Why grains are so bad for acne
You’ve probably heard that whole grains are good for acne.
Well, do I have a big shocker for you.
Grains are among the worst foods to eat if you suffer from acne.
For many people grains and acne go almost hand in hand. In the what causes acne page I explained that acne is a result of blood sugar problems and chronic inflammation.
The main problem with grains is gluten.
Gluten is a special type of protein that is commonly found in rye, wheat, and barley. Oats as they exist in nature don’t have gluten, but it often gets added during processing. That’s why people with acne should be careful about oats also.
Gluten in grains causes problems because it’s highly allergic. And when something is allergic it’s also inflammatory. The immune system treats gluten as an invader and attacks it. This causes more inflammation and also more acne.
Celiac disease is the most extreme form of gluten intolerance. However many researchers say that up 40% of the population in the US may suffer from hidden gluten intolerance. These people show no outward symptoms after eating grains or gluten.
I know from experience that this hidden gluten intolerance causes acne for many people.
Gluten is the main thing that links grains and acne, but it’s not the only one.
I wrote about grains as part of my ‘Do you make these 5 diet mistakes‘ blog post. I’ll copy-paste the laundry list of problems that connect grains and acne.
Grains irritate the digestive track and may lead to nutrient deficiencies
Grains contain insoluble fiber which is not compatible with the human digestive system. We need soft, soluble fiber from fruits and vegetables not the coarse and sharp insoluble fiber from grains.
Grains are tasteless and unappealing in their natural state
To make grains palatable you need to add spices and eat them with other foods; usually fat or protein. This creates a terrible food combination where neither grains nor the food eaten with them is digested completely.
Undigested food putrefies in the gut and leaks inflammatory toxins into the body. If your body is overloaded with toxins it tries to eliminate them through the skin, which creates the perfect environment for acne causing bacteria to grow.
Further difficult food combinations require huge amounts of energy to digest even partially, leaving you drained.
Grains are addictive
How often do you crave fruits and vegetables? Probably never. But how often you get cravings for starchy foods? Probably very often. Gluten grains contain addictive chemicals that cause withdrawal symptoms once you stop eating them.
“The peptides from gluten and casein are important because the react with opiate receptors in the brain, thus mimicking the effects of opiate drugs like heroin and morphine. These compounds have been shown to react with areas of the brain such as the temporal lobes, which are involved in speech and auditory integration.”
http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/gluten-casein.html
Also see: Celiac Notes: Opiate Withdrawal from Gluten and Casein?
This acne and grains link applies to whole grains also. Yes, they have more nutrients than refined grains, but that doesn’t negate all the other problems grains have.
Despite all the other negative effects of eating grains, for acne victims gluten remains their biggest downside. So if you choose to eat grains, go with the ones that are gluten free.
Examples of grains that do not have gluten include wild rice, corn, buckwheat, millet, amaranth, quinoa, teff, oats, soybeans, and sunflower seeds.
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Comments on Why grains are so bad for acne
Hello this came as a big shocker to me, I feel so cheated after all these years thinking grains were good for those even with acne lol. Thankyou for this post but I was also wondering what suppliments are there from wheat and grains for acne suffers. I almost seems like there’s nothing else.
If you can help me I woud appreciate it.
Thank you
I don’t think grain-based supplements matter. The amounts of ‘harmful’ ingredients from those would be minimal. I would avoid overt wheat foods, such as breads and pastas and bakery products and leave it to that. Though grains can be bad for acne it doesn’t mean you never ever could have them again.
I cannot agree Oats causes acne to worsen. I have been eating Oatmeal since im 6 years old and not even a zit remains now.
@Snowy, oats can cause problems for some people, but not for everybody. Food-acne associations are rarely black and white matters.
I personally think you would do better writing fiction, not about acne. You didn’t even have the acne most of us had and with all due respect, what you write about is pure shash. My acne was worse than ever when following your advice, eating fruits and following a low fat diet. Stop going around like some expert, you’re leading some people in the wrong direction altogether.
