In the USA, about 85 percent of all teenagers will suffer with acne with many of these persons carrying the affliction into their adult years. Nonetheless, there is a very effective home treatment and cure for acne which is certainly not a normal state of health. Without a doubt, the waves of hormones that come with puberty are responsible for an increase in the secretion of sebum (skin oil) which is associated with the onslaught of acne. Some researchers have forwarded the theory that acne is a malady that is genetically transmitted. Others have supported the idea that external conditions such as the food we eat are the most important factors. In our western culture that consumes 47% of calories from fats and oils (this is an enormous amount it should be 10%), genetic factors can have a significant part to play in how prone a person might be to developing acne. To really know whether or not diet is the dominant factor in causing acne, we would have to show that acne is missing in cultures that have diets that are significantly varied from what Americans eat.
Your doctor will mostly likely parrot the reigning dogma that acne and excess oil in and on your skin are not related to what you eat. When you hear this, ask to see the evidence. You will then witness this man of science falling into speechlessness with nothing more than empty platitudes. This inaccurate data goes back to a lone article written by Dr. James Fulton in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1969. In addition, the conclusions of this study have been rightly criticized and effectively skewered for more than twenty-five years. Because of this misinformation, many millions suffer.
Thirty teenagers were studied by Dr. Fulton (16 boys and 14 girls) who were patients at a clinic for acne. Also studied were thirty-five young male adult prison inmates with moderate to mild acne conditions. The study was funded by the Chocolate Manufacturers Association of America. They provided the participants with two varieties of candy bars one contained chocolate and the other did not. The contents of both bars were primarily sugar and fat and had closely matched calories (592 and 557 per candy bar). The participants were asked to consume one bar or the other each day for four weeks. No other aspect of their diet was changed for the duration of the experiment. Dr. Fulton and associates then took a census of the pimples. Forty-six of the sixty-five participants showed no change in pimple count. Ten were improved and nine were worse. It should be noted that the amount of sebum (skin oil) was elevated by 60 percent when either of the sugary high-fat candy bars were consumed regardless of whether or not it contained chocolate. It is astonishing that the outcome of this one, very flawed and totally irrelevant (it only examined the effects of chocolate) study is the foundation upon which it is claimed that acne is not caused by diet!