Saturated Fat And Massive Acne And Sebum

Philipd

Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2013
Messages
6
Hi, I need some advice and knowledge!

I really understand where ray peat is coming from and want to follow his diet advice but my problem is this.

Whenever I eat saturated fat my face brakeout with alot of whiteheads and blackheads and also inflame pimples. This happens with in like 48 hrs. It does not matter where the fat comes from. Coconut oil has the same affect as animal fats like butter and lard.

This does not happen if I stay with nuts and grains. If I eatba diet consisting of rice, potatoes, nuts and lean protein my face stays clear but I'm very tired and extremely cold. I suffer from seborreic dermatitis and from what I have read the fungus that is involved loves saturated fat so my options is to stick with my diet in fear of getting extremely bad skin, and I mean extreme from the saturated fat. My face is literly ozing with whiteheads/blackheads when I eat saturated fat, why is this?

I suspect I have candida and this has maybe made my liver extremely week? I have never liked saturated fat so my other ide is that my body is just not made for it? I have never consumed any vitamin A while eating saturated fat so I might need to do that?

I have yellow skin and have had this for many years just for some more info. I feel traped because my current diet is not making my life easy because all of the hypo-symtoms but my skin gets so bad when I eat saturated fat and my skin seem to love polys.

What is your suggestion, what might be wrong, and has anyone been able to clear seb derm on ray peats recommendations?

Thanks for your time
Philipd - Newbie
 

jyb

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Joined
Nov 9, 2012
Messages
2,783
Location
UK
Yes, my skin became less oily which was due to either the diet or other better habits (such as avoiding to clean the face other than with water). Needless to say, I have never eating any nuts again.

There are quite a few things you could try one after the other (vit A from liver, persisting with sat fat only for a few days to see if the effect is only temporary, temporarily going fat-less with just a lot of sugar say from OJ, carrot salad, other candida treatments mentioned on this forum etc). Most of them are not specific to skin problems, but should help skin problems among other things.
 

Gabriel

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Joined
May 7, 2013
Messages
229
I think it's perfectly fine to lower your sat fat intake as long as you increase your carbs and eat enough throughout the day. You can switch to skim milk, which has barely any sat fats in it.
 

4peatssake

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Joined
Feb 7, 2013
Messages
2,055
Age
62
Philipd said:
Hi, I need some advice and knowledge!

I really understand where ray peat is coming from and want to follow his diet advice but my problem is this.

Whenever I eat saturated fat my face brakeout with alot of whiteheads and blackheads and also inflame pimples. This happens with in like 48 hrs. It does not matter where the fat comes from. Coconut oil has the same affect as animal fats like butter and lard.

This does not happen if I stay with nuts and grains. If I eatba diet consisting of rice, potatoes, nuts and lean protein my face stays clear but I'm very tired and extremely cold. I suffer from seborreic dermatitis and from what I have read the fungus that is involved loves saturated fat so my options is to stick with my diet in fear of getting extremely bad skin, and I mean extreme from the saturated fat. My face is literly ozing with whiteheads/blackheads when I eat saturated fat, why is this?

I suspect I have candida and this has maybe made my liver extremely week? I have never liked saturated fat so my other ide is that my body is just not made for it? I have never consumed any vitamin A while eating saturated fat so I might need to do that?

I have yellow skin and have had this for many years just for some more info. I feel traped because my current diet is not making my life easy because all of the hypo-symtoms but my skin gets so bad when I eat saturated fat and my skin seem to love polys.

What is your suggestion, what might be wrong, and has anyone been able to clear seb derm on ray peats recommendations?

Thanks for your time
Philipd - Newbie

:welcome2 to the forum Philipd!

Ray Peat himself has had issues with acne, as well as dandruff, and these problems were what motivated him to begin studying steroids and thyroid.

Here is what he said in email exchanges, posted on Danny Roddy's Ray Peat's Brain Page on his website.

VITAMIN A/DANDRUFF/ACNE

Yes, it's definitely hard to get them coordinated when there's an imbalance in one direction or the other. For several years, when I had an extremely high metabolic rate, I needed 100,000 units per day during sunny weather to prevent acne and ingrown whiskers, but when I moved to a cloudy climate, suddenly that much was too much, and suppressed my thyroid. The average person is likely to be hypothyroid, and to need only 5,000 units per day. Avoiding large amounts of carotene, and getting plenty of vitamin B12 to be able to convert any carotene that's in your food, helps to use vitamin A efficiently.

