Jun
6
ACNE-FOOD CONNECTION REGAINS FAVOR
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ACNE-FOOD CONNECTION REGAINS FAVOR CSU RESEARCHER SAYS DIET - NOT GENES, GLANDS - TO BLAME ACNE: DOCTORS HAD LONG SAID
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Denver Rocky Mountain News; 12/6/2002; Bill Scanlon; ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
Denver Rocky Mountain News
12-06-2002
ACNE-FOOD CONNECTION REGAINS FAVOR CSU RESEARCHER SAYS DIET - NOT GENES, GLANDS - TO BLAME ACNE: DOCTORS HAD LONG SAID
A Colorado researcher may rewrite the books on acne with his findings that candy, carbohydrates and cola play an important role in the skin disease after all.
Professor Loren Cordain studied thousands of hunters, gatherers and farmers in Paraguay and Papua New Guinea whose diets contained no bread, cake, sugar, soft drinks, potato chips or pizza, and he didn’t find a single case of acne.
His research, which will appear in this month’s Archives of Dermatology, has caused a sensation in the medical community. For years, Americans have been told overactive glands and genes - not diet - caused acne.
Cordain, a Colorado State University health professor, led a study that looked at the Kitvian Islanders of Papua New Guinea and the Ache hunter-gatherers of Paraguay.
The perfect skin of the two unrelated groups on opposite sides of the globe couldn’t be explained by genetics, he said. People who lived nearby and who looked very much like them had their share of acne. They also ate very different foods. So the researchers zeroed in on the diet.
The Kitvian Islanders eat mostly fruit, fish, yams and sweet potatoes.
“They have no grains, sugars or oils, no breakfast cereals, white bread, donuts, pasta, pizza,” Cordain said. “They only have what you can grow in the garden or catch in the ocean.”
The Ache people eat wild game, peanuts and a native root, sweet manioc, plus a tiny amount of Western foods. Cordain concluded that high-glycemic foods such as bread, cakes, sugars and soft drinks “may contribute to the acne suffered by 95 percent of Westernized teenagers.”
Cordain and researchers from Australia, Sweden and New Mexico believe Western diets permanently boost insulin. Insulin elevates growth and hormones, stimulating an overproduction of oil and skin cells in pores. Those clogged pores feed bacteria that form blemishes.
The researchers believe switching to a more natural diet may help reduce acne by better regulating the metabolism of insulin.
The theory flies in the face of 30 years of medical advice. The American Academy of Dermatology has long called the diet-acne connection a myth, blaming the skin disease on overactive sebaceous glands, which are particularly busy during the teen years. Heredity and hormones also play big roles, the AAD says.
Ironically, it turns out what’s old may be new. Baby boomers and World War II teens remember their mothers’ scoldings that greasy food and chocolate caused pimples.
What happened to change that advice?
Cordain says dermatologists relied too heavily on a study by Gerd Plewig in 1970. Plewig gave one group chocolate and another group a placebo. “There was no difference in the incidence of acne in the two groups,” Cordain said. “But 30 years later, we pointed out to him that it was fatally flawed because the placebo had the same identical glycemic (sugar) load as the chocolate.”
Plewig sat on the team that reviewed Cordain’s report. “He’s a good scientist, he ate humble pie and admitted his mistake,” when the flaw in the 1970 study was pointed out, Cordain said.
Dr. Robert Dellavalle, assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, called Cordain’s findings “fascinating…Dermatologists would be very open to the possibility” that diet plays a greater role in acne than common wisdom says, he said.
INFOBOX
French fries vs. fruit
Group studied: American teens and adults
Diet: High sugar and highly processed carbohydrates.
* French fries
* Soft drinks
* Doughnuts
* Potato chips
* Pizza
Do they have acne? 85% of American 18-year-olds have acne or did so in the past.
Group studied: Ache of Paraguay and the Kitvians of Papua New Guinea.
Diet: Low sugar.
* Sweet manioc
* Sweet potatoes
* Yams
* Fish
* Game meats
* Peanuts
* Fruits
* Vegetables
Do they have acne? No acne found among children, teens, adults or seniors.
Source: American Dietitians Association
Copyright © 2002, Denver Publishing Co.
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Jun
2
10 Real Life Diet Tips
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10 Real Life Diet Tips
Are you tired of diet tips handed out by someone with apparently unlimited income and time? For some of us, it may just not be practical to spend half of our Sunday preparing carefully portioned meals for the rest of the week, or financially feasible to buy all our meals prepackaged in just the right portions. And there are those of us who cringe at the thought of weighing food to achieve ‘optimal portion sizes’. Here are ten real life diet tips for the rest of us.
1. Eating out? Restaurant portions tend to be enormous, and if it’s on
the plate, we tend to eat it. If it’s possible, order from the kid’s
menu, where portions are more reasonably sized.
2. Keep healthy snacks around and easily accessible. A bowl of fruit on
the kitchen table, a container of celery or carrot sticks in the refrigerator, or a couple of pop-open cans of fruit salad in your desk at work will help you grab for something healthy when those first hunger pains begin. In other words, you’ll be more likely to grab something low-calorie and good for you if it’s easy to eat.
3. Substitute frozen vegetables for canned. Canned veggies tend to be
high in sodium, which you don’t need, and low in real nutrition, which
you do. Buy economy size bags with zip closures to make it easy to pour
out a single serving for a meal.
4. Buy a vegetable steamer. Steaming is one of the healthiest ways to
cook vegetables. The food retains nearly all of its natural nutrients
instead of leaching it out into the cooking water. Even better, it makes your veggies taste great - which means you’ll be more likely to eat them instead of filling up on fatty foods that pack on weight.
5. Never eat standing up. One of the easiest ways to sabotage your diet
is to ‘eat without thinking’. Treat eating with the respect that it
deserves. Fix yourself a plate. Sit down and eat properly. You’ll be less likely to just pop food into your mouth without paying attention.
6. Spread your meals out. When you eat three meals a day, your body
tends to store whatever it doesn’t need right that moment. By adopting a ‘grazing’ habit, you’ll keep your metabolism working throughout the day. Have a small breakfast, a piece of fruit with crackers or toast at
mid-morning, a light lunch and an ‘after school snack’ mid-afternoon. Just remember that you’re breaking up the same amount of food into smaller meals, not ADDING more food into your daily diet.
7. Grab a fruit juice or flavored water instead of soda. Soda is
nothing but empty calories. No nutrients, lots of sugar. Instead, grab a bottle of 100% fruit juice, or water flavored with a spritz of fruit.
8. Drink water. Even the FDA recommends at least 8 full 8 ounce glasses
of water a day to keep your body working right. When you’re dieting,
you should drink even more. It’s not just that full feeling - water helps your body digest foods properly and cleans out your system.
9. Can’t afford a gym membership? Make a pact with friends to exercise
together. Make a date at least three times a week to play volleyball,
take a walk or spend half an hour doing something active.
10. Skip the potato chips. Fatty snacks fried in hydrogenated oil like
potato chips contribute fat and calories and not much else. Instead,
grab a handful of dried fruit or a cup of yogurt for the same amount of
calories and a lot more nutritional benefit.
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