Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

As a young person living in America, the superficial society that it is, I have an aversion for any blemish, pimple, or mark that threatens to make its presence known on my face. Glowing, blemish free skin is the ideal and a sign of good health.    Every girl is entitled to radiant, clear skin and avoidance of the bad mood that occurs as a consequence of the appearance of a gargantuan pimple. Granted, I do realize that there are infinitely worse scenarios that can be inflicted upon a person, but at the same time one should not have to face the awfulness of pimples or a dull complexion amidst all the other chaos in one’s life.

Thankfully, as the daughter of Dr. Fuhrman, I know that diet plays a huge role in maintaining healthful, as well as youthful, looking skin. The same nutrient dense diet that keeps us healthy and prevents chronic diseases naturally helps prevent pimples, acne, and the like. Welcome to Radiant Skin 101, my one article class on the ins and outs of how to attain and maintain healthy, radiant skin:

Radiant Skin 101:

1)     The hormones inside our bodies are important contributors to what cause pimples to appear on the outside. In particular, the hormone insulin an important modulator of breakouts. Insulin is most commonly known as the hormone for regulating blood sugar and is associated with diabetes, yet interestingly it also increases   oils that appear on our skin. Who would have thought? Insulin levels fluctuate based on what we eat, and these fluctuations can affect other hormones such as testosterone that also promote acne.

2)     Processed foods made with white flour and sugar lead to blood sugar spikes, causing insulin levels to go into the hateful “pimple-producing zone”. Sugar and processed foods are nada good for our skin. 

3)     Of course this is more complicated than just sugar and insulin. The peeps at Harvard say milk is not skin-friendly food. The Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study in which the diets of 6,084 teenage girls were analyzed. Girls who drank two or more servings of milk per day were 20 percent more likely to have acne. Milk contains bioactive molecules that act on the glands where blackheads are formed. William Danby MD, a dermatologist at Dartmouth, noted in an editorial accompanying the study that 70 to 90 percent of all milk comes from pregnant cows and that the milk contains hormones such as progesterone, testosterone precursors and insulin-like growth factor releasing hormones, all linked to acne.

4)     The foods you should eat for radiant skin? Green vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, seeds, avocadoes, starchy vegetables, and whole grains, of course. These foods are loaded with antioxidants, substances that help our skin repair damage. Plant foods also contain an array of phytochemicals. The foods rich in carotenoids are super foods for your body, not just your face. They supercharge the immune system’s defensive capabilities and help prevent many diseases, including heart disease and cancer. Many thousands of these chemicals are found in brightly colored plant foods. So in regards to the health of our skin, the more carotenoids and phytochemicals that are present, the faster our skin can repair damage, and remove and detoxify waste products and toxic compounds. 

So, in summary, consumption of micronutrient-rich natural plant foods leads to radiant, pimple free skin and processed foods and dairy are blackhead friendly.   How many more teenagers would eat a cancer-protective diet, if they knew it would repair their skin and keep them looking good? Avoiding dairy and junk food is easy when there are so many healthier, just as tasty, food options available. I’m a huge fan of soymilk and almond milk, for example. To me, faux milks taste better than actual cow’s milk. Resisting processed foods becomes pie in the sky when I know I can have a delicious fruit smoothie instead. Instead of poppin’ M and M’s, pop blueberries and cherries. Great skin and tasty food? Check!  

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (18)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A new study published in Pediatrics measured the proportion of girls who had entered puberty by ages 7 and 8, and saw striking increases compared to data collected in 1997, only 13 years ago. This study of U.S. girls found that by age 7, 10.4% of Caucasian girls (5% in 1997), 23.4% of African-American girls (15% in 1997), and 14.9% of Hispanic girls had already entered puberty. By age 8 the percentages were 18.3%, 42.9%, and 30.9%.¹

This is distressing information, since early maturation is a well-established risk factor for breast cancer later in life.² Cumulative exposure to ovarian hormones is a major determinant of breast cancer risk, and entering puberty early results in increased cumulative hormone exposure in young women.³

Age at menarche has been consistently decreasing over the past 100 years.⁴ In the medical literature, the probable causes of this continuing trend are clear – excess body fat and excess consumption of animal products are contributing factors to the declining age of puberty. 

Obesity is a factor that increases one’s exposure to estrogen, and multiple studies have found associations between excess weight during childhood and early menarche.⁵ Soft drink consumption, which is a contributor to the increasing rates of childhood obesity, is also associated with early menarche.² A new study supporting this evidence was also published online in Pediatrics this week, analyzing connections between early childhood weight and age at onset of puberty. These researchers found that increased weight and body mass index (BMI) even at the early ages of 0-20 months was associated with earlier puberty.⁶

Total animal protein and meat intake at ages 3 and 7 were positively associated with age at menarche in a recent British study. Girls with the highest meat intake at age 7 were 75% more likely to have begun menstruating by age 12 ½ than those in the lowest category of meat intake.⁷

Physicians and parents are concerned about the social implications of this trend toward earlier maturity - seven year old girls are most likely not emotionally equipped to handle the onset of puberty. Unfortunately, the consequences of this trend are not only emotional. Early in life, our bodies are much more susceptible to carcinogenic influences – childhood diets are the major cause of adult cancers.  It is becoming increasingly clear that the Western diet of meat, cheese, and processed food is harming our children, but many parents unknowingly continue to feed their children these disease-promoting foods. As parents, we must be proactive – we want the best for our children, and as such we must feed them the best possible foods. We can help to slow our children’s development by feeding them a diet based on natural plant foods, which will groom their taste buds to prefer healthy foods at a young age and provide them with significant protection against cancers and other chronic diseases as they grow into adulthood.

