The Acne Detox Diet – A True Acne Cure Or Just Another Myth?
The acne detox diet idea has been around for a while now, and has created more than it’s share of controversy. Is an acne detox diet a true acne cure, or just another “theory” that is yet to be proven? I thought a bit of research was in order, and you’ll never guess what I found…
The acne detox diet idea resulted from recent clinical studies that reviewed the findings of two other landmark studies conducted in 1969 and 1971. These studies concluded that acne was caused by a genetic defect that causes your body to produce an excessive amount of sebum oil, a natural substance that your body uses to keep your skin soft and pliable.
Excess sebum oil tends to pool in hair follicles and skin pores, plugging the pores and providing a perfect breeding ground for the P-acne bacteria (Propionibacterium Acnes), which is present on everyone’s skin. In normal numbers, the P-acne bacteria is actually beneficial, controlling other, more dangerous, bacteria that come our way.
Unfortunately, excess sebum oil allows the bacteria to multiply to abnormal numbers, resulting in skin irritation. Your body’s natural defenses then send white blood cells to the area to control the bacteria. The resulting conflict causes more irritation and the formation of white heads, blackheads (once exposed to the air), pimples, and, .
does that have to do with an acne detox diet?
Quite a bit, actually. The more recent studies have found that the conclusions reached in the 1968 and 1971 studies were not only wrong, but that the studies, themselves, were seriously flawed. Apparently, once they found the DNA-sebum oil connection, they stopped looking for other causes.
Researchers in the later studies didn’t stop, and eventually found that there is a definite link between diet and acne. What they didn’t expect was to find that the link wasn’t so much what you were eating, but much more about how what you’re eating is processed.
A large percentage of the foods we eat, both at home and in restaurants, contain chemicals that act as preservatives. This keeps the food safe and fresh for a longer period of time, which, in itself, is not a bad thing.
What is a bad thing (and the reason for using an acne detox diet) is that these recent studies also found that, over a period of time, these chemicals tend to build up inside your body until they reach a toxic level, causing your body’s natural defenses to attempt to eliminate the poisons.
They also found that, in people prone to acne, the body rids itself of these chemicals by emulsifying them in sebum oil (remember that from earlier?) and secreting it out through your skin. This creates the exact same conditions as those created by faulty DNA, and results in acne outbreaks.
So, you can see how an acne detox diet that rids your body of these chemicals before they reach a toxic level, can be not just an acne cure, but the acne cure.