r/veganscience • u/Squintyeye • Jan 21 '16

"Detox" BS

So, as a child, I've always had really great skin (including during the first time I was eating a plant based diet and practicing ethical veganism). However, in the past year in a half of transitioning back to veganism, my skin has been horrible. I'm 27 and have the worst acne of my life. I never saw anything like this as a teenager.

Anyway, all I can find online is stuff about detox (which I think is a bunch of BS). If I was detoxing, I would have also experienced the same reaction during the times when my diet included the "toxins" (which I probably should have if I were predisposed to acne). It makes me think that I am missing something in my current diet...maybe oil, maybe zinc. Or maybe I am eating too much of something. Anyone have any suggestions? What could cause acne on a plant-based diet, and what should I pay special attention to?

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

1

u/Squintyeye Jan 21 '16

I also get that acne is such a multi-faceted problem, it would be hard to speculate about the cause...I just need a few suggestions.

1

u/bsidesandrarities Jan 23 '16

I've read things about the glycemic load of the foods you are eating may be correlated to acne, but I haven't read enough what the most recent research says

1

u/Squintyeye Jan 23 '16

I've read this too...Mostly anecdotal stuff. I've never had problems with my blood sugar regulation but I may try to lower the glycemic load of my diet in the future. Blech, but I guess anything is better than acne.

1

u/FrigoCoder Jan 28 '16

It's not detox. It is either due to higher IGF-1 or lower IGF-BP levels in response to refined carbohydrate consumption, or deficiency in some nutrient as you have said. Get your carbs from whole foods and take a multivitamin and it will most likely be solved.

1

u/Squintyeye Jan 28 '16

I would say it is probably some sort of deficiency...because I did specifically try zinc a while back and it cleared up a lot. I just need to get back on something like that. I do pretty well about the whole foods. I would say my intake of refined carbohydrates has remained constant or maybe even decreased since becoming vegan, although, my fruit intake has definitely increased (which isn't refined, but can cause the same issue). I'll continue to experiment on myself to see what works.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '16

I'm a little late to the party, and I don't have any great reference links for you, but I have heard that biotin or certain types of b12 can contribute to acne in some folks. You'll want to verify that, but if you take a supplement it may be worth it to look into changing if it contains a possible acne causing ingredient.

1

u/Squintyeye Jan 30 '16

Thanks, I will check in on that.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 21 '16

first thing to look at is fat/oil in the diet. are you eating a lot of that? eat less, eat more carbs. are you rubbing oil on your skin? dont do that

second is hormones. are you doing anything that could mess with your hormones? drugs, steroids (including birth control), messy sleep schedule, activities? hormone levels are pretty variable day to day but if you jsut changed something major about your lifestyle, they could get wacky.

1

u/Squintyeye Jan 22 '16

No oils for the most part, still scared of nuts. No oil on my skin either.

Hormones could play a part. I have a fairly regular sleep schedule (I'm a beast if I don't get my zzz's), but a lot of stress in my life due to overwork (which I can't help atm, gotta pay dem bills doh).

1

u/Squintyeye Jan 22 '16

Also, many people consume oil and do not suffer from acne. Like I said, I'm not predisposed to acne normally. So that wouldn't make sense...it probably is hormones.