@Kate:
Actually, Kate, there’s no need to be snooty towards Seppo. Have you tried an anti-inflammatory diet for a year? For some people, it takes literally a year to clear chronic skin conditions, period. (And sometimes in conjunction with other detoxifying things like saunas.) Regarding cleansing, some peoples’ skin even gets worse before it gets better. This is because their bodies are in detox mode, and toxins are rapidly carried out to the surface of the skin… And yes, if you look at Seppo’s pictures that he provided on his website, he used to suffer from severe acne. His clear skin is only the result of him currently being proactive about his health… And after going through a lot of hard work, trial and error, he found the right formula that works best for his body.
That said, there is no one universal diet that works for everyone.– Some people do better on low-fat diets with lots of fruit, some on very little fruit and grains. Others do best on higher-fat diets with lots of high-quality “good fats” like coconut, avocado and organic extra-virgin olive oil. No matter what though, finding out what works with your individual body type does take hard work and dedication. Try a primarily organic anti-inflammatory diet (with some healthy fats for a year.) You’ll see turn-around if you’re consistent.
@Hil:
Yes I’ve tried an anti-inflammatory diet for much more than a year. Sugar in any form (bar a FEW blueberries) makes a complete mess of my face. Fruit sugars give me indigestion DAILY and BAD acne, whereas proteins and fats do not. Seppo goes around slating this approach because he was able to take the lighthearted road to get rid of a few little patches of pimples, so he goes around persuading people that candida is not a real issue. Do you think people can’t get candidiasis if they eat sugary crap all their childhood and then take pharmaceutical drugs? The answer is YES THEY CAN, and just ignoring the problem and “being healthy” is not enough to fix it, at least not when you have REAL cystic acne. I’m not being snooty, I’m simply pissed off that I believed this guy after 6 months of torturous candida die off, which I had to spend another 6 months getting back on track. Now I have scars too, marvellous. Stop going around like some expert Seppo, that’s all I can say.
By the way, I’m not just trying to slag off here, but a bit of gluten free grain such as quinoa or rice does not harm people who cannot handle fruits, so again Seppo, you’re generalizing too much by your own experience. Grains are fine for many people, some people just need to choose the most tolerable and not over-indulge.
@Kate,
First let me say sorry that you’ve had trouble after following my advice. I know that in the past I used to recommend low fat diet. I don’t anymore think that’s such a good idea. Though it’s not nearly as bad as you say it is. It has helped many people. And I also say that I don’t see any point in going to high-fat, low-carb diets. They are almost as stupid as low fat diets.
Now, to your other very informative useful points.
Let me see if you I get this right. You say sugar in any form is bad for you, and that even little fruit gives you indigestion.
And you still kept eating them? And you still blame me for your acne?
Also, you seem to massively struggle with the idea of individuality. It’s the fact that people are different and come from different backgrounds. So what works diet wise for one person might not work so well for another.
You seem to have a severe glucose intolerance, if you can’t take any sugar. That might be due to eating too much fat, which causes insulin resistance.
And then to Candida. It’s all well and good for you to go and claiming that Candida is real issue and causes problems for many, many people.
Just that pretty much the entire medical profession disagrees with you. It’s true that systemic Candida exists but only in people with severely compromised immune systems, such as HIV patients. And the mortality rate is 50%+. Given these I somehow doubt that systemic Candida is a huge issue for many people.
You also make a logical fallacy in assuming that just because you had what you call ‘Candida die off’ that you had Candida.
It’s well known that the body has to go through an adjustment period after you make drastic diet changes. Especially when you switch to burning fat for fuel.
It’s much more likely that the ‘die off’ is a result of this adjustment than Candida somehow dying in masses.
We just can’t draw very reliable conclusions based on personal experience. And that’s the reason doctors don’t make medical decisions based on personal testimonials. They make them based on controlled medical studies that can separate placebo and other ‘non-specific effects’ from the real effects.
Now, I’m really happy for you that you’ve found something that works for you. By all means keep at it.
But please don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because something works for you that it would work for everybody else.
And please don’t go making stupid recommendations that people should stop eating fruits. For most people fruits in moderation are just fine. They may not be for you, but for most people they are.
