Copiers have taken over! Do a Google search for 'acne myths' and you'll see what I mean. You'll end up with an almost endless list of articles about acne myths - all parroting the same old things. Let's take a fresh look at some of these acne myths and how the 'conventional wisdom' may have prevented you from curing your acne The so called acne myth 1: Acne is caused by diet This is one of the most common ones. Internet seems to be full of 'experts' quoting studies from the 60s saying that no scientific link has been established between diet and acne. That's true, but it's also equally true that it's nearly impossible to study such a link. Consider the following quotes by different doctors: (Dermatology Times - 5/1/2003) "There are still a lot of people around who claim that if they eat a lot of chocolate, they break out worse. I don't know that there are any good, scientifically controlled studies." -Lee J. Vesper, M.D "Teen diets vary so widely, you have to have a very controlled study, and how can you do that with teens? You can't trust teenage boys. There's no way you can dictate a diet for any length of time that would have an impact on the skin." -David M. Spencer, M.D. "A number of years ago, there was a study that said chocolate was not a factor in acne. That was funded by the Hershey Corporation. Some studies had college students eat a certain diet, and offered compensation for that, but they were never really hard, double-blind studies because, how do you do that with food?" -Dennis D. Knutson, M.D. "I do think the issue needs to be re-looked at, because there have never been very good studies." -on the subject of diet and acne, Dennis D. Knutson, M.D. And that's just from one issue of one magazine! The truth of the matter is that there are no scientifically valid studies to prove a point in either direction. Just use your common sense. Ok, what's your average Western diet compromised of? Potatoes, bread (mostly wheat), meat, milk and other dairy products, sugars and fats. Now, what do all those things have in common? They are hard to digest and take long time to digest and/or don't digest properly. They sit long time in your stomach giving all the millions of bacteria there time to putrefy them. When something putrefies in your stomach you know it's not good. You can smell it once the stuff comes out. Point being, that all those foods create a lots of toxic or acidic waste during metabolism that needs to be eliminated. Your liver is your primary organ for doing that, along with colon and kidneys. However, those organs have only a finite capacity for handling that stuff. What happens when they reach that capacity? Your body pushes all those toxins out through secondary channels (your skin and lungs, for example). Now, guess in what kind of environment all that 'bad', pimple producing bacteria thrive? Yes, they like acidic/toxic environment. And you just discovered that your body is doing a hell-of-a-job in providing your skin just that. Could this contribute to acne? The so-called acne myths 2 & 3: Stress, sex/masturbation causes acne Let's deal those together since the mechanisms are basically same. Levels of certain hormones affect your sex drive. Having sex causes your body to release hormones. Your body responds to stress by releasing hormones. Simple, we all know this. Once those hormones have served their purpose your body needs to process them to less active stuff and expel them. You probably guessed already that your liver is responsible for processing most of the hormones. Now your liver is probably already fully booked with all the stuff that you eat. So it needs to push some of the toxics, that it would have otherwise processed, out through your skin to deal with the extra load. Those hormones alone are probably not enough to cause acne. Combine them with a bad diet (which 90% of the Western population has) and they can make things worse. The so-called acne myth 4: There is no cure for acne If you keep on with the life style that caused acne then this acne myth is true. Acne is an effect not a cause. As long as you maintain the cause (overload of toxins/acids) nothing will permanently remove the effect (acne). Clean up your system and acne will be gone all by itself. Don't let your hopes down because of some 'debunkers' whose only intention is to continue selling you ineffective acne products that will never cure your acne. Get a fresh perspective on acne, take action and claim the skin you deserve. After all - if you continue doing the same things you are going to get the same results. |
