to them seemed to improve acne in the test subjects.

Key study details

“In the intervention group, the participants received nutrition counseling on a low-glycemic-load diet. The participants in the control group did not receive nutrition counseling. The dietary glycemic load was assessed monthly using food frequency questionnaires.

The glycemic load decreased from 50 to 39 in the intervention group, whereas it remained unchanged at 60 in the control group.”

A “low-glycemic-load diet” that still yielded a GL of 39? Seriously? When calculating GL, the silly Glycemic Index of a food is multiplied with the amount of carbohydrates in grams and then divided by one hundred. A GL score of less than 10 is considered low. A score between 11 and 19 is considered moderate, and a score of 20 or more is considered high. So, 60 as in the control group is extremely high and 39 is still very, very high.

Examine’s take

“The researchers did not make comparisons between the groups; they only looked at changes from baseline in each group. This limitation reduces our confidence in the effectiveness of the intervention.”

Well, the baseline did decline a little bit in the GL group; from 50 to 39, while the control group remained unchanged at an incredible high 60. So, we do know that they did reduce the carbohydrates at least a little bit in the GL group.
However, carbohydrates turns into glucose, and while glucose damages our soft tissues and contributes to skin issues, such as accelerated aging over time, the impact during 12 weeks is minimal, especially as they did not eliminate the offender, as in carbohydrate rich foods.

As for acne, the main culprit is an overproduction of sebum and specific detoxification (which is ongoing 24/7) from toxic build-up from defense chemicals, antinutrients, heavy metals, and pesticide residues that are present in all plant-based edibles, and especially those that are high in carbohydrates.

So, the observed results in less acne were likely from a slight reduction in the toxic load from simply lowering or even eliminating some of the offending “foods,” and not from the reduction in “glycemic load” per se.

As for sebum production, it can either be from assisting in toxic elimination (although the skin has a very limited detoxification ability,) and/or it can be from showering and bathing too often, as in washing away the protecting oils, forcing the body to overproduce sebum. Additionally, it can also be from higher androgen hormonal levels and from applying idiotic body creams and lotions, adding unnatural toxins and oils to the skin, clogging your pores.

In other words, acne can be the result of many factors, including both diet, hormonal and simply trying to be “too clean” by showering or bathing way too frequently while also using man-made crap on the skin, which is extremely damaging.

This is why acne is quite common among physically active young women (and men) who naturally have better hormonal levels (more testosterone than average,) which make them much better at sports and also building muscle mass naturally. And as they are more active, due to their higher hormone levels and drive to compete, they also shower and bathe way too often, as in after every workout, which dries out the skin and increases sebum production even more. Additionally, these young and very active women and men are often deceived into following high-carbohydrate diets, adding to the toxic load.

As I’ve worked with hundreds of competing young women and young men through my coaching career, I’ve witnessed this many, many times.

Still, whenever anyone with acne problems has adopted a ketogenic diet, their acne has improved, and when adopting a carnivore diet, their acne has disappeared, showing that the main culprit is in the diet, as in the toxicity of plant-based and processed foods, especially those containing a lot of carbohydrates. And keep in mind that on a toxic diet, your main detoxifying organs, such as the liver and kidneys, might get overworked and thus more toxins will get expelled through the skin.

With that being said, anyone who cares about their health, well-being and longevity should of course eliminate all plant-based and processed foods from their diet, as humans are obligate hyper carnivores. That is simply common sense. Still, this study does prove once again that the toxicity of plant-based foods, especially those containing a lot of carbohydrates, contributes to the unnatural development of acne and other skin issues and disorders.

If you need help with any kind of health problems or transitioning from your current way of eating to our natural species-appropriate, species-specific way of eating, I’m available for both coaching and consultation.

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