References:

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (19)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

All over the United States this summer, in every county, the youth of America are celebrating the 4-H fair. Some are showing their cows, pigs, lambs, and llamas; many are displaying their homemade butter cakes, yeast rolls, cookies, and garden produce; most are having the time of their lives!  All are participating in a week of county fair activities; everything from midway rides to tractor pulls to eating Funnel Cakes and Elephant Ears.

If you were a 4-H’er as a kid, you know the infamous pledge: 

“I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service and my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world.”

 I wrote about the paradoxical message of 4-H pledge last summer on Disease Proof.

Recently, I was glancing through my hometown’s evening paper, and my eye caught the following title, “Technique Matters: Contestants feel the need for speed . . . eating.” ¹ It was an article devoted to the pizza eating contest at the 4-H fair. An eleven-year-old boy won the contest by stacking one slice on top of the other before devouring them. He was interviewed and said that he didn’t really prepare, but ate rice the night before to expand his stomach. He enters the contest because it’s fun. 

Are we really teaching the next generation of youth to devote his/her health to better living? . . . . to pledge their heads to clearer thinking?

As Dr. Fuhrman expressed in a follow-up post last year, “It’s not just the 4-H fair, it’s everywhere.” read more . . . .

What are your observations of the county fairs and festivals this summer? What tangible and proactive ways can we be contributors and role models of health to this next generation? Let’s dialogue and see if we can come up with some innovative solutions to this ongoing crisis.  

¹ The News Sentinel; July 23, 2010, 3L, by Paige Chapman

image credits:   4-H emblem, extension.iastate.edu; boy eating pizza, freshbrothers.com  

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (7)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

While growing up, food is what set me apart from my peers. Naturally, being the daughter of Dr. Fuhrman is going to result in some pretty unconventional school lunches and after school snacks. As a young child, it didn’t take me long to figure out that my friends were being packed ham sandwiches and chips and I was not. My parents only packed me healthy stuff, never processed foods, white bread sandwiches or Lunchables, those highly processed convenience foods that children thought (due to commercials) were as cool as winning a game of dodgeball. I did not try a McDonald’s French Fry until I was in the fourth grade. I felt like a rebel buying chocolate chip cookies in middle school, a thought process never occurring to my friends. 

During my childhood, I chose to ignore the health consequences of what I ate and was a pleasure seeking eater, as any little one has a right to be. I was allowed to have pizza at lunch on some Fridays and I was never denied Carvel ice cream cake at my friend’s birthday parties. I looked forward to those Fridays and any other time my mom would let me eat something she deemed “unhealthy”. My parents were not completely rigid; they just only had healthy foods at home. They did not make me feel guilty or punish us if we strayed. They understood that kids need some flexibility and are going to want to explore the food culture in our society. Yet, while I had some occasional treats, I still wished I was like the other kids. I wanted a box of Brownie cookies when my Brownie troop sold them and I wanted my mom to buy me Lucky Charms like my friend Alyssa’s mom bought them for her. Don’t get me wrong, I liked, and even loved, many of the foods that were provided for me at home. Yet, as a young child, acceptance and pleasure trump health any day of the week.   

Then everything changed. It began in the seventh grade and became an unstoppable force in eighth. Instead of being rebellious, I wanted to be the epitome of a healthful eater. The phrase, “You are what you eat,” finally kicked in, a pride in my unconventional eating habits blossomed, and I became an unstoppable walking nutrition encyclopedia. I went so far as to criticize my friends for their poor eating choices. “Are you really going to eat that donut?” I would proclaim, and then begin a diatribe on the dangers of consuming partially hydrogenated oils and trans fatty acids. Understandably, my friends were annoyed and thought I was nuts. After having so many friends become angry with me that year, I learned my lesson to set a good example, yet not attempt to give others diet advice unless I was asked.

Since that time, I have continued to appreciate eating a natural, plant based diet, not only because it is delicious, but because it grants me the gift of health. I could not be more grateful for being raised on our unconventional diet and I am happy to report that I suffered no permanent damage from being allowed only three pieces of candy on Halloween and no other candy. Many of the foods I grew up eating have become my favorite foods and I realize how fortunate I am to never have to transition to eating healthier foods, as I was already there from the get-go. 

Let my previous words be words of encouragement to all mothers who are having difficulties raising nutritious eaters in our junk food world. Even if your child or children don’t appreciate the foods you are feeding them now or resent the denial of junk foods, they will in later years. Years that will be filled with good health, rather than debilitating health problems. Eating well is a lifestyle that should be embraced by the entire family and every child deserves to have the best start in life and can learn to love being “different,” just like I did.    

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (19)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link