Low GI diet may ease teens' facial acne
by Kate Woods
6 May 2005
WHITE bread may soon be off the menu for teenagers, with new Australian research showing low glycaemic index (GI) foods can help young people reduce the severity of their facial acne.
Presenting the results of their recent study at the upcoming Australasian College of Dermatologists annual meeting in Perth, the researchers will show that using a low GI diet for three months resulted in a 51% improvement in facial acne severity.
In comparison, people who continued to eat normally showed a 30% overall improvement.
The researchers, from the dermatology department of The Royal Melbourne Hospital, said high GI foods would induce hyperinsulinaemia, which could aggravate acne by increasing androgen levels, sebum production and promoting keratinocyte proliferation.
“These results suggest that a low glycaemic load diet may play a role in reducing the severity of facial acne,” they said.
Their study included 42 men with a mean age of 18 years. Those men randomised to the low glycaemic load group were supplied with a diet consisting of protein sources (25% ), carbohydrate sources (45% ) and fat sources (30% ).
The researchers said that studies to date had shown no link between diet and acne, but their findings suggested that there was a link between glycaemic index of the diet and acne severity.
-MEDICAL OBSERVER