By Dr Natalie Ledbetter
Do you have acne or problems with breakouts? According to multiple studies dairy worsens breakouts. So you will probably benefit from cutting way back or giving up dairy.
How does dairy cause or worsen acne?
Milk contains hormones that are placed there by nature to help grow a baby calf into a big cow. These hormones can affect our hormones when we eat or drink dairy. When we consume conventional dairy (not from organic grass-fed animals) we get more of these hormones if the dairy farm uses artificial bovine growth hormone (bGH). Artificial growth hormones make cows produce more milk than they normally would.
bGH is thought to raise levels of IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor). Increased levels of IGF-1 and other hormones found in milk such as progesterone and estrogen are linked to acne, obesity, allergies, diabetes, and heart disease.
Whey protein from milk increases testosterone which then increases sebum production. Sebum is a thick oil produced by the sebaceous glands that can lead to clogged pores, acne, and oily skin. Lactose, a sugar in milk, can make breakouts worse as well.
Should everyone give up all dairy?
It is commonly believed that all dairy causes acne equally, but this isn’t always true. Some products are worse than others. Skim milk and cottage cheese are shown to cause more problems than other milk products. This low fat milk causes twice the breakouts compared to whole milk because it contains more pro-inflammatory ingredients such as whey and sugar.
Hard cheese and yogurt may not cause as many problems as skim milk products, but you should see how they affect you individually.
If you are suffering from breakouts, try cutting out all dairy for a month or two. Then if you want to test how your skin responds, add back in one dairy product a week and see how it affects your skin. If you find that only certain products affect you, leave those out and use the rest in moderation. If you still have breakouts, you may want to swap out dairy for something else altogether.
Want more information? https://lalongevity.com/all-about-acne-2/
Or click here: https://lalongevity.com/conditions/acne-treatment-austin-tx/
If you have acne, red light therapy can promote healing. https://drnatalieledbetter.com/f/the-benefits-of-red-light-therapy