High Fat Diet and Skin Care

Hamburgers, ice-cream, cakes, donuts, fried potatoes…… We have already known that there are so much food in our world which taste so good but are not good for our skin. In this last blog post, I will introduce the reason why eating too much high fat food is not good for your skin as well as how the high fat food influences our skin by explaining the research which is done by the Tokyo University of Agriculture, Department of Nutritional Sciences.

Before I introduce the experiment, I will firstly explain some basic elements which contain in our body, and I hope these can help you to understand the research study better.

 

Skin Lipid

Skin Lipid is a type of natural molecules on our skin which contain ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol. It has an importance role in energy metabolism and prevents entry of toxic compounds and lose of water from our skin. Thus, any disturbance in the metabolism of these lipids can lead to skin dysfunction.

                                            Ceramides

Ceramide is a family of lipid molecules, and it is contained in our skin lipid. It is involved in skin metabolism and helps to protect the moisture in the skin goes away.  Ceramides is used in many skin products.

Messenger RNA (mRNA)

MRNA is a type of Ribonucleic acid (RNA). RNA is one of the three major macromoleculus (along with DNA and proteins) that are essential for all known forms of life. MRNA is involved in the in lipid metabolism.

Adiponectin

        

        Adiponectin is a protein hormone which helps to regulate lipid metabolism

The Purpose of this Study

The Purpose of this Study is to investigate the molecular changes in skin function that result from High Fat (HF) diets. This study is important because the relationship between HF diets and skin molecules is not well understood, and hence it may help more people who care about their skin to be aware of controlling the amount of HF diets they take.

        Methods

       At the beginning of the research, 5 four week old male rats are tested. They are divided into four groups: one with 5% corn oil in the daily diet, one with 5% of lard, one with 15% of lard and one with 25% of lard. After 28 days, their skins from the back are cut, and the rest of the skins are frozen and are used to evaluate the genes. Then the level of ceramides, lipids and MRNAs which I mention previously are evaluated through the thin layer chromatography (TLC) which is a technique that is used to separate mixture by colors. Researchers also evaluate the amount of lipids by oil red O, a stain which is used to measured up lipids through distinguishing the differences of the colors. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique which helps to look for DNA is used to evaluate the genes changes in the skin. For the adiponectin, its serum concentration is measured by another technique which calls ELISA.

       Results

         After evaluation, researchers discover that HF diets led to two kinds of     

enzymes Serine C-palmitoyltransferase (SPT) and HMG-CoA reductate’s mRNA level decrease, which causes the reduce levels of ceramide and lowered skin lipid. The PPAR-x, the group of proteins that function as transcription factors regulating the expression of genes and help to upregulate SPT and HMG-Coa reductates is also reduced. In addition, the HF diets also reduce the serum concentration of adiponectin. The carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1, the rate-limiting enzyme that act in b-oxidation, however, is increased. B-oxidation is a process which helps to break down fatty acids.

Conclusion

From this research, we learn about how and why HF diets affect our skin.Firstly, the research shows that HF diets can lower PPAR-x activity, and hence reduce the SPT and HMG-CoA reductase, which are linked to the reduction of ceramide and lipid synthesis in the skin. Secondly, the decrease of adiponectin which helps to regulate lipid metabolism also causes the lipid synthesis in the skin decrease. Thirdly, the enhancement of b-oxidation which breaks down fatty acid leads to the decrease of lipid as one takes more HF diets. In conclusion, all of these factors lead to the disturbance in the lipid metabolism as well as the decrease of lipid and ceramide which help us to barrier between our skin and the outside environment. Taking all together, the researchers of this study believe that the data of this study suggests that “HF diets can lead to rough and moistureless skin” (Yamane, Kobayashi-Hattori and Oishii, 2011, page 6).

       Now we are more for sure that HF diets like cakes and donuts may affect our skin, and hence even though most of the HF diets are delicious, let us control ourselves a little bit more!! (and perhaps we can buy more skin care products which contain ceramide? : ) )

Finally, I hope my blog can help you to know more about taking care of our skin from paying more attention to our diets!!

