I haven't read the paper but do they define what they mean by "westernized"? China is very much the east, does acne vulgaris have the same prevelance in countries in Asia and the middle east?
"Herein we report the prevalence of acne in 2 nonwesternized populations: the Kitavan Islanders of Papua New Guinea and the Aché hunter-gatherers of Paraguay." They also mention reports from an Inuit community as it transitioned from a traditional diet/lifestyle to a more industrialized one, and the concomitant rise of acne. The speculation is that low-glycemic load diets are related, possibly through insulin sensiti…
The traditional Chinese diet is mostly rice and vegetables. Modernization brings a large increase of refined sugars and animal fats.
I haven't read the paper but do they define what they mean by "westernized"? China is very much the east, does acne vulgaris have the same prevelance in countries in Asia and the middle east?
From a quick skimming of The Fine Article, it seems to mean people living in "modern" environments — like, e.g., plumbing. If I had to guess, diet is probably among the most salient characteristics, with lessened sun exposure from spending time indoors also being material.
Diet, time inside/outside, exercise, environmental pollutants, stress, water supply (drinking and bathing), consumer products with (often untested) chemicals...
I'd say there are plenty of western/Western attributes that could have a cumulative (?) impact.
"As in the Kitava sample, skin infections and intramuscular abscesses were common and responded well to treatment with antibiotics such as erythromycin and tetracycline." I'll take the occasional zit and cover it up with concealer, thank you very much.
It doesn't have to be a package deal -- their low glycemic load diet isn't causing the abscesses.
The HN title should probably say "nonwesternized" (the term used in the abstract) rather than "non-Western" (although the paper subtitle does use "Western"). Still an ambiguous term, but "non-Western population" would usually be understood to include countries like Japan and China, who this study definitely doesn't mean to include.
I was wondering about that; I was just in China and there were tons of people with acne there.
i recently went on a little exploratory mission to see what the working explanation is for how the pores actually get blocked, and then swell. it sounds like the process, in super detail, is not well understood. from what i could gather, sebaceous glands get blocked, and the sebum they secrete starts to pool in the duct around the follicle, under the skin. the sebum creates an ideal environment for a bacteria called p acnes to flourish, which causes inflammation and redness. it seems that the rate of sebum production, and the composition of the sebum itself might have some effect on how likely the pore is to clog. and, of course, skin cleanliness is but one of many factors that seem to affect how often people get acne. as other people have noted, it sounds like "inflammation", a topic i know nothing about, seems to be at the root- basic idea seems to be that diet can cause inflammation which can then result in acne. im more curious about the actual point at which the pore becomes blocked, and why it happens, from a more mechanical way. i feel like a satisfactory answer to this question would address why some pores on someones face get clogged and others do not. im curious if anyone ever did a very detailed microscopic timelapse somehow. since i havent studied this field at all, its likely im not really asking the right questions, but if anyone reading this has anything interesting about this topic, id love to hear it.
Totally anecdotal, but I started taking vitamin D supplements at the suggestion of my doctor because of my family history of colon cancer. I noticed that my acne declined significantly. I'm wondering if it has to do with the amount of time one spends outside in the sun.
Here's the discussion and the paper on vitamin D: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15867918 . TL;DR: make sure to always get at least 8000 IU of vitamin D per day (10 times the RDA) if you want to be healthy and have good bones, skin, mood, sleep, immunity and metabolism.
I have also heard a rumor that recent studies suggest solid vitamin D pills are better than oil capsules. Would be nice if somebody knowing what particular study says this could share a link.
Why's everybody talking about vitamin D? (Same thing popped up in a Twitter thread I saw about this yesterday.)
As far as I can tell the paper only talks about high insulin loads and refined sugars for etiology? Then again I might have missed something? Seriously, I'm in no way competent to read these papers but all I could see were mentions of insulin spikes and such. Could someone ELI5 what I'm missing?
I noticed that on myself, high concentrations of sugar or high density carbs (pasta and bread) make it surge. A couple of friends of mine also cured a candida infection by avoiding carbs. So our diet might play a role.
Try cutting out dairy. That made a dramatic effect for the better in me. Milk chocolate is probably the worst for me.