Just like everyone else I get a few pimples every now and again. However, lately I have been getting more of them than usual so I decided to do some research. What I found was that dairy can cause acne in some individuals. Might this be the cause for mine? When I thought about what I ate, I realized that my dairy intake has skyrocketed over the past few months. My morning breakfasts usually consists of cereal and milk and in the evening cheese is incorporated into my dinner... and to make things worse my favorite snack lately has been yogurt or ice cream.
According to many articles that i read, dermatologists believe dairy products are the major triggering factor for acne. But why?
In one study a some teenage girls were asked to keep a food diary and a breakout diary. What the study found that the girls that had a rich dairy diet had more severe breakouts than the rest of the girls. Furthermore, it was found that milk was the worst offender than any other dairy product and out of all types of milk, skim milk induced more breakouts. So if skim milk causes more breakouts than whole milk, the fat in the milk is not to blame.
It is believed that the hormones in the milk cause the breakouts. Besides the natural hormones the cow's milk has, the farmers also give their cows additional hormones to stimulate milk production and make the cows produce a lot more milk than they could normally. The resulting milk, is very high in IGF-1, which is a growth factor that peaks during adolescence in humans... when acne is at it's worst. The processing of skim milks somehow makes it contain higher levels of IGF-1 than whole milk. I also found that the hormones in milk cause over stimulation of the human oil production glands which might cause acne in some individuals.
Another study i read also linked hormones in milk to acne, however it also linked iodine in milk to breakouts. The cows get fed feed which contains iodine to help fight infections. However, iodine has been found to cause acne in some people, especially in those who have sensitive skin. So even the little amount of iodine that is found in milk can cause acne or a breakout in folks that are sensitive. This same study also explains hormones. The thing to consider is that 75-90% of milk comes from pregnant cows. And what do we know about pregnancy? HORMONES! and a lot of them. These hormones get into milk , which we drink, and then the hormones get into our bodies. And just like most women know hormones = acne. So those hormones in milk have the same affect on us and the hormones we (women) get that cause us get those breakouts or that one pimple when its that time of the month.
What is considered to be dairy?
- Milk (including kefir, buttermilk, milk powder, condensed & evaporated milk)
- Butter
- Cheese (including cream cheese & cottage cheese)
- Casein
- Yogurt
- Gelato & Ice Cream (including frozen yogurt)
In order to find out if dairy is really causing your breakouts you need to take some time away from the dairy. HOWEVER, you need to do this for some time, just one day will not tell you anything.. Your breakout will not magically disappear over night if you don't have any dairy the previous day. In order to really find out if dairy is causing your zits it might take sometime ..like a few weeks. This is because the body needs to get rid of all the things that are still in it. Therefore try about 2-3 weeks or even a month with no dairy.
As for myself, I have decided to take a month off of dairy and see if this is really what is causing my breakouts.
I shall post updates on how this "experiment" is going :)
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