Bye~ : )

Research Achieved from: 

Yamane, Takumi, Kobayashi-Hattori, Kazuo & Oishi Yuichi. (2011). A high-fat diet reduces            

    ceramide synthesis by decreasing adiponectin levels and decreases lipid content by modulating 

    HMG-CoA reductase and CPT-1 mRNA expression in the skin. Wily Online Library. Retrieved  

    from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/doi/10.1002/mnfr.201100144/pdf

Skin Care Diet and Chronic Disease

    In this article, I am going to discuss about the relationship between chronic disease and skin care diet, and I hope this can give you more motivations and reasons to continue or start a healthy skin diet!

    The link between chronic disease and skin care diet are very strong, and seems like most of the foods which are good for your skin are also foods which can help you to prevent from chronic disease. On the other hand, foods which are harmful to your skin increase the risk of getting chronic disease as well. In this article, I will explain the link between chronic disease and skin care diet by giving food examples which are good or bad for your skin. I hope this can help you from either improving your skin or preventing from certain chronic disease. : )

    According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the basic strategies of countering chronic disease such as “cancer, diabetes and obesity” (WHO, 2003, para. 1) are to have “Less saturated fats, sugar and salt, more fruit and vegetables and physical exercise” (WHO, 2003, para. 1). Since we might have heard a lot about the benefits of fruit and vegetables from different experts, in this article, I will focus on fats and sugar.

          Saturated Fats

According to the WHO, “Not all fats or all carbohydrates are the same; it pays to know the difference… People should eat less high-calorie foods, especially foods high in saturated fat and sugar” (2003, para. 18). From what WHO says, having too much saturated fats can be a factor which causes chronic disease. Some examples of saturated fats can be cheese, fatty meats, whole milk and cookies which are more likely to be in a solid format at room temperature (Hales & Lauzon, 2010, page 102). As what I write about in the previous article, milk can actually cause acne, and that is proven by a study which is done by the Nurses Health Study II (please refer to http://skincareanddiet.blogspot.com/2011/06/acne-and-diet.html, para 2). Therefore, we can actually see the link between skin care diet and chronic disease from here, which saturated fats are not only harmful to your skin but also higher your risk to get chronic diseases.




                                                                        Sugar

      Another important factor which causes chronic disease is overtaking sugar (WHO, 2003). On the other hand, Nicholas Perricone, a Medical Doctor and a dermatologist who has written several books also believe that “when your collagen is cross-linked by sugar, you end up with stiff and sagging skin” and “50% of aging of the skin is the result of this glycation reaction” (2005). By comparing both of the WHO and Perricone’s opinion, we can see that over taking sugar can lead to both chronic disease and skin damage.

            


Marine origin

      What about food which can help preventing chronic disease and improve skin as well? Besides vegetable and fruits, marine origin is perhaps one of another best example I can give. According to the WHO, marine origin is another food which is good to take more in order to prevent chronic disease (2003, para. 18). The reason of that is because marine origin contains omega-3 fatty acids which help to improve our immune function (Douglas Laboratories, 2003, para 2). For the skin, marine origin helps us by “stimulating collagen production” (Ting, 2006 para 5) and “encouraging skin renewal” (Ting, 2006, para 5). To people who may do not know very much about collagen, skin collagen is a very important element to maintain our skin to look younger or good since “it is the principle structure protein holding the skin together” (Ting, 2006, para 10) and we should take more collagen since “collagen degrades in a natural process” (Ting, 2006, para 10).

Additional information: Tobacco

     According to the WHO, during childhood and adolescence, tobacco increases the risk of developing certain chronic diseases, high blood pressure which can lead to other risk factors in early adulthood (2003, page. 34). In Fact, tobacco is also one of the huge factors which affect our skin badly. Akimichi Morita, an MD and professor and chairman in department of geriatric and environmental dermatology even writes a whole book on the relationship between tobacco and skin which called “Molecular Basis of Tobacco Smoke-Induced Premature Skin Aging.” Medical Doctor Richard D. Hurt also agrees that smoking can cause wrinkles by explaining that “smoking can speed up the normal aging process of your skin, contributing to wrinkles”(Hurts, 2009, para 2). The Action on Smoking and Health organization explains that “tobacco smoke released into the environment has a drying effect on the skin’s surface” and “smoking restricts blood vessel, it reduces the amount of blood flowing to the skin, thus depleting the skin of oxygen and essential nutrients” (ASH, 2009, para 3).

