Those of us who struggle with acne know it.
Acne is much more than an aesthetic annoyance.
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.
That’s why we looked closely at the research about acne, to discover if nutrients are effective against it. And in this article, you will learn about the three most promising we found.
But first, we must understand what causes acne in the first place...
Skin Health Is A Matter Of Balance
As you probably 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 soft.
As the skin inside the pores rebuilds 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 may shed unevenly. And when this happens, dead cells and sebum can clump together, plugging your pores.
When your body’s immune system kicks in, the pore gets inflamed. It fills with white blood cells (pus). And you wake up to yet another bad breakout staring back from the mirror.
This broken balance between your sebum production and skin shedding is the root cause of acne.
And it's why there are so many acne remedies. This unbalance has many possible reasons, and usually more than one is acting at once - it’s different for everybody.
But can nutrients actually help restore your skin health?
Why Nutrition Affects Your Acne
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 most promising:
Zinc and Acne
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
- Regulates the amount of sebum produced by your glands
- Helps to fight the bacterial infections that occur inside clogged pores
- Helps the process of cell reproduction, 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 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]