On Fri, 2 Jun 2000, Zoe wrote:

> My daughter and her best friend have problems with their complexions
> even though they're nearly 21 years old - they eat a lot of sugar and
> junk food and I mean a lot. Constantly drinking soda and other sugary
> drinks such a gator-ade. Yuck! People on another list that I'm on
> told me that experts no longer think that diet has anything to do
> with it, but that you should drink a lot of water. What do you all
> think?

I think diet has something to do with it, but not in the way that
people used to think.  When I was a teenager the common wisdom
was that "oily" foods caused acne. But eliminating these foods
didn't fix the problem, so that theory fell out of favor.

Acne is an inflammatory process.  I think that a diet that tends
to counteract inflammatory processes should help.  In particular
a low-carb (paleo or not) diet with supplemental omega-3 fats
should help to balance things.

Todd Moody
[log in to unmask]