  

The above pictures show the study which is done by Louis Chang, a medical doctor who compares smoking and non-smoking twins14 years later… (Right Side: non-smoking twins    Left Side: smoking twins)

 

Conclusion

             From all of the evidences given above, we can see the potential link between the skin care diet and the diet which helps to prevent or avoid chronic diseases. Evidences from both sides of the comparison are all   relatively trustful since they are written in the current period and came from either reputable organization or expert who is a medical doctor and has Phd on specific area of skin care. However, some other factors which go against each other may be still ignored. More research is needed to be done in order to investigate the link between the diet for skin care and the diet for chronic diseases. 

References

Action on Smoking and Health. (2009, November). How Smoking Affects the 

    Way you Look. Action on Smoking and Health. Retrieved from: 

    http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_115.pdf.

Douglas Laboratories. (2003). DEPA—A rich source of long-chain omega-3 fatty 

    acids. Douglas Labs. Retrieved from: 

    http://www.douglaslabs.com/pdf/pds/7980.pdf.

Hales, Dianne & Lauzon, Lara. (2010). The Invitation to Health. Toronto: 

    Wadesworth.

Hurt, Richard D. (2009). Is It True that Smoking Causes Wrinkles? Mayo Clinic.

    Retrieved from: 

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/smoking/AN00644.

Perricone, Nicholas. (2005). The Wrinkle Cure. MedicineNet.com. Retrieved 

    from: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=54286

Ting, Prontip. (2006, September). Facts about Marine Collagen and Benefits to 

     Skin. Webraydian. Retrieved from: http://www.webraydian.com/

World Health Organization (2003). Nutrition and Prevention of Chronic Disease.

    World Health Organization. Retrieved from: 

    http://whqlibdoc.who.int/trs/who_trs_916.pdf

World Health Organization. (2003). WHO/FAO release independent Expert 

    Report on diet and chronic disease. World Health Organization. Retrieved 

    from: 

    http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2003/pr20/en/

Acne and Diet

   When we talk about skin care problems, acne is probably one of the most popular topics which people worry about. In this article, the debate between diet and acne is introduced, and I hope this can help you to improve and know more about your skin. : )

    The major controversy which I want to discuss is whether diet causes acne or not. By giving data which are based on experiences, some people argue that there are certain food can induce acne. One of these researches is done by the Harvard School of Public Health which believes that when we consume milk, we are actually consuming additional exogenous hormones in our body that causes acne (Danby, 2005, p. 360). The Nurses Health Study II also evaluates 47,355 women by using questionnaires and finds out that there is a positive correlation between milk and acne (Adebamowo et.al., 2005, p. 207-214). Another study which is done in Australia also shows a similar result by dividing 50 young men between the ages of 15 to 25 into two groups: one group with food such as lean meat, fruits and vegetables and the other with typical western diet (Shrieves, 2007, para.4). Some people also argue their opinions by saying people who have not yet been exposed to a western diet are less likely to have acne (Shrieves, 2007, para.1). All of these experiences and data show us the potential link between diet and acne. However, there are also some researches and experiences which go against the correlation between acne and diet.

    Without doing any research, most people may probably against the previous statement by saying they know people who have healthy diet and drink lots of water but still have the problem of acne. There is a research which shows that junk food such as chocolate does not cause acne, and instead, the antioxidant inside of the chocolate can help to protect our skin from getting older (Acne Resource Center, n.d., para. 5). More importantly, chocolate also helps us to reduce stress which is one of the big causes of acne (Acne Resource Center, n.d., para. 5). People who argue against the milk experience which I mention previously state their argument by explaining that the collection data is not reliable since it is hard for people to recall what they eat years ago or even days ago (American Academy of Dermatology, 2009, para. 6).