Yes, vitamin A and estrogen are antagonistic, and while estrogen promotes keratinization (shedding of skin cells), vitamin A opposes it. Since vitamin A is highly unsaturated, in excess it suppresses the thyroid, so it has to be balanced with the thyroid; the combination is effective for increasing progesterone and decreasing estrogen, slowing the turnover of skin cells, and making the skin cells function longer before flaking off. Plugged pores, combined with a local shift toward synthesizing inflammatory substances, foster bacterial infection. Bright light stimulates the production of steroids, and consumes vitamin A very quickly, but when the balance is right, the acne clears up in just a day or two. Cream, butter, eggs, and liver are good sources of vitamin A. When people supplement thyroid and eat liver once or twice a week, their acne and dandruff (and many other problems) usually clear up very quickly. It was acne and dandruff that led me into studying the steroids and thyroid, and in the process I found that they were related to constipation and food sensitivity.

I found that I had an extremely high vitamin A requirement, increased by stress or bright light, and that it related to thyroid function. Usually, thyroid and vitamin A are the supplements that stop acne.

I avoid carotene, because it blocks thyroid and steroid production, and very large, excessive, amounts of vitamin A, retinol, can do the same. I use halibut liver oil-derived vitamin A, or retinyl palmitate.

A solution of aspirin in water on the skin helps with the inflammation, and is mildly germicidal.

Vitamin A deficiency is a common cause of dandruff.

Ray Peat has also said that progesterone is effective against acne and has recommended the use of Progest E topically as a treatment.

Ray Peat said:
For the topical treatment of sun damaged skin, or acne, wrinkles, etc. the oil can be applied directly to the affected area.

Progesterone Summaries

There are also a number of different threads on the forum discussing acne and supplementing with Vitamin A.
Good luck and see you around the forum!
 

Mittir

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Joined
Feb 20, 2013
Messages
2,033
Firstly, lard can have high percentage of PUFA, if it's grain fed.
Some lard has as much as 30 percent of PUFA. Coconut can have allergenic compounds.
RP recommends refined coconut oil to avoid allergic reaction. Even with refined coconut oil
it takes sometime to get adjusted to coconut oil. I have noticed problem with butter but not
with full fat milk. It is possible they add some allergenic substances during processing of butter.
But i can not explain how a high PUFA and high starch diet prevents skin problem.
 
J

j.

Guest
I think grass fed pork can be high in PUFA as well. I'm not sure they can eat only grass, though it can be a part of their diet.
 

Kray

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Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Messages
1,850
Philipd said:
Hi, I need some advice and knowledge!

I really understand where ray peat is coming from and want to follow his diet advice but my problem is this.

Whenever I eat saturated fat my face brakeout with alot of whiteheads and blackheads and also inflame pimples. This happens with in like 48 hrs. It does not matter where the fat comes from. Coconut oil has the same affect as animal fats like butter and lard.

This does not happen if I stay with nuts and grains. If I eatba diet consisting of rice, potatoes, nuts and lean protein my face stays clear but I'm very tired and extremely cold. I suffer from seborreic dermatitis and from what I have read the fungus that is involved loves saturated fat so my options is to stick with my diet in fear of getting extremely bad skin, and I mean extreme from the saturated fat. My face is literly ozing with whiteheads/blackheads when I eat saturated fat, why is this?

I suspect I have candida and this has maybe made my liver extremely week? I have never liked saturated fat so my other ide is that my body is just not made for it? I have never consumed any vitamin A while eating saturated fat so I might need to do that?

I have yellow skin and have had this for many years just for some more info. I feel traped because my current diet is not making my life easy because all of the hypo-symtoms but my skin gets so bad when I eat saturated fat and my skin seem to love polys.

What is your suggestion, what might be wrong, and has anyone been able to clear seb derm on ray peats recommendations?

Thanks for your time
Philipd - Newbie

Hi Philipd,

I empathize with your skin problems. While I have not tried this myself yet (but have some on order) I wanted to point out a product to you, in case you are still having your problem and haven't heard of this before:

http://www.amazon.com/Noble-Formula-Cre ... oble+cream

The same company also makes a 2% zinc soap, but I am going to try the cream first, since it gets pretty amazing reviews from people who've had some serious skin problems. It may not correct the cause of the skin issues, but I do hope you've narrowed down your food issues that may be contributing to your outbreaks (and if you can share any experiences and helps, I would appreciate it too!).

