Zinc - My Miracle For Acne & Estrogen Dominance

[btomczak]

I read this whole thread briefly and this is just my two cents, but do you realize that your acne maybe related more towards high estrogen then low zinc? I mean possibly taking that much zinc probably boosts your metabolism even more thus, requiring the need for B's and A even higher. perhaps something like 4oz liver and 2-3 cans of oysters per week would work better. sometimes less is more.. What about thyroid, have you tried small amounts of that? what about increasing protein and B vitamins (potatoes/meat are both high in B's)? both are necessary to detox estrogen. Maybe you need higher amounts of both. carrot salads for endotoxin, gut inflammation.... Idk this is coming from a guy who hasnt figure out his own problems, but those are just my thoughts after reading this thread....

 

[gbolduev]

Guys, you should stop Peating. It is really bad for you . His diet is the most unbalanced and not pro thyroid diet ever unless you take progesterone vitamin E and stuff that speeds you up. And how is taking supplements good for you. FOOD needs to be balanced and not supplements.
In 2 Quarts of milk there are 266% of daily RDA for calcium---266%. Calcium lowers zinc , sodium , iron. So iron is good I guess, but zinc is really bad. Also he says that you have to drink orange juice for magnesium , LMAO orange juice has 7% of RDA of magnesium per quart. People should be taking 2 to 1 calcium to magnesium or may be even 1 to 1. HOw is taking 266% or RDA of calcium to 7% RDA magnesium 2 to 1.

Now all that calcium causes zinc to go down huge, and weekly oysters dont do anything in that department since you bombard yourself with calcium daily in hundreds of % of RDA and then you eat a little oysters which you get one 1 day RDA of \zinc. LMAO This is just insane and crazy.

Now go further, you take all this sugar. You insulin goes up on that, and insulin needs zinc and manganese to be produced. SO you lower your zinc with calcium from milk and the you just kill it with all that sugar. Is that the reason why Peat wears the thickest glasses ? Vision problems is zinc deficiency. Someone says that PEat has oysters daily. No ***t , otherwise he would lose his vison totally. All these gurus are nothing but sharlatans.

So he totally lowers his metabolism with calcium and at the same time he increases it with progesterone and vitamin E, not because he needs vitamin E or progesterone, but because he has to take those, vitamin E increase sodium in the cell, and progesterone increases potassium . That is why he is taking those. But he does not need to take them if he does not screw himself with unbalanced dairy comsumption and if someone does not take progesterone or vitamin E with this regimen you will get screwed. ANd most people dont take them and they can get cancer from this or go bald

 

[Filip1993]

"There is no perfect food; each comes with give and take. When eating for health, savvy eaters choose foods that give the most and take away the least." - Rob Turner

 

[mt_dreams]

@gbolduev
I don't know of any eating protocol that does not use nutrients in specific foods to balance out the diet. heck even Matt Stone's eat whatever you want protocol includes specific nutrient dense foods to correct things. I constantly hear eat 'this' b/c it's high in "fill in the blank". So it seems that Dr.Peat knows what nutrients are lacking in the food he eats most, and makes sure to get those nutrients via a nutrient dense food or supplementation. I've seen people correct vision issues with specific exercises, so there's more to it than zinc issues. I don't get mad at the sun b/c it requires me to eat more vit A rich foods, I love it b/c it feels great. It's better sometimes to weigh the positives with the negatives without judgement of the whole.

2 years ago I was absorbing virtually zero vit D from the sun while constantly bathing in it. Since increasing my calcium levels (with other changes of course), I don't have this issue anymore. So it seems that some people may require more calcium than others.

 

[Bluebell]

Peata have you ever considered the possibility of too-high copper causing the acne*? Could explain why you need a zinc supplement even on oysters (as oysters can be high copper too). Various things can cause copper overload, including a history of the contraceptive pill or vegetarian diet. Just a thought! :)

* because zinc brings down excess copper, and they exist in balance with each other

 

[Peata]

Peata have you ever considered the possibility of too-high copper causing the acne*? Could explain why you need a zinc supplement even on oysters (as oysters can be high copper too). Various things can cause copper overload, including a history of the contraceptive pill or vegetarian diet. Just a thought! :)

* because zinc brings down excess copper, and they exist in balance with each other

Thanks, BB, I stopped supplementing zinc some time ago. I was afraid I was giving myself more grey hair.

 

[jyb]

@gbolduev: It's good to make sure one doesn't have deficiencies, but your comment is particularly unscientific, it makes so many assumptions. Did the Masai dairy tribes have vision problems? I don't think so.

 

[tara]

Guys, you should stop Peating. It is really bad for you .

There is a subforum for this argument here:
Ray Peat Debate Forum viewforum.php?f=13
'Do not agree with Ray Peats ideas and philosophies? Think you know better? Then let's have a civilized debate about it.'

 

[marcar72]

orange juice has 7% of RDA of magnesium per quart

7% per cup, 28% per quart according to nutritiondata.self.com

Now all that calcium causes zinc to go down huge, and weekly oysters dont do anything in that department since you bombard yourself with calcium daily in hundreds of % of RDA and then you eat a little oysters which you get one 1 day RDA of \zinc. LMAO This is just insane and crazy.

3oz eastern oysters farmed provides 215% RDA. That's just a few oysters. A lot of us also have beef, lamb, and bone broth a couple times a week as well.

I myself also know not to consume dairy when consuming oysters or beef, so there's little to no calcium blocking the zinc I get when I eat the foods to... guess what... get the nutrition I need through the foods I eat.

What would you have us eating, @gbolduev ?

 

[freyasam]

Peata, do you still have problems with acne? Do you think your period of zinc supplementation helped with that long-term?

