14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists from RMIT University in Australia believe that their study on the direct results a healthy diet has on one's skin is the first of its kind in more than forty years. The research comes to build on a well-known hypothesis stating that acne problems can be solved easier by simply changing eating behavior. Replacing high-carbohydrate foods in one's diet with products rich in proteins could lead to a decrease in acne by more than 50%.
Dr. Robyn Smith, leader of the research team, says that "a low-GI diet significantly reduced acne lesion counts when compared with the conventional high-carb, high-GI Western diet.” She bases her conclusions on the results of the testings carried out on 43 teenage boys, who were asked to embrace two different kinds of diets for a period of more than 12 weeks.
Some of the boys ate common western food, ingesting high-carb meals, with a high GI, while others had to go for a more diverse, natural diet, including wholegrain bread, pasta, more vegetables and fruits, fish, seafood - that is, foods rich in proteins, but with a low GI. At the end of the scheduled period, “those on the low-GI diet reduced facial acne by 50%, and showed improvements in their self-esteem and overall wellbeing,” says Dr. Smith.
The GI, aka glycaemic index, is a system measuring the way the amounts of glucose and carbs affect one's health. The foods with a lower GI are to be preferred, as they contain such types of carbohydrates that, if broken down, release only gradually glucose in the bloodstream and don't affect the level of glucose. Therefore, they are easily assimilated by one's body.
That's one of the reasons why eating lots of chocolate is a really bad choice not only for one's health, but also for one's beauty, as skin deep as it may be.