    So which side of the arguments we should believe? From my perspective, diet can actually affect skin. The reason why I believe that is because most of the researches which also believe in the link between diet and acne (like the milk research and the Australian experiment I mention) are quite reliable and reasonable. They are reliable because they are all came from creditable researchers who have high education degree on the health perspective area and are all obtained after 2004. They are also reasonable because it gives biological explanation. For instance, the milk experiment explains that the endogenous hormones and IGF-1 in the milk can cause acne (Damby, 2005, p.360-361). They are also reasonable because some of those opinions fit my personal experience, which every time when I eat lots of junk food or western food, my face grow acne. For the counter side which argues that they have seen people who grow acne with healthy diet and lots of water, I explain that diet is not the only factor which causes acne. Other factors such as stress can also cause acne, and I learn this information from my health science class.

    Even though there is a potential link between diet and skin, I don’t think we should go too extreme. By saying too extreme, I mean it is not a good idea to stop drinking milk or eating potato chips forever. Nevertheless, we can eat less junk food and drink less milk according to how our body and skin response to those food.

References

Adebamowo CA, Spiegelman D, Danby FW, Frazier AL, Willett WC, Holmes MD. (2005, February). High school dietary dairy intake and teenage acne. AcneHelp, 207-214. Retrieved from: http://www.acnehelp.org.uk/papers/Article1.pdf

Acne Resource Center. (n.d.). The Chocolate and Acne Myth. The Acne Resource Center Online. Retrieved from: http://www.acne-resource.org/acne-articles/chocolate-myth.html

American Academy of Dermatology. (2009, January). Food Does Not Cause Acne. AcneNet. Retrieved from: http://www.skincarephysicians.com/acnenet/acne_and_diet.html

Danby, F, William. (2005, February). Acne and milk, the diet myth, and beyond. Acne Help, 361-360. Retrieved from: http://www.acnehelp.org.uk/papers/Commentary.pdf

Shrieves, Linda. (2007, November). Study Suggests diet affects acne. The Seattle Times. Retrieved from: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2004009923_webdietacne13.html

What Kind of Sources We Should Believe?

    In this article, I am going to provide some examples to show you which kind of references we should trust and which we should not trust when we do our research on diet and skin. I hope these examples can give you some ideas on how to judge a piece of information about health and skin.   

    The article which I am going to criticize is called “5 Delicious Tips for Acne-Free, Beautiful Skin” which writes about food that helps to prevent acne and promote beautiful skin. (Puusa, n.d). There are five specific things which show the article lacks credibility, and let us look at them one by one.

Author                

     

    The identity of the author makes me doubt the credibility of the article. According to Bazz.com, the writer of this article, Seppo Puusa, is a guy who “helps companies to reach international markets” and does “online-business by helping people to cure their acne and improve their overall health” (n.d). It does not show if he has any expert knowledge on diet and skin care. Instead, it shows the potential purpose of this article is not to share health information but to promote “international markets” by using the internet. In fact, at the bottom of this article, Puusa suggests that “if you have moderate to severe acne or other difficult skin problems simple dietary treatment may not be enough. Persistent or severe skin problems usually require more complete treatment” with a link on his free e-book (Pussa, n.d., para. 20). I try to enter the link and find out the following things which make me surprise!!

When I enter the link which is circled on the above screen shot, it asks me to register an account and confirm the account through my e-mail… (He won’t do that if his only purpose is to share good health information to the others!!)

 

When I enter to the free e-book, I find out that what the “book” writes about is just some basic knowledge plus some other advertisements on books which are NOT FREE, and a convenience online banking link is also provided at the bottom of the page which helps you to order his book.

.

                    

Now, do you still think his only purpose is to share good information with you? 
If not, please see the following! 


Dates

    The written date is not told in this article. It is not a good idea to trust a source which does not show the written date because our environment as well as the food situation changes overtime. Diet information which is written around the period we read is usually better since it matches our current situation and problems that we encounter. In some cases, newer information is also better than the older one because it experiences a longer period of time than the older one.