All the best,
Classicallady
 

DesertRat

Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
116
Philipd
Sounds like a classic case to me of toxin buildup coming out through skin. If you take a tsp activated charcoal 2x a day as you introduce the fats and also whatever you need to keep bowels open and clear you might be able to shift this.
 

mujuro

Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2014
Messages
696
I'm at the point now where I believe that vitamin A is what's causing my oily face and hair. However, I did see a poster on peatarian.org suggest that the causes of sebum production may be DHEA and related steroids, and not testosterone or estrogen. Yellow palms, sebum production, calluses, occasional acne, strange skin shedding like a dry desquamation are some of the symptoms I've been experiencing for months now, since beginning Peat style of eating. My temperatures have been >37'C, so my thyroid is fine. I came across a citation on the Linus Pauling Institute website which claimed that people with a genetic susceptibility to high cholesterol are very sensitive to vitamin A supplementation. My mother's side of the family all have pretty lousy lipid profiles, so from all that I'm assuming my vitamin A stores are too high.
 

cout12

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2015
Messages
105
Why do you need to eat a lot of saturated fats? You could follow a Peat diet with less than 10g of fat per day.

Just eat low fat milk, OJ, sugar, gelatin.

Pretty much the only fat I get is from Milk and a bit of liver and oysters. Why would I need more saturated fats? The only other fatty food that might be useful is eggs, and Peat even says himself not to eat more than 1 per day or couple of days or something in one of his article.

Coconut oil is cool but as far as I know it's not essential. I notice no difference from eating it or not.

Also, whenever I eat something that's difficult to digest for me, like milk for example, I'll eat a whole or half carrot every time I eat that thing. Helps a lot. Usually completely fixes the issue actually. Carrots kill bacteria.

Also what really helps with acnee is getting plenty of vitamin A, B, E, K and zinc. I think it's real easy not to get enough of some of the B vitamins and K. And megadosing vitamin A will also protect the skin but possibly has downsides. Anyway thats why daily liver and oysters is a must.

Anyway if saturated fat doesn't sit well for you, don't eat it. It's not essential. Sugar, protein and the vitamins and minerals are.
 

seano

Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
98
Location
London, UK
I wanted to point out a product to you, in case you are still having your problem and haven't heard of this before:

http://www.amazon.com/Noble-Formula-Cre ... oble+cream

For topical treatments, Milk of Magnesium has been the best discovery I've made. Nothing else compares and I've tried a lot. Many creams/oils/chemicals have immediate help but they end up wearing off, or causing side effects when used too often. Also, it's cheap and safe (just magnesium).

I apply it before bed (it dries white) if skin is feeling like it might get bad or if any existing spots/cysts. Can also be rubbed in (so it doesn't dry white) to make the skin less oily but, unlike other products, hasn't so far caused a response of the skin become more oily due to drying out (and I've been using for a year).
 

conhnore

Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2015
Messages
35
I'm at the point now where I believe that vitamin A is what's causing my oily face and hair. However, I did see a poster on peatarian.org suggest that the causes of sebum production may be DHEA and related steroids, and not testosterone or estrogen. Yellow palms, sebum production, calluses, occasional acne, strange skin shedding like a dry desquamation are some of the symptoms I've been experiencing for months now, since beginning Peat style of eating. My temperatures have been >37'C, so my thyroid is fine. I came across a citation on the Linus Pauling Institute website which claimed that people with a genetic susceptibility to high cholesterol are very sensitive to vitamin A supplementation. My mother's side of the family all have pretty lousy lipid profiles, so from all that I'm assuming my vitamin A stores are too high.

really interesting post - I had 'desquamation' recently too, and some extra acne accompanied it.

at what doses do you supplement vitamin A? I'm at about 24,000 IU at night every night (with ice cream, no less) until I run out. I then spend a week w/o supplementing
 

Travis

Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
3,189
Yeah. I think Vitamin A can cause increased skin growth.

When I eat cheese for a few weeks, I start getting pimples and dandruff. This doesn't happen with coconuts.

I can't point to one single molecule and say "that's it!", but Dairy has Vitamin A and quite a few different steroid hormones.

I think supplemental Vitamin A can be dangerous. There is a huge online book called Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Zinc. I just read the chapter on Vitamin A so far. This was written by the people who set the RDI. They summarize all of the research to support their conclusions.

Did someone mention desquamation? Here is a quote from the above article:
Four cases of hypervitaminosis A occurred after doses of 5,500 to 6,750 μg/day of vitamin A for 1 to 3 months (Table 4-10). The age of onset of symptoms ranged from 2.5 to 5.5 months and included anorexia, hyperirritability, occipital edema, pronounced craniotabes, bulging fontanels, increased intracranial pressure, and skin lesions and desquamation.
If I recall correctly, the conversion factor between micrograms Retinol and International Units Retinol is 3.

6,000μg/day = 18,000IU/day

Of course these were children receiving these doses, but their physiology is similar to ours.
 

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