The influence of dietary patterns on acne vulgaris in Koreans

The association between acne and food has been evaluated with inconsistent results. We enrolled 783 patients with acne and 502 control subjects. For the patients with acne, blood tests for insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), post prandial 2 hours blood glucose (PP2), and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) were performed. The acne patients were divided into an "aggravated by food" group (AF) and a "not aggravated by food" group (NAF). All participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The frequency of vegetables (yellow, green leafy, cruciferous) (P = .001) and fish (white flesh and green fish, blue tuna) ((P = .03) intake was significantly higher in the control group than in the acne group. Intake of instant noodles (P = .01), junk food (P = .002), carbonated drinks (P = .005), snacks (P = .001), processed cheeses (P = .04), pork (braised) (P = .02), pork (roast) (P < .001), chicken (fried) (P = .001), chicken (stewed) (P = .001), nuts (P = .002) and seaweed (P = .003) were significantly higher in the acne patients than in the controls. Intake of roast pork (P = .02), fried chicken (P < .02), and nuts (P = .03) was significantly higher in the AF than NAF. In addition, the regularity of inter-meal intervals (P < .001) and breakfast intake (P < .001) were significantly lower in the acne patients. IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 showed sexual differences. This study also showed that a high glycemic load diet, dairy food intake, high fat diet, and iodine in Korean foods appear to play a role in acne exacerbation. In addition, irregular dietary patterns were found to aggravate acne.