Lack of Good Evidence

    Many evidences which Puusa provides are questionable. For example, he tries to show that raw food is always good for our skin by using a quote from a supermodel Carol Alt which tells us that the beauty secret is to eat raw food. (Puusa, n.d., para. 3). However, thing which may work for a supermodel does not mean it works for the others. The evidence is not scientific and clear. More importantly, the fact that supermodels usually look younger are based on many other factors such as they do more exercise and pay more attention on their skincare than the others since these are supposed to be parts of their job!

    Although cooking food can destroy some nutrients, but we should still cook food since it helps to destroy some microorganisms which are harmful to our body. Some raw food followers believe that eating raw food can actually cure cancer, but in fact, raw food adherents such as Aveline Kushi (2006, para. 2) and Apple CEO Steve Jobs is either die of cancer or is diagnosed with cancer, according to a health and science journalist Wanjek who receives his master degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. (2006, para. 12).

Oversimplification and Lack of Evidences

    
    One of the other "delicious tips" Puusa gives us is yogurt. He points out that “yogurt is the only dairy product that is good for your skin” (n.d., para. 13). without giving any evidence telling us why we should not eat other dairy products. In facts, many other dairy products such as cheese and milk also contain rich nutrients like vitamins and proteins which are beneficial to our skin. Nutrition Australia once demonstrates that “science does not support link between acne and dairy food” and “low-fat dairy foods will ensure your skin gets all nutrients it needs” (2009), which means we should still have some variety on choosing dairy food but not only yogurts.

Oversimplification

    
    Puusa also tells us that we should not eat proteins and carbohydrates together since it affects our digest system as well as our skin. (n.d., para. 9). However, as far as I know, lots of food beside vegetables and fruit such as many beans and grains are contained with both proteins and carbohydrates, and these grains and beans are the basic food we should have everyday!

    




    Doing research from the internet is perhaps the easiest, cheapest and the most convenience way for us to search information about diet and healthy skin. Nevertheless, the information we get from the internet can be written by anyone, which means the credibility of the information should be different and we should critically analyze those messages before we take them into action!!

References

Buzzle.com. (n.d.). Seppo Pussa. http://www.buzzle.com/authors.asp?author=3562

Nutrition Australia. (2009, April). Dairy Food Myth. Retrieved from: 

    http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/national/resource/dairy-food-myths

Pussa, Seppo. (n.d.).

    5 Delicious Tips For Acne-Free, Beautiful Free. Retrieved from: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/tips-    

    acne-free-beautiful-skin.html

Wanjeck, Christopher. (2006, July 4). The Raw Food Diet: A Raw Deal. Retrieved from: 

    http://www.livescience.com/889-raw-food-diet-raw-deal.html.

About This Blog......

      I am Jelly Sun, a girl who is interested in skin care and health as many other people in the world do. I am writing this blog to people who are interested in protecting their skin by changing their diet. I write this blog because in my opinion, having beautiful and healthy skin can give people lots of benefits. Good skin does not only make us look much better, it also gives us more confidence and makes us to be in a good mood. More importantly, while we are promoting our skin, our diet and health are also promoted.

      Many of us are not born with a perfect face as the models in Victoria Secret. Sometimes, some of us may even secretly complain some parts of our bodies or faces to ourselves.  However, God is still quite fair to at least those of you who are reading this blog in front of the computer now because you are not the one who is too poor to buy cheap and healthy food which is good for the skin.  By promoting our skin, we still gain chances to fill up our shortages in whatever parts of our faces. Some people may argue that skin care products are too expensive to afford, yet having too much skin care products on your skin is not always that good. Sometimes, putting too much stuff on your face is a waste since your skin just can not absorb that much nutrition. Also, using too much skin product all at once may also cause heavy burden on your skin. Therefore, instead of using some expensive skin-products, we can choose to eat some cheap but healthy food to improve our skin.

VS

                          

  

   

  

      Having better diet is perhaps the best and one of the cheapest way to promote our skin. Even though you have been using many expensive skin products, if you do not pay attention on your diet, your skin will still get old and worse quickly. In this blog, much information which is related with skin care and healthy diet will be shared, and I hope those information can help you as well as myself to become more healthy, pretty and confidence! : )