Growing up, I had zero skin concerns. As my friends, family, and teachers often told me, I was known for having crystal clear skin. While my friends and I proceeded through middle school, I wondered when I would start breaking out. I felt like it was a rite of passage to get acne as you got older; therefore, I was concerned that something might be wrong with my skin. In high school, I had a breakout once every six months. Yet still, I never had any real skin issues. No longer worried about my lack of skin problems and finally just accepting myself as one of the lucky ones, I was off to college and never thought much about my skin. As the second semester of my sophomore year approached, I began to get busier than I had ever been. I joined a sorority and became extremely active in the academic and campus community at SU. I finally began to break out badly. Using every skincare product in the book, my skin was just getting worse. No matter what I added or removed from my routine, no skincare product was fixing what was happening with my skin. As months of inflammation and acne became years, I found myself in and out of dermatologist appointments and blowing thousands of dollars on ineffective skincare products. Chalking it up to a potential allergy, the dermatologist and I were utterly lost on what to do with my skin. We both knew it wasn’t an allergy, so what could it even be?
As I began the last year of my undergraduate career, my skin began to be transformed back to what it once was. While the medications and creams I was prescribed have greatly improved my skin, I have recently realized what the true culprit of my acne was: my poor diet. When things began to heat up academically and socially, I did not prioritize clean eating. And by clean eating, I don’t mean organic everything, I just mean well-balanced meals. I ate fast food daily and simply did not eat if I didn’t have time. My skin desperately needed vitamins I was refusing to give it, leading to catastrophic, consistent breakouts.
Changing up my diet was what transformed my skin. After researching how your diet can influence your skin, here are four tips on what worked for me, backed with academic research.
- Pay attention to when and how your breakouts occur after eating.
With more research needed to determine whether certain foods can worsen acne, you can always make a note of what foods make your acne worsen. The American Academy of Dermatology suggests that individuals keep track of their breakouts by asking themselves two questions: Do particular foods or beverages seem to worsen or trigger your breakouts? And if you have determined that a specific food or beverage worsens your existing acne, what happens when you do not consume it for a day, week, or month? Keep a log of what foods illicit a reaction and adjust accordingly.
- Cut out foods with a high glycemic load, such as sugar and refined grains.
Researcher Sharma says that rapid glucose absorption, a.k.a. foods with a high glycemic load, meaning how high your blood sugar can go when you consume food, raises insulin. This is a potential culprit increasing acne severity (2024). Going through periods of minimal sugar intake in my diet did wonders for my skin, and I noticed that when I consumed less sugar, my acne cleared up.
- Incorporate more probiotics into your diet.
While researchers Baldwin and Tan say that probiotics show promise in reducing acne lesions, earlier studies indicate supportive results for acne improvement with probiotic implementation. Probiotics contain live microorganisms that deliberately balance both the good and bad bacteria in your body. For me, adding probiotics into my diet, such as yogurt, kimchi, and kombucha, gave my skin a break from the flare-ups.
- Consume a diet with polyphenols, Vitamin C, and Vitamin E.
Vitamins C and E play critical roles in skin nutrition.. These nutrients are the two most involved nutrients in maintaining skin health. Polyphenols are compounds found in plant foods and act as antioxidants. Research shows that polyphenols can assist in preventing damaged skin from UV rays. Eat foods such as roasted nuts, spinach, broccoli, blueberries, and oranges to reap the benefits of these nutrients!
More research must be done to see how diet affects acne, as research is not substantial now. Incorporating healthier eating practices seems to be an excellent way to reduce acne flare-ups, and in my case, it was a sure-fire way to have my skin clear up. Nobody is the same, and testing to see which dietary practices are harmful to your skin is crucial in figuring out how to reduce your acne.
For more information or to arrange a nutrition consultation, contact Terry Passano, RDN, Salisbury University Dietitian, at thpassano@salisbury.edu. Consultations are free of charge for the SU community.
Samantha Raymond
Health Sciences Intern
Baldwin, H., & Tan, J. (2021). Effects of Diet on Acne and Its Response to Treatment. American journal of clinical dermatology, 22(1), 55–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40257-020-00542-y
Meixiong, J., Ricco, C., Vasavda, C., & Ho, B. K. (2022). Diet and acne: A systematic review. JAAD international, 7, 95–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdin.2022.02.012
Sharma, N., Chaudhary, S. M., Khungar, N., Aulakh, S. K., Idris, H., Singh, A., & Sharma, K. (2024). Dietary Influences on Skin Health in Common Dermatological Disorders. Cureus, 16(2), e55282. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.55282
https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/acne/causes/diet American Academy of Dermatology Association.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/the-lowdown-on-glycemic-index-and-glycemic-load (2023, August 2). Harvard Medical School.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/probiotics/faq-20058065 (2022, July 2). Zeratsky
https://www.salisbury.edu/administration/student-affairs/dining-services/newsletter/april-1-2023/eat-your-way-to-healthy-skin.aspx
What are polyphenols? Another great reason to eat fruits and veggies. (2021, June 1). Kendall Reagan Nutrition Center.