PREVENTION FOR ACNE

Health experts say that vitamins and minerals in all forms play an integral role in a healthy complexion, whether the source is food, supplements, or even a jar of cream. “Your skin is the fingerprint of what is going on inside your body, and all skin conditions, from psoriasis to acne are the manifestation of your body's internal needs, including nutritional needs," says Georgiana Donadio, PhD, DC, MSc, Founder and director of the National Institute of Whole Health in Boston. Dr. Donadio goes on to say that" When Combined with a good diet, the right dietary supplements can help keep your skin looking not only healthy, but also years younger."

Before I lay out the specific vitamins and minerals needed for acne free skin, let’s first talk about the most common preventions for acne.

Healthy Skin Face

Common Prevention for Acne

• Good facial hygiene along with a healthy low fat diet consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean sources of protein.
•  Eat a high fiber diet and drink plenty of water to make sure your body eliminates toxins and wastes effectively.
• Avoid greasy or oily cosmetics. These products should never contain mineral oil.
• Soap dries out all by itself if you leave it too long in the shower with no water. So what do you think it does to your face? Never wash your face with soap as it will over dry your skin and cause you to produce more oil to compensate for the loss.
• Control stress to prevent acne flare-ups.

So now that we have a basic idea of how to care for out acne prone skin lets now talk about four key vitamins and minerals that are essential to the pimple free equation.

L-lysine

What is it?

L-Lysine is one of the essential amino acids for humans; an amino acid is simply the building block of the protein that is produced in our bodies. Because our bodies do not make L-Lysine naturally, we have to get it from food or supplements. when I first saw this as a necessary element to fighting acne, I thought," what does protein have to do with anything?" well turns out that protein is an important factor in healing our skin. So when we have a pimple the bursts, the protein in our bodies help our skin to avoid scarring.

What food is it in?

This amino acid can be readily found in certain meats, poultry and milk, it is not typically found in high amounts in grains and cereals, and you can get small amounts of it in vegetables and vegetables juice and in fermented foods like Miso and Yogurt.

Zinc

What is it?

This mineral is particularly important for acne, in fact, sometimes acne results as a symptom of having too little zinc in our bodies. Zinc works to clear skin by taming production and may be effective in controlling the formation of acne lesions of help those that are already on the skin to clear sooner.

What food is it in?

You can find zinc in food sources such as oysters, lean and poultry.

Vitamin A

(Note, too much Vitamin A can be harmful to women who are pregnant of lactating. please check with you doctor before you take supplements of this vitamin.)

What is it?

Vitamin A is necessary for the maintenance and repairs of the skin tissue, for this reason it also helps to heal scaring and repairing damage done by acne blemishes. Vitamin A that we put in our skin makes big differences, as medical studies show it to be effective in controlling acne.

What food is it in?

Good sources of vitamin A are low-fat dairy products, such as yogurt and cottage cheese.

Vitamin B

What is it?

Our bodies use vitamin most readily although many of us don't get enough of it in our diets, vitamin B6 has been shown to prevent acne flare ups, particularly in premenstrual women.

What food is it in?

Good sources of B6 can be found in bananas, eggs, oatmeal and rice.

As you can see, diet and nutrition are key elements to getting and keeping healthy clear skin, in some cases, as it is the mineral zinc, we may even breakout because we are lacking that particular mineral. So a good strategy to cleaning acne is to use topical products (the acne washes, toners and creams) but to also incorporate these vitamins and minerals into your diet.

What if you don't always eat the foods to get these nutrients?

Because our lives are so hectic these days, many of us don't have time to cook and eat the way that should. This is why you see many products out there as nutritional supplements. Most Americans simply don't meet their dietary requirements by eating. So if we can't get the nutrients we need to keep our bodies going from food, what are the chances that we can get the extra nutrients to keep our skin healthy from food alone? Pretty slim is my guess that is why taking a supplement that includes those four key elements for acne free skin is a good solution.

Sources

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease, the National Institute of Health. “Questions and Answer about Acne."