Is your diet impacting your skin? Here’s what to know
Have you ever eaten something and noticed a blemish or a breakout on your skin soon after? Some of the foods we consume can affect our general skin health. Dr. Vicky Ren, associate professor of dermatology at Baylor College of Medicine, explains which foods and diets are good for your skin and which ones aren’t.
Question: How can a person’s diet negatively affect their skin?
Answer: Sugary foods accelerate signs of skin aging because higher blood sugar levels lead to the degradation of collagen into advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which leads to reduced skin elasticity. Overall, highly processed foods are bad for the skin.
High glycemic index foods (foods that lead to a spike in blood sugar) have been associated with acne. A weaker association exists between acne and dairy (skim milk, whey protein supplements), and thatmay play a role in some patients.
Diets that are high in meats and fats have been associated with an increased risk of squamous cell carcinoma (a type of skin cancer). Obesity and weight gain may predispose to or cause psoriasis flares. In a small subset of patients, gluten-containing foods may act as a trigger or an exacerbator of these flares.
There also is a subset of patients with atopic dermatitis (eczema) that may experience flares due to food allergies, such as eggs, milk, peanuts, shellfish, soy and wheat. Some reported dietary triggers for rosacea include tomatoes, chocolate, citrus, alcoholic beverages and spicy foods. Dermatitis herpetiformis, or Duhring disease, may develop in gluten-sensitive patients.
Q: Which foods are good for our skin?
A: Whole foods that are rich in antioxidants, fiber and phytonutrients. This can include fruits, vegetables and micronutrients that protect our skin against skin cancer, minimize acne and inflammatory skin conditions, like psoriasis, and have anti-aging effects.
Q: Are there any specific diets to follow for healthy skin?
A: A low-glycemic load diet is associated with improved acne with decreased inflammation and oil gland size. The Mediterranean diet, which encourages people to eat plant-based and minimally processed foods, may lead to an improvement or a slow progression for those who experience psoriasis flares. Also, consider the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet.
Elimination diets, particularly in children, should be guided by food and allergy test results, which are pursued based on clinical suspicion or correlation. Probiotics and prebiotics have been found to be beneficial for atopic dermatitis, but dosing, bacterial strains and treatment duration are unclear.
Q: How does a person know that what they are eating is causing their skin issues? How long does it take to notice dietary changes on your skin?
A: Sometimes, it can be obvious. For example, many patients report rosacea flares occurring within a day of alcohol intake. For those with dermatitis herpetiformis managed on a strict gluten-free diet, lesions can develop within days of gluten intake.
Other times, as with skin aging due to sugar consumption, it is a gradual process you may not notice from one day to the next. It may be more obvious when looking at photos spanning months. Other negative health impacts due to poor diet (fatigue, weight gain, laboratory abnormalities at routine physicals) may be noticed more quickly.
By Taylor Barnes
