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| Author | Topic: Acne&Diet sci. article(s) |
| Scott 11-10-2002 10:30 AM | Would someone out there be willing and able to translate an article from a German scientific journal? (I think the task would probably overwhelm translation software.) The article suggests that the influence of diet on dermatoses may be less about which foods are consumed than about the preparation involved and the natural state of those foods. In other words, the article may be helpful in offering some formal support for Wai's basic premise. I copied the abstract, (the only part in English), from PubMed and pasted it below: Z Hautkr 1987;62 Suppl 1:116-20 Former dietary measures in dermatology--a historical review [Article in German] Halber S, Salfeld K. Hautklinik Klinikum Minden. "A historical view will be given on forms of diet formerly used in dermatoses (especially psoriasis, tuberculosis, atopic dermatitis, acne, rosacea and seborrhoeal eczema). The use of raw food, milk, and fruit, abstinence diets and juice cures in dermatological therapy still remain just as questionable as the effects of acidified or alkalised forms of food. Their abundance and diversity leads to the assumption that it is clearly not so much the composition of food, but more in the change of food and the extensive natural state of the basic foodstuffs used, which play an essential role in the influence on the progress of dermatoses." |
| RRM 11-10-2002 10:38 AM | Scott, my German is good enough (though Wai's German is better). Do you have the full article? So, if I understand well, raw food diets have been used to cure acne since a looooooong time! Sounds VERY logical to me, because if we have found out about the correlation between cooked foods and acne, many people before us must have found out the same thing; humans have been applying heat to foods for many tens of thousands of years, and the longer they have been doing so, the greater the odds that more people have found out about this cooked foods - acne correlation. |
| Scott 11-10-2002 11:02 AM | RRM, it doesn't sound like they've figured it out exactly, but it does sound like they're coming close. That's great that you and Wai know German! I've put in a library request for the full text of the article. I should have it in PDF form within one to four weeks. I will forward it to you as soon as I get it. Thanks! Scott P.S. The full journal title is Zeitschrift fur Hautkrankheiten. |
| RRM 11-10-2002 11:39 AM | quote:No, I agree, but that wasn't what I was being enthusiastic about; I just think that even if they are only discussing old ways of treating acne, including a raw food diet ("forms of diet formerly used in dermatoses" ... "acne" ... "The use of raw food"), that this means that in the past 'raw food diets' have been used to treat acne. And that is very important by itself, because it means that other people had found correlations between cooked foods and acne. To me, it doesn't matter whether they knew / understood the physiology of acne, just that the correlation cooked foods - acne has been experienced in the past. To me, many people MUST have, simply because we also do; nothing has changed: not our phyiology, and not the habit of applying heat to food. I'm looking forward to the article! RRM |
| Scott 11-26-2002 09:54 AM | RRM, I've posted the review. The article is very short, but the file is bulky (500k). |
| RRM 11-27-2002 04:05 PM | Thank you Scott! I have printed it out. the article is mainly about other skin diseases, and attempts / claims of curing them with a variety of diets, such as a low fat diet, a strict fat-protein-carb ratio diet, a potato diet, a low protein and -carbs diet, a no sugar diet, a low salt diet and a vegetarian diet. The vegetarian diet was used to 'cure' acne vulgaris too. This diet included: fruits, fruit juices, tea, whole meal bread (water based), raw and cooked vegetables, salads, potatoes, butter and oil. The article doesn't mention any success rates. So, the diet that was used to treat acne, was not a raw food diet, but did include quite some raw food, and no high protein cooked foods. So, they must have had SOME success (since for some people it is already enough to eat much more fruits). This article not at all supports any of the diets mentioned, but, to me, it does show that, regarding acne, they were probably looking somewhat in the right direction already, back then. RRM BTW: I'm curious, what are your plans for this website? ![[Smile]](../smile.gif) |
| Scott 11-29-2002 08:39 AM | Hi RRM, I was hoping the article would be a bit more useful. I don't understand what purpose it even serves by being so brief and not mentioning success rates. Oh well... Thank you for taking a look at it! quote:In short, the objectives for the site are to: 1) recount my personal experience with acne. 2) offer an overview of your diet and (eventually) drive traffic to your website. 3) review the existing literature on diet and acne. 4) counter in a systematic fashion the false claim that diet and acne are not correlated. 5) promote a scientific, controlled study of your diet's efficacy and the hypotheses underlying it. The website will hopefully be up in mid-January. |
| RRM 12-01-2002 03:50 PM | Wow, I'm impressed! I'm looking forward to it, can you please let us all know when it's up? |
| Scott 12-01-2002 05:02 PM | Sure thing! |
| gralleigh 12-03-2002 12:41 PM | on the subject of diet and acne-there is a short feature in Nature's new science update (online-www.nature.com/nsu)about Western diet and acne and the insulin theory-headed 'chips means zits'. however I cannot find the original article using the reference given. ![[Confused]](../confused.gif) |
| Scott 12-03-2002 10:51 PM | Oh, wow. Thanks you very much! Looks like this may be the first U.S. journal article in nearly twenty years to argue an acne-diet correlation. That in itself is big news. I can't wait to read it. Cordain, L. et al. "Acne vulgaris: a disease of western civilization." Archives of Dermatology, 138, 123 - 321, (2002). The reason you can't find it is because the reference has a typo. I believe the article will appear in vol. 138, no. 12, which should be hot off the press any day now. I'll post a link to it when it becomes available. By the way, Dr. Cordain is the author of The Paleo Diet, which shares some key commonalities with Wai's. Anyhow, thanks again for the info. And welcome to the board! |
| Scott 12-13-2002 11:48 AM | For those interested in science's progress on the acne-diet correlation, Dr. Cordain's article is scheduled for publication on December 15th. An abstract or the full text should become available here. In the meantime, Dr. Cordain's research has already generated a small flurry of media response: BBC News - Bread Linked to Teenage Acne Reuters - Refined Foods May Be Cause of Pimples and Acne The Augusta Chronicle - Study Reconnects Diet To Acne New Scientist - Plague of Pimples Blamed on Bread |
| Scott 12-13-2002 12:09 PM | An abstract and correct citation is now available, courtesy PubMed: Arch Dermatol 2002 Dec;138(12):1584-90 Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization. Cordain L, Lindeberg S, Hurtado M, Hill K, Eaton SB, Brand-Miller J. BACKGROUND: In westernized societies, acne vulgaris is a nearly universal skin disease afflicting 79% to 95% of the adolescent population. In men and women older than 25 years, 40% to 54% have some degree of facial acne, and clinical facial acne persists into middle age in 12% of women and 3% of men. Epidemiological evidence suggests that acne incidence rates are considerably lower in nonwesternized societies. Herein we report the prevalence of acne in 2 nonwesternized populations: the Kitavan Islanders of Papua New Guinea and the Ache hunter-gatherers of Paraguay. Additionally, we analyze how elements in nonwesternized environments may influence the development of acne. OBSERVATIONS: Of 1200 Kitavan subjects examined (including 300 aged 15-25 years), no case of acne (grade 1 with multiple comedones or grades 2-4) was observed. Of 115 Ache subjects examined (including 15 aged 15-25 years) over 843 days, no case of active acne (grades 1-4) was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The astonishing difference in acne incidence rates between nonwesternized and fully modernized societies cannot be solely attributed to genetic differences among populations but likely results from differing environmental factors. Identification of these factors may be useful in the treatment of acne in Western populations. |