Again you seem to blame me for your own actions. If you suddenly changed from a high fat diet to low diet I can bet that your face is going to be a mess for a while. Again it takes time for the body to adjust. It takes time for the body to reverse the insulin resistance that high fat diet takes. And during this time you can expect your blood sugar levels to go crazy and your face to be a mess.
It seems to me like you are jumping from one thing to another without really understanding what happens. And when things go wrong you go around blaming other poeple for your own mistakes.
On to your comment about grains.
Yes, there are some grains that are ok to eat. You really can’t take this diet thing as a black and white matter. Simply because grains might not be the best thing for your skin doesn’t mean you could never eat them. I eat rice and oatmeal almost daily.
And I’m not writing these pages from my own experience. It’s based on the understanding that gluten and most grains are somewhat inflammatory, and based on accounts from other acne patients who see massive changes in their skin after cutting out wheat and gluten.
Finally, I’m not pretending to be an expert here. I’ve never said that I would have all the knowledge on this subject. Nor have I said that I would be a doctor or some final authority.
I share my experience and research on this site. And so far it has helped thousands of people. But we are all different. I’m sorry it didn’t help you.
@Kate, did you actually even read this article? I was talking the whole time about gluten. In the end I even said that if you want to eat grains go with gluten free ones and listed several options there. It’s probably because you hate me so much that you want to twist my words in a way that you can ‘prove’ me wrong.
OK Seppo, first of all I’m sorry if that came across as a big criticism. I actually feel embarrassed having read it, I just felt frustrated having found different things to yourself, and candida was definitely a problem for me. I took anti-biotics for 18 months and had a rather bad diet as a kid, so my immune system was particularly weak and the symtoms were just all-round 100% candida.
I’m aware of the dietary change (atkins carb crash thing) but my symptoms were candida die off – they persisted even when eating some carbs as I was on many anti-fungal supplements. There are a lot of anti-fungal supplements in nature, because yeast is a pretty common and diverse organism and there’s an awful lot of different species. Regarding the whole medical community, I frankly couldn’t give a hoot whether they disagree or not, since they were trained by organizations whose goals are to sell pharmaceutical drugs and my personal experience with doctors was that they never helped me. For instance, I had a gastroenterologist continually try to put me on anti-acid medications for what turned out to be extremely low stomach acid. This was one of the very worst problems I ever had and I could not even get a prescription for what actually cured me, because they refuse to consider anything other than what they’ve been trained. Acne and low hcl actually go hand in hand much of the time.
I suppose what I should be saying is simply that, for some people, candida IS a real issue, and there is plenty of evidence to back this up. In fact I’m pretty sure the whole of the natural and holistic therapists will be more so inclined to disagree that candida isn’t a problem! About 70% of women consistently become affected by “thrush” – the symptoms may not show so easily in men, but the point is that these symptoms do not re-appear when carbohydrates are reduced and anti-fungal supplements are taken. Of course for some it’s a small and easily corrected problem, and for others it’s not, but there is also a HUGE amount of evidence to say that there are strong links between candida and cancer, and if you take the time to check, virtually all of the people, causes and cures correlate with each other in such a way that suggests that the worse candida is, the more toward cancer the person goes.
With regard to grains, yes I did realize you mentioned gluten free grains after I’d said that, my apologies. Again I personally found a bit of rice fine for the acne, wheras fruits were definitely more of a problem. I should add that the fruits and high amounts of carbs, even beans would cause indigestion in my case, so it was not strictly glucose / fructose or any other sugar. The only thing that helped was lemons, funnily enough, because indigestion resulted from low stomach acid.
There is a guy called brenton B on acne.org, who pretty summed up my own experience. He also finds fruits a problem and the cystic acne type was the same as mine. From what I see of your acne pictures, Seppo, it was all very much “on the surface” — like mine was BEFORE I took anti-biotics. LOL.
Well I did say enough about me but there I go again.
I found the best things were; reducing most carbs, correcting my omega 3 and 6 ratio, increasing raw greens and anti-inflammatory herbs and anti-fungals, taking fiber supplements such as flax and psyllium, zinc & magnesium, A, B and C vitamins and probiotics. This was not a quick process though, it took 6 months to fully accomplish.
