Three Harvard studies linking acne with dairy consumption in adolescent girls and boys blamed the sex steroid hormone content naturally found in cow’s milk (even without added hormones)—particularly skim.
Skim Milk and Acne
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The Harvard Nurses’ Study, published in the prestigious Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, funded in part by none other than the National Dairy Council itself, found that the association between milk intake during adolescence and severe physician-diagnosed teenage acne was even more marked for skim milk than for other forms of milk.
This may be because there is so much more estrogen in skim milk. Researchers found 15 steroid sex hormones in commercial milk right off the shelves, and the highest levels were found in skim milk, compared to 2% and whole.
This study involved asking women what they ate years ago in high school, though. Who can even remember?
So, the next year, Harvard researchers studied milk consumption and acne in adolescent girls directly, following 6,000 girls, aged 9-15, for a few years, and found the same thing: a positive link between intake of milk and acne. Maybe it’s just girls, though?
So, next, they studied milk consumption and acne in teenage boys, and here we go again: a positive association between intake of skim milk and acne.
And it doesn’t appear to be an issue with bovine growth hormone injections, or added steroids. This is just what milk contains naturally. It should surprise no one that milk contains such a heavy complement of growth-enhancing hormones. Milk is, after all, specifically designed to make things grow.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.
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- Adebamowo CA, Spiegelman D, Danby FW, Frazier AL, Willett WC, Holmes MD. High school dietary dairy intake and teenage acne. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2005 Feb;52(2):207-14.
- Danby FW. Acne and milk, the diet myth, and beyond. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2005 Feb;52(2):360-2.
- Adebamowo CA, Spiegelman D, Berkey CS, Danby FW, Rockett HH, Colditz GA, Willett WC, Holmes MD. Milk consumption and acne in adolescent girls. Dermatol Online J. 2006 May 30;12(4):1.
The Harvard Nurses’ Study, published in the prestigious Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, funded in part by none other than the National Dairy Council itself, found that the association between milk intake during adolescence and severe physician-diagnosed teenage acne was even more marked for skim milk than for other forms of milk.
This may be because there is so much more estrogen in skim milk. Researchers found 15 steroid sex hormones in commercial milk right off the shelves, and the highest levels were found in skim milk, compared to 2% and whole.
This study involved asking women what they ate years ago in high school, though. Who can even remember?
So, the next year, Harvard researchers studied milk consumption and acne in adolescent girls directly, following 6,000 girls, aged 9-15, for a few years, and found the same thing: a positive link between intake of milk and acne. Maybe it’s just girls, though?
So, next, they studied milk consumption and acne in teenage boys, and here we go again: a positive association between intake of skim milk and acne.
And it doesn’t appear to be an issue with bovine growth hormone injections, or added steroids. This is just what milk contains naturally. It should surprise no one that milk contains such a heavy complement of growth-enhancing hormones. Milk is, after all, specifically designed to make things grow.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Adebamowo CA, Spiegelman D, Danby FW, Frazier AL, Willett WC, Holmes MD. High school dietary dairy intake and teenage acne. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2005 Feb;52(2):207-14.
- Danby FW. Acne and milk, the diet myth, and beyond. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2005 Feb;52(2):360-2.
- Adebamowo CA, Spiegelman D, Berkey CS, Danby FW, Rockett HH, Colditz GA, Willett WC, Holmes MD. Milk consumption and acne in adolescent girls. Dermatol Online J. 2006 May 30;12(4):1.
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Title
Skim Milk and Acne
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
Be sure to see National Dairy Council on Acne and Milk and The Acne-Promoting Effects of Milk in this three-part video series on the latest science on milk as a risk factor for acne development.
For further context, check out my associated blog posts: Skim Milk and Acne; Stool Size and Breast Cancer Risk; and Treating Sensitive Skin From the Inside Out.
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