Dairy Milk Revealed As Biggest Cause Of Acne

February 17, 2008 by Russell Eaton

For several decades scientists have tried to establish the causes of acne. A picture is emerging at last that dramatically shows milk to be a major cause of this skin affliction. For example an article by Sanjida O’Connell (How a Pinta Causes Pimples, The Independent, May 8th, 2007, USA) shows graphically how milk causes acne.

In the article, O’Connell explains that Julianne has never suffered from spots as a teenager, but by the time she was 28 she had terrible cystic acne along her jawline and across her neck. An American, she had travelled to Europe to learn to become a cook.

Julianne had decided to open a restaurant and deli back in the States, so before she returned home she toured around Europe, sampling every cheese she came across. As she told her story to the dermatologist Bill Danby, something clicked: “Oh my God, it’s the cheese,” she said. For six months, she stopped eating all dairy products. During that time she became 85 per cent free of acne, and her skin cleared up.

According to Danby, a skin expert, “The ability to develop acne is partly genetic and partly the result of hormone exposure [e.g. hormones from dairy milk]. I tell my female patients that genetics are the key to the fact that Paris Hilton has lots of money and no zits and my patients have lots of zits and no money.”

Acne can affect anyone at any age, but it usually peaks at between 16 and 18, when up to 98 per cent of the population of Western countries is affected. A link between dairy milk and acne has been suggested because acne is much less common in parts of the world that consume less dairy milk. As well as being socially excruciating, acne is costly - $5 billion is spent worldwide each year treating it.

This is how milk causes acne: hormones in dairy milk stimulate the glands of hair follicles, making them secrete more sebum than they normally would. As a consequence, hair follicles stick together and form a plug in the pore of the skin - the first visible sign of acne. As the plug ‘pinches’ the sebum canal it prevents the free-flow of sebum to the skin. The result is acne.

As with any pregnant mammal, cow’s milk is full of hormones. These hormones help the calf grow quickly. Other hormones are produced by the placenta to help the cow’s pregnancy. One of the main hormones found in milk is IGF-1. This is a growth hormone which is also produced by all humans as they grow. IGF-1 peaks at age 15 in girls and 18 in boys, coinciding with peak acne levels.

It is thought that IGF-1 works with testosterone and DHT to cause acne. It is heavily present in all types of dairy milk: nonorganic, organic, raw or pasteurized. By consuming any kind of cow’s milk, this greatly increases the amount of IGF-1, and this in turn causes acne.

The evidence that cow’s milk is one of the biggest causes of acne is confirmed by several studies. For example, Dr Walter Willett led a team of researches at the Boston Harvard School of Public Health in a study of 47,000 women. The women were part of the ‘Nurses Health Study II’ (a major well-publicized project).

A total of 47,000 women were asked to complete questionnaires relating to their diet as teenagers and to say whether they had ever been diagnosed with severe acne. The study found no link between food such as chocolate and chips and acne, but found a clear link between women who had acne and those who had drunk a lot of milk.

Other research clearly confirms this:

* IGF-1 [in cow's milk] contributes to the increase in sebum production during puberty. (Endocrinology, 1999 Sep, 140:9).

* About 80% of [dairy] cows are throwing off hormones continuously [milk is] implicated as a factor in the development of acne teenage acne patients improved as soon as milk drinking stopped. (Frank Oski, M.D., Don’t Drink Your Milk, Teach Services, Inc).

* About 80% of cows that are giving milk are pregnant and are throwing off hormones continuouslyDr. Jerome has found that acne improved as soon as the teenagers stopped drinking milk. (Dr. George J. Georgiou, Ph.D., Clinical Nutritionist, Milk - A Recipe for Disease, Nov. 2002, worldwidehealthcenter.net).

By simply switching to non-dairy milk you will go a long way to avoiding acne. Some supermarkets sell non-dairy milk (usually soy milk and rice milk). But there are many other kinds of wonderful non-dairy milk which you can easily make at home in a matter of minutes. When made correctly, home made milk is super-nutritious and truly delicious, and of course, it does not cause acne.

About the Author:

To find out more about making your own non-dairy milk go to Make Your Own Milk. Special recipes show how to make nutritious and super-delicious milk in just a matter of minutes. No special milk-making machine required. Find out more.