The 3 Key Nutrients For Fighting Acne

Those of us who have struggled with acne know it.

 

Acne is much more than an aesthetic annoyance.

 

It’s canceling plans you were looking forward to because you woke up with a bad breakout, missing out on things. It’s losing all confidence just before an important job interview. It’s trying cream after cream, with no results.

 

It’s a daily, frustrating struggle that can destroy your self-esteem and hold you back, as you dread looking in the mirror in the morning fearing another blemish.

 

At Nutryzen we focus on finding science-backed ways to use nutrition to enhance health. And that’s why we looked closely at the research about acne, to discover if nutrients are effective against it.

 

This is what we found.

 

Skin Health Is A Matter Of Balance

 

As you probably already know, the cause of acne is the pores of your skin getting clogged.

 

Glands inside your hair follicles produce sebum, an oil meant to protect the skin and keep it moist.

 

As the skin inside the pores renews itself, it sheds dead cells. The sebum helps push the dead cells out, keeping your pores free.

 

However, this process can get out of balance. Your glands might produce too much sebum, or the skin can shed unevenly. And when this happens, dead cells and sebum can clump together, plugging the pore.

 

Shed skin, sebum, and bacteria get trapped inside. The follicle starts swelling.

 

When your body’s immune system kicks in, the follicle gets inflamed. It fills with white blood cells (pus). And you wake up to yet another breakout staring back from the mirror.

 

The broken balance between your sebum production and skin shedding is the cause of acne.

 

And that’s why there are so many acne remedies. This unbalance has many possible reasons, and often more than one is acting at once. It’s different for everybody.

 

But can nutrients actually help restore your skin health?

 

Why Diet Affects Your Acne

 

There are many factors that, directly or not, affect what happens in the skin.

 

Some of them are outside our control, like genetics, and some are external, such as cosmetic products and environmental factors like pollution.

 

But what about food?

 

The connection between specific foods and acne is not clear from scientific studies, although there seem to be links between acne and some of what we eat, like chocolate and carbohydrate-rich foods.

 

However, the vitamins and minerals in your diet have a direct link with how well your body works. They influence your hormonal health, the processes happening in the skin, as well as sleep quality and stress levels — which are all factors linked to acne.

 

Nutrition is the easiest way to take action on the root causes of acne, and we have found plenty of scientific studies linking nutrients to beneficial effects.

 

Here are the three we are most excited about!

Zinc and Acne

 

Zinc is an essential mineral nutrient, involved in hundreds of processes in the body and extremely important for overall health.

 

When it comes to acne, zinc enters the pictures in several ways, helping many of the processes necessary to keep the skin clear:

• It’s a powerful antioxidant that reduces inflammation in clogged pores, helping to prevent breakouts
• Reduces the amount of sebum produced by your glands
• Helps to fight the bacterial infections that occur inside clogged pores
• Has a role in stabilizing the process of cell reproduction and death, reducing the excessive buildup of dead skin cells

 

As a result, zinc is one of the most promising nutrients when it comes to acne.

 

• Studies show that people suffering from acne tend to have lower zinc levels overall. [1]
• In one double-blind study on 56 acne patients, 58% of those given zinc supplementation saw a noticeable reduction in their acne within 3 months. [2]
• In another more recent study on 163 patients, the average number of acne lesions dropped by 31% in one month and 49% after 90 days. [3]

How can you get more zinc in your diet?

 

A healthy, balanced diet provides plenty of zinc: meat, shellfish, whole grains, beans, nuts, and eggs are all rich sources of this precious mineral.

 

Zinc supplements are also widely available and generally safe. Be aware though: consuming too much zinc can cause stomach pain and nausea, so it’s best not to exceed recommended dosages!

 

Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5) and Acne

 

An essential vitamin, pantothenic acid is like zinc involved in all sorts of processes in the body. But when it comes to acne, we are most interested in its role in the skin:

 

• Reduces the production of sebum by speeding up the metabolic breakdown of oils inside the cells
• Helps keeps the skin moist, soft and smooth
• Promotes wound healing and skin regeneration

 

Promising studies show an effect of high quantities of pantothenic acid on acne.

