The role of our diet, hormones and Acne
Eating high GL foods spikes your blood sugar levels. The pancreas responds by releasing large quantities of insulin to bring down the blood sugar levels. It has to do this because high blood sugar levels are dangerous.
Large quantities of insulin cause blood sugar to plummet. Too low blood sugar levels trigger another emergency response. The adrenalin glands release androgens (type of hormone).
Androgens signal the liver to release some of its glycogen storages to raise the blood sugar levels. Too low blood sugar levels can lead to unconsciousness.
Incidentally low blood sugar levels also trigger serious sugar cravings. With these cravings hammering the back of your head it’s likely that you’ll grab something sweet (=high GL) and repeat the process.
If this would happen only once in a while it wouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately our modern diets are full of processed foods filled with fat and refined carbs and sugar. So this becomes a daily cycle.
The more the pancreas releases insulin the less effective it becomes. Cells don’t respond to it anymore so well. This is called insulin resistance or reduced insulin sensitivity. To counter this effect the pancreas has to release larger quantities of insulin. I want to point out that insulin resistance is usually not caused by sugar or refined carbs.
The two main causes of insulin resistance are eating too much fat and simply eating too many calories (regardless of the source).
So now you have this escalating cycle where more and more insulin is circulating your bloodstream. If (and when) the blood sugar levels swing you also get a steady supply of androgens.
Insulin never works alone. It’s a precursor to almost all the hormones in your body and always affects other hormones also. In this case we are interested of insulin?like growth factor 1 (IGF?1) and insulin?like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP?3). When insulin levels go up IGF?1 follows the lead but IGFBP?3 levels drop.
So how does this cause acne?
Well insulin, IGF?1 and androgens all increase sebum production. IGF?1 is a growth hormone and it increases the rate at which skin cells regenerate. IGFBP?3 promotes separation of skin cells when they die. So now you have a steady supply of three hormones that all increase sebum production. More of one hormone that makes skin cells grow regenerate and die faster. And less of one hormone that helps the skin cells to separate when they die.
As we discussed above, all this means more traffic jams, clogged pores and acne.
But this is just a part of the equation. Take a look at the following quote:
Despite there being a correlation of acne with elevated IGF?1 and DHEAS (type of androgen), it would be difficult to use these hormones as laboratory markers of adult acne in the clinical setting because levels are usually within the normal range. Undoubtedly, these hormones have important effects in other organ systems in the adult in addition to effects in the skin, and therefore nonspecific inhibition of hormone synthesis could have undesirable effects.
Correlation Between Serum Levels of Insulin-like Growth Factor 1, Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate, and Dihydrotestosterone and Acne Lesion Counts in Adult Women Mark Cappel, MD; David Mauger, PhD; Diane Thiboutot, MD ARCH DERMATOL/VOL 141, MAR 2005 www.archdermatol.com
In plain English that means that IGF?1 and androgen levels cause acne in acne prone individuals, but the levels are roughly the same for people with and without acne. Some, yet unknown, cause works behind the scenes to cause acne.
