The Influence of a High Sugar Diet on Your Cystic Acne
Many people don't realize how influential the diet is on your skin. Did you know that high sugar intake can lead towards blood sugar imbalances that lead towards higher hormones that trigger breakouts?
High sugar intake is also connected towards breaking down your gut barrier leading towards leaky gut. This produces more breakouts and inflammation on the skin.
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What is sugar?
Sugar is a simple form of carbohydrate that can be naturally occurring in foods (fruits naturally contain fructose) and because they are simple carbohydrates, this makes them easy for the body to digest. Refined sugar is generally consumed as sucrose (table sugar) and high fructose corn syrup.
Eating too much refined sugar can contribute towards obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
With many of my patients, we spend time on supporting diet by replacing refined, high-sugar foods with options that are less sugar heavy. Sugar has a big impact on your whole body. You may not realize the impact sugar has on your body just yet, but it can catch up to you later in life.
What you may not have known is that refined sugar can have a detrimental impact on your digestive system as well.
High sugar intake impacts your gut:
Changes to the types of bacteria in the gut
Impairs the gut lining, making it more permeable (leaky gut)
Creates an environment to allow harmful bacteria and fungus (like candida) to take over
High sugar intake impacts your skin:
Signals insulin and IGF-1 to be released
IGF-1 attaches to receptors on your pores that stimulates more oil production on the skin
High oil production on the skin clogs up pores and creates breakouts
Dysbiosis in the gut can create more inflammation in the body and breakouts on the skin
Insulin can trigger androgen production (testosterone, DHT) that increase the presence of breakouts
Signs Your Blood Sugar Could Be Affecting Your Skin:
There are certain signs that indicate your blood sugar may be out of balance, often thought of with other issues (like low cortisol)
Energy crashes: Do you feel great after lunch but then hit an afternoon slump? This could be a sign of a blood sugar spiked and then a sharp drop followed.
Sugar cravings: Craving sweets or carbohydrates frequently is a telltale sign that your blood sugar levels are in need of some support.
Frequent hunger: If you’re always feeling hungry, even shortly after meals, it could mean your body isn’t efficiently processing the sugars you’re consuming.
Jawline and chin breakouts: These areas are typically where cystic acne appears when there’s a hormonal component, often exacerbated by blood sugar imbalances.
Sugar in Your Food:
Refined sugar is often found in processed foods and condiments. To tell if there is refined sugar in your food, look at the ingredients label. You'll be looking for ingredients that say: white sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, cane sugar, coconut sugar, dextrose, rice sugar, barley malt/barley malt syrup, maltose, maltodextrin…there are so many that can be listed, but these are some of the more common ones!
How can you cut sugar out of the diet?
The best way is to cut sugar out cold turkey. Stop eating sugar because the more often you eat it, the more you will crave it. Did you know that sugar can alter mood and activate the pathways of reward and pleasure similar to drugs like cocaine?!
Better options for sugar:
Whole fruits
Stevia
Often times, looking at labs can be helpful in identifying the root cause of your acne. If you want a personalized approach to your acne, set up a free discovery call with me so we can discuss how we can approach your breakouts through my Acne Healing Package.
Talk Soon,
Dr. Alyssa
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