Can Poor Diet Cause Acne? And What To Eat Instead

Eating a poor diet has been linked to acne vulgaris, the most common type of acne. Like most Americans, you're probably eating acne-causing foods everyday without even realizing it. They cause inflammation and unbalanced hormones.

Eating an acne diet focused on foods that are good for your skin and help balance hormones with treat acne vulgaris where it starts.

Can Poor Diet Cause Acne?

Yes. Eating a diet with sugar, red meat, cow's milk, alcohol, and processed foods has been linked to acne vulgaris. An acne diet is low glycemic, plant-based, and rich in probiotics and vitamins that are linked to improvements in acne and breakouts.

Some foods cause hormones in our bodies to overproduce. The biggest trigger for this is puberty and having lots of spikes in your blood sugar level.

Puberty is unavoidable, but acne from the rise in androgen hormones can be better controlled without adding in blood sugar spikes.

Blood Sugar Spikes Cause Acne

Blood sugar levels rise naturally after we eat. Foods that are high on the glycemic index (GI), or high GI foods, cause a rapid increase which spikes blood sugar.

Foods that are low on the GI, or low GI foods, cause a slower increase and slower decrease, without a spike.

High GI foods cause our bodies to secrete more insulin hormone to bring blood sugar back to normal. This is why you feel a surge of energy followed by a 'sugar crash' after eating a candy bar or other sugary food.

When our bodies are forced to do this a lot, we end up with inflammation. And inflammation causes acne, along with a bunch of other chronic health problems and obesity.

Inflammation

Inflammation causes hormones like androgens (which includes testosterone), estrogen, and progesterone to overproduce.

Too much of these hormones ends up changing the consistency of sebum, or oil, in our pores. So instead of being thin and watery; sebum changes to thick and sticky.

And thick and sticky sebum clogs pores and causes breakouts.

Clogged Pores

Clogged pores means our skin can't move bacteria and dirt out, so it ends up pooling and causing infections. These are typically the deep, painful lesions you get with cystic acne and nodular acne.

P. acnes is a naturally occurring bacteria on our skin that normally lives in harmony with our microbiome. But when pores get clogged, P. acnes begins to grow and feast upon the sebum. This causes infected acne lesions, pustules, and more inflammation.

It's a viscous cycle. But the food you eat can really make a difference.

Foods That Cause Acne

If you're like most Americans, you're eating a typical Western diet. This means you're eating more processed foods that are made in a factory instead of foods that grow out of the ground. They are high in sugar, high in carbohydrates, low in fiber, and make up a poor diet.

Most foods in a Western diet cause spikes in blood sugar because they are high GI foods.

Examples of High GI Foods

• Baked snack crackers (Cheez-Its are soo good though!)

• Potato chips, even baked ones

• Corn flakes and most breakfast cereals

• French fries and foods made with white potatoes

• Doughnuts and pastries

• Soda and sugary drinks

• Ice cream and milkshakes

• Frappuccino's and most Starbucks drinks

• White rice and white bread

• Alcohol

And along with avoiding high GI foods, cow's milk is definitely an acne causing food, but not because of it's glycemic index.

Milk Causes Acne

Unfortunately for everyone who loves Starbucks Lattes, like I do, you have to get off the cow's milk and switch to plant-based milks instead.

Milk causes acne, especially low fat skim milk. This is because milk leads to a release of hormones, including insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and leucine, which trigger an increase in androgen hormones, like testosterone.

A 2022 study from Fad Diets and Adolescents concluded

There is, however, newer research that demonstrates that a low glycemic diet and reduction of milk consumption may improve acne, though this must be balanced with the risks of removing foods from an adolescent’s diet that may be important for growth and development.

Milk also causes acne in adults.

In a 2021 study from Biomolecules,

The relationship between cow milk consumption and acne has been confirmed by recent meta-analyses. In contrast, lactose-intolerant individuals, who generally avoid milk, exhibit a 50% lower frequency of acne compared to lactose-tolerant people

An Acne Diet Can Help Improve Acne

The acne diet works because it focuses on reducing inflammation with low GI foods and avoiding foods that are known to cause acne.

Inflammation is really the root cause of acne vulgaris because it leads to clogged pores. Hormones don't overproduce so hormonal imbalance acne is also improved.

At its core, acne is a problem of chronic inflammation and clogged pores. Reduce the amount of inflammation in your body, and not only will your skin improve, but you’ll be healthier, too. 

Philosophy Of An Acne Diet

• Low glycemic

• Plant-based

• High in probiotics for your microbiome

• High in vitamins

• No cow's milk

Dairy Does Not Cause Acne (So Far!)

While more research needs to happen, so far there's no conclusive evidence that dairy causes acne. In fact, Kefir has actually been shown to improve acne.

But to start out, our acne diet doesn't include dairy for the first week. While there is no diet to get rid of acne in a week, our 7 day acne diet download is an easy way to get started.

Microbiome

Your microbiome is a complex ecosystem billions of bacteria, yeast, fungi, and protozoa. Our bodies help them thrive and in turn, our bodies need them for everyday normal functions.

'Good bacteria' live everywhere on our bodies. They help us digest food, helps our immune system fight off viruses and infections, and controls how our immune system works.

For acne, your microbiome helps keep acne-causing bacteria in balance so it doesn't cause infections of clogged pores.

A good acne diet includes probiotics either in foods like kefir, sauerkraut, or kim chi or with a supplement.

Sugar Causes Acne

Sugar absolutely causes acne.

Eating foods with sugar cause a spike in blood sugar causing hormones to overproduce.

Insulin, Insulin Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), and androgen hormones cause inflammation, thick and sticky sebum, and clogged pores.

Alcohol Causes Acne

Alcohol (probably) causes acne, I know. I'm sad too. But here are 5 ways to drink alcohol without the usual huge rise in acne-causing inflammation.

In a study by Clinics in Dermatology,

It has become apparent that a wide variety of cutaneous disorders exist in which alcohol may play a contributory role. It should therefore become routine for all physicians to consider alcohol as a possible etiological agent in skin disease

Alcohol is linked to acne because it triggers the release of an enzyme called mTORC which signals oil-producing hormones, like androgens.

This leads to clogged pores, inflammation, and an overgrowth of P. acnes bacteria. Vasodilation, decreased immune response, dehydration, and mixing alcohol with sugary drinks also plays a role.  

Acne Fighting Foods

Acne fighting foods are good for your skin and keep hormones in balance.

Examples of Foods To Eat For Acne

• Most fresh fruits, whole with peels

• Fresh vegetables, especially leafy greens

• Raw carrots

• Beans, especially kidney beans

• Steel Cut Oats

• Lentils

• Ancient grains, like quinoa

• Mushrooms

• Lean poultry

• Salmon

• Nuts and seeds, especially pistachios and pumpkin seeds

Final Thoughts

Poor diet causes acne because it is rich in high glycemic index foods, processed foods, and cow's milk. These are known triggers for acne. The typical Western diet includes these foods and doesn't usually include foods that are known to get rid of acne. An acne diet has low glycemic index foods, is plant-based, has probiotics, includes vitamins, and doesn't include foods that cause acne.