 

• In a small 2012 study on 11 patients, the number of acne lesions was reduced on average by 37% in 8 weeks with pantothenic acid and other nutrients. 60% of patients saw a noticeable improvement. [4]
• In a more recent double-blind study on 48 patients, those given pantothenic acid saw the average number of acne lesions drop by 68% in 12 weeks. [5]

How can you get more Vitamin B5 in your diet?

 

Pantothenic acid is widely present in common foods, including meat, eggs, root vegetables, whole grains, and fruits.

 

You probably already get the normal amount of pantothenic acid from your diet. The benefits reported by the studies involved quantities way beyond the normal daily intake, requiring supplementation.

 

Fortunately, pantothenic acid supplements are widely available and safe.

 

Green Tea and Acne

 

Green tea is well known for its positive effects on every organ of the body, and it appears to help with acne as well.

 

• Catechins, the polyphenols found in green tea, have powerful anti-inflammatory effects and help reduce skin inflammation. There is also evidence of them being effective against the most common acne-related bacteria. [6]

 

• In a 2016 double-blind study on 80 people, the patients treated with green tea extract for 4 weeks saw significant reductions in lesions located on the nose, chin and around the mouth. [7]

 

But that’s not everything....

 

Green tea also contains L-theanine, an amino acid known for its relaxing properties. Theanine is commonly used as an anti-anxiety supplement, reducing stress and improving sleep, a usage justified by scientific studies. [8][9]

 

Bad sleep and stress are both factors in acne breakouts: they have terrible effects on your skin.

 

When you are stressed, your body releases a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is useful, but especially when it’s chronically at high levels, it causes inflammation, favoring acne breakouts.

 

That’s the reason acne tends to break out at the worst time! If you are stressed (or ironically, worried about breaking out…), your cortisol levels rise, and your acne is more likely to flare up.

 

Quality sleep is even more important for your skin. The processes to repair and keep the skin’s metabolism at its optimal pace are regulated by hormones produced during deep sleep, when new collagen is synthesized to keep the skin elastic.

 

Sleeping badly causes the skin to lose elasticity and overall less healthy.

 

And of course, stress and bad sleep often come together: stress makes for bad sleep, making you stress even more, and so on.

 

By acting as a natural relaxant, the theanine found in green tea helps ameliorate the effects of stress, and promotes better sleep.

 

Luckily, green tea is readily available both in drinking form and, for higher dosages, as a supplement.

 

Using Nutrients Effectively

 

Our conclusion is clear: nutrients supplementation does have potential in battling acne. As promising new studies come out every year, the future looks bright.

 

But supplementing nutrients effectively, especially more than one at a time, requires careful attention to get everything right.

 

That’s why here at Nutryzen we have decided to develop our own formula.

Skin A+B is our double supplement solution, formulated specifically for acne, starting from solid scientific evidence.

 

With its dual day-and-night solution, Skin A+B combines two supplements to offer your skin the support it needs at different times.

 

During the day, it helps protect and nurture the skin. During the night, it helps your skin recover and regenerate. All synchronized with your body’s natural rhythm.

 

Skin A is your day-time supplement, containing zinc and Green Tea Extracts, as well as other carefully chosen ingredients, like vitamin A, selenium and biotin.

 

• Protects the skin from the stress of the day, from humidity to temperature and pollution
  
  
• Regulates the production of sebum, helping to prevent new blemishes

 

Skin B is taken in the evening, containing zinc, pantothenic acid, and L-Theanine, as well as other nutrients such as chamomile extract and vitamin C.

 

• Promotes healing of lesions, the production of new collagen and the regeneration of skin cells
  
  
• Helps you relax for a full night of quality sleep

 

And the best part?

 

If you try it and it doesn’t work for you, you have 90 days to get 100% of your money back, no questions asked.

 

We get it: acne is a tricky beast, and no solution works for everyone.