 

[Peata]

Peata, do you still have problems with acne? Do you think your period of zinc supplementation helped with that long-term?

Yes.
No.

Progesterone helped my acne more than anything. It came back when I stopped using Progesterone regularly, so I'm back to using it again. It's still not reduced as much as when I was using Progesterone the first time, but it's a lot better.

 

[freyasam]

Have you tried any antibiotics for acne?

 

[Peata]

Have you tried any antibiotics for acne?

Yes, off and on, teens years up through mid 20's. Did not seem to help much. My problem is estrogen dominance. Going on the Pill helped me the most out of anything back when I didn't know any better. I tried to go off the Pill and use diet and supplements, but nothing helped, it was the worst acne of my life and left scars. For a while everything cleared up great in early to mid 30s when I was on Metformin and Spironolactone. I still had obvious hormonal issues by other symptoms though. By age 36 the estrogen dominance really came on and with it terrible acne, particularly on lower half of face/jaw/neck.

 

[Amazoniac]

https://www.researchgate.net/public...xan-diabetic_rats_fed_on_zinc_deficiency_diet

 

[Birdie]

https://www.researchgate.net/public...xan-diabetic_rats_fed_on_zinc_deficiency_diet

Interesting. Thanks for posting. Here's the abstract for anybody who wants to take a quick look:


Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the beneficial effect of vitamin E supplementation on zinc deficiency in experimental diabetes. Male alloxan-diabetic Wistar, albino rats of 10 weeks of age were divided into three groups. The first group received a diet containing 54 mg zinc/kg (adequate zinc group, AZ), the second group received a diet containing 1mg zinc/kg (zinc deficient group, ZD), and the third group received a diet containing 1mg zinc/kg supplemented with vitamin E (500mg/kg diet) (ZD+VE). Body weight gain and food intake of all rats were recorded regularly over a period of four weeks. On day 28, after overnight fasting, animals were killed and blood glucose, serum cholesterol, serum triglycerides, serum protein, serum urea, serum zinc, femur zinc, pancreatic zinc, testis zinc, liver glutathione concentrations and serum glutamic oxalic transaminase (GOT), serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) and serum alkaline phosphatase activities were determined on blood and tissue samples. Body weight gain of zinc deficient diabetic animals at the end of four weeks of dietary manipulation was significantly lower than that of zinc adequate diabetic animals. Dietary zinc intake significantly increased blood glucose, serum cholesterol, serum triglycerides, and serum urea of zinc deficient diabetic rats. In contrast, serum zinc, femur zinc, pancreatic zinc, serum protein and liver glutathione levels were lower. The consumption of zinc deficient diet led also to an increase in serum GOT, GPT coupled with a decrease in serum alkaline phosphatase. Vitamin E ameliorated all the previous parameters. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that vitamin E supplementation significantly reduced the severity of zinc deficiency in diabetes mellitus. (Int J Diabetes Metab 15: 46-50, 2007)

 

[Nicole W.]

Well, I think that since it's been over a week of success, I can say that zinc is one of the best things on earth.

Nothing has ever worked this well for my skin with no side effects. My skin hasn't been this clear in over three years. And even back when it was clear, it didn't look this good overall. The tone and texture are nicer. The oil is normal instead of the thick, tenacious oil that I had almost all the time for the last few years. No more cysts. I'm still getting a few small pimples here and there, but they are easily managed. The last old cyst that was sitting on my upper neck is just a dry bump that's almost gone. Even the acne on my chest has become very small bumps instead of the larger red spots.

I took my first 50 mg. of zinc last week, and almost immediately, I felt the calming effect on my skin. Acne lesions that had been there for over a week dried up and started going away within an hour or two of that first pill. Zinc completely calms inflammation. Redness reduced, pain from inflamed skin gone. Cysts that were trying to come up from deep underground were stopped with zinc.

Zinc has taken care of my fibrocystic breasts. That constant ache that made me reach for aspirin several times per day is gone.

My dosage has varied each day.

So here's the breakdown of zinc each day since last Wed. and this includes supps and foods such as oysters:
Wed - 110 mg.
Thurs - 60 mg.
Fri - 60 mg.
Sat - 40 mg.
Sun - 60 mg.
Mon - 110 mg.
Tues - 200 mg.
Wed - 70 mg.

How did I know how much to take? That's the beauty of it. I just literally use my skin as the guide. If I felt a painful spot, a bump, whatever, I took about 25 mg. Some days were less eventful skin-wise than others. For example, I was having to take zinc every 3 - 4 hours yesterday to keep oil and bumps down. I took about 200 mg. total and that included food. But today my body seems to have compensated by my skin being under much better control, and I've only needed around 70 mg (that included foods).

I felt this was an instinctual way to go about it, rather than keep taking super high doses just because, or to take doses too small and then it wouldn't be enough to do the job. My body has rewarded me with no side effects, just results.

I also felt like perhaps over time I wouldn't need such high doses or might be able to get what I needed from food.

Not everyone needs zinc the way I do, so that's not the reason for my post. I just have to share this. There may be someone who needs to read it and then they can research and come to their own conclusions. I really think it's an individual thing, and I just happened to hit on my missing nutrient and doses based on research I did here on the forum and around the net, as well as my own instinct.

I remember last week when I first took a 50 mg. pill, I had a little upset tummy but I realized later that was because I took it on an empty stomach. Since then I've had no trouble at all with taking it on an empty stomach, though I do try to remember to take it with food or drink just in case.

A couple hours after that first zinc pill, I cooked up some oysters. Within an hour or two of eating those, I had this really good mood and my vision seemed enhanced. I don't know if that really happened from the zinc or that was some other thing going on, who knows. I might have been having a blood sugar thing. Or it might have been the effect of the big doses of zinc washing through me.

At any rate, I am happy.

Believe it