There are three major reasons why modern teens have a profound tendency to develop severe cases of acne. I’ve already covered the first one in some detail and so I will just mention it here very briefly. This refers to Nature sending all the nutrition required by the testes and the ovaries during the teen years to insure there will be adequate sexual maturation in order to guarantee the perpetuation of the species.
In cases where the diet does not have enough of the important micro nutrients, such as Vitamin A and Vitamin B-2 to insure the conversion of the basic cholesterol molecule to both sex hormones and healthy oil for the skin, the sex hormones will win and the skin will suffer.
The second major factor is that the typical teenager’s diet consists primarily of processed foods which are woefully deficient in the basic micro nutrients required to create both hormones and healthy skin, thus their diet is setting them up to have skin that is going to be nutritionally deprived and highly prone to develop severe acne.
The third major factor is the modern teenage diet which is terribly out of balance with regard to the macro nutrients of fat, protein and carbohydrate. The diet of the average American, let alone just teens, is drastically in favor of excess simple carbohydrates. This factor, more than any other, when taken in combination with the above two factors guarantees that teens will have severe acne. Worse still, it also guarantees that as time goes by, a lot of other even more severe, dreadful and life shortening problems will occur as well. It is critically important for you to understand just how this third factor of an imbalance between the macro nutrients in favor of carbohydrates is not only the biggest culprit in causing severe acne, but why it also sets the stage for a life time of early onset, life destroying health problems.
Posts Tagged ‘Acne’
Why Teens Are More Susceptible to Acne Development
Sunday, June 28th, 2009Micro Nutrients That Prevent Acne
Sunday, June 28th, 2009There are several micro nutrients (vitamins & minerals) which are important in preventing the development of acne, but none quite as important as Vitamin A. This is because Vitamin A is essential for the conversion of the fatty acids in the blood stream into the oil of the sebaceous gland in a form that is normal and healthy. In other words, oil that flows smoothly out of the glands and pores of the skin and provides a thin protective barrier over the skin. It is not thick and sticky, and does not trap dirt, dead skin cells or bacteria.
Of course Vitamin A does not do this job of creating healthy skin oil alone and unaided. A chief co-factor for Vitamin A is Riboflavin, known as Vitamin B-2. This is because Vitamin A naturally comes in several different forms, one of which becomes toxic to the body if it accumulates in any significant quantity. This toxicity quickly disappears without harm as soon as the individual stops taking Vitamin A. Ref. 2 All three of these natural forms of Vitamin A have to be converted in the body to various derivatives of the original three in order to do their job. Vitamin B-2 is an essential co-enzyme factor working in the liver to convert Vitamin A to its active and non-toxic derivative forms.
Thus without enough Vitamin B-2, no matter how much Vitamin A is taken, much of it will remain inactive and ineffective. If large amounts of Vitamin A are taken, without the Vitamin B-2 to convert it to useful non-toxic forms, it can become toxic.
One example of the partnership between Vitamin A and B-2 is in the eye where Vitamin A is essential for the production of rhodopsin and retinene. These are the chemicals within the eye that allows the rods of the retina to “see” at night and in dim light. Yet, it is well established that even when Vitamin A intake is adequate, night blindness will still occur if there is not enough Vitamin B-2 in the diet. This is because Vitamin B-2 is an essential cofactor with Vitamin A to create that chemistry of vision.
A group of baboons were placed on a diet that was nutritionally complete in all respects except for a lack of Riboflavin, which is Vitamin B-2. Within 6 months their faces were covered by a mass of eruptions virtually identical to those of teenagers. This was in spite of the fact that they had plenty of Vitamin A. All of the skin lesions disappeared.
Shortly after large amounts of riboflavin were administered to make up the deficit. So it is that even adequate supplies of Vitamin A in the diet will not insure healthy skin without an adequate intake of Vitamin B-2.
Although not quite as critical as the nutrients just covered, Vitamin E, Vitamin B-2, B-3, B-6 and the mineral Zinc as well as others are also important in the creation of healthy skin.
How I cured myself of acne
Sunday, June 28th, 2009It started when I was fifteen years old, and like an ugly shadow it followed me around for the next ten years. It would defy every dermatologist and their expensive prescriptions, treatments with over-the-counter products, ongoing six a.m. antibiotics that created nausea beyond belief, and even Accutaine¾the “Miracle Drug”. It would engage me in a 15-year war against myself. It was acne and it was NOT my friend. It stole my self-confidence and made me think and feel that there was something wrong with me. There is no battle as emotionally taxing as one that makes you feel as if your own body is working against you. Your face is what you present to the world – it is your calling card…and my card was marked with embarrassing sores and pain. Why me? So, as I said when my acne problems started I was just a teenage guy. I played some sports, which, of course, seemed to make it worse. It made me much shyer than I would have otherwise been. Fortunately, I had some good friends and a girlfriend who didn’ t care about my acne other than how it made me feel. I was in many activities and my acne problem was always right there with me, front and center! When people looked at me all I could think was that all they were seeing was the ugly acne on my face. It depressed me and influenced my thoughts and decisions. I was not happy at all, so I tried to find ways to calm it down. My family and even some of my friends tried to give me all kinds of advice. “Don’t eat chocolate,” they would say. “Stay away from fish,” they would offer. (Easy, I don’t like fish!) However, the acne was still there to greet me each and every morning. I bought and tried every over-the-counter product, and finally went to several dermatologists. Some were helpful to me but most were not. One would say it was what I was eating and another would tell me it had nothing to do with that at all. I was frustrated and confused. I was constantly washing my face and becoming more embarrassed as the cysts and bumps continued their cycle of increasing month after month. Sometimes I would sit for hours with the soap drying on my face hoping to kill the acne, but it did not work. Once I got so angry and frustrated I slapped my very own face! Deep somewhere inside of me I felt there was something wrong with me and that my own body was at war with me.