I don’t hate you at all Seppo, and once again I’m sorry it came across in such a way. You write wonderfully and I didn’t mean to have seemed arrogant. I do see some truth in what you say, I just felt there was a lot missing. I appreciate this isn’t all of it and it’s a big topic indeed…
Anyways, thanks for your reply, take care.
@Kate, no worries. Acne hurts and it gets people emotional.
I agree with you that Candida in the gut, mouth and other places is a real issue. I just wouldn’t be so quick to say systemic Candida is an issue. I also don’t (anymore) agree with your views on doctors. I used to be more into natural health, but have since grown out of it – so to say. Anyway, we can agree to disagree
Before I took Accutane I had massive cystic acne in my back. I don’t have pictures from that time. After Accutane it moved into my scalp. Luckily it was a bit hidden there, but anytime I touched my head I would feel massive bumps there. I didn’t have such bad cystic acne on my face. I had a lot of pimples there, but luckily not huge cysts. It was more inflammatory acne with big red spots in many places.
I don’t know what you mean with acne being on surface, since by definition all acne is on surface
Actually, what you did is very much in live with what I recommend in my book, Clear for Life, and at my forums. Reducing carbs to moderate levels, correcting omega 3/6 balance. Probiotics, in this case I recommend making your own yogurt or kefir. I recommend eating more greens in form of green smoothies, but due to fruits those wouldn’t be a good option for you. In addition to diet I recommend some topical treatments to heal inflammation and reduce sebum production etc.
One issue is that I’ve been writing to this website for more than 5 years. And during those years I’ve learned many things and discarded almost as many things as incorrect. So some thing here may not be up to date anymore. For example, I might be less strict in this grains and acne article.
Finally I would like to say that thought I don’t agree with everything you did I’m not suggesting you change anything. You found something that works for you and that’s all that matters.
Hi! I really enjoyed reading some of your pages and truly think that my digestive system is messed up and some of the foods I eat doesn’t help. I am willing to really take your advice. I am 22 and been suffering adult acne since 18 and it is embarrassing, sometimes makes me want to stay in. I would really appreciate it, from the bottom of my heart. I’ve tried so much things and it has lowered my self esteem so much. If you can help me create a meal plan for the day, including foods to eat in the morning, afternoon and night and snacks in between I would really appreciate that! Thank u so much
and great articles! Enjoying ur night. -Jojo
How does this meal plan for the day sound?
Morning: 2 organic eggs, and salad
2 cups of water and green tea 1 cup
Snacks: fruits
Lunch: tuna , or fish with salad
Snack: fruits
Dinner: greek yogurt or natural peanut butter
@Jo, in principle that meal plan looks ok. Just make sure you get enough calories. With all the vegetables you are eating you probably don’t get enough calories and end up losing a lot of weight. There’s no reason not to eat starchy vegetables, like potatoes and sweet potatoes. Even rice is ok for most people. I would just stay away from wheat and possibly rye and oats also. Dairy is generally speaking bad for the skin. The only exception is yogurt. I would stick to homemade (or as close to homemade if you want to buy it) yogurt. Making your own yogurt is actually very easy. I make a batch every week
@Seppo,
Thanks for your advice!
Hi Seppo
thankyou for your awesome post
( im from europe so my english isn’t that good)
I’ve been struggling with acne for as long as i can remember. Lately i went to see a natural doctor and she recommended eating a wheat free diet.
I found out about the wheat when i was taking yeast supplements, that contain wheat. I had horrible breakouts from them!
I am also taking minocycline, but im off now because i wanna see if eating a wheat free diet really helps. It could also be the gluten in the foods i eat.
The bread i am eating now is both gluten and wheat free.
I’ve always felt that diary causes my acne to worsen, so i never eat that.
but to completely cut out grains from your diet seems difficult, i found a good website that could me make my own bread:
http://www.grainfreeliving.com/home
I would like to ask if eating EGGS from GRAIN FED organic chickens is harmful to acne??? I had one today havent eaten them in over a year and awaiting the mess that one might leave on my face, chest, or back… so If i am avoiding grains, will grain fed chicken EGGS cause acne?
@Christine, eggs are a common food allergen. So it’s possible they cause acne for some people. But I don’t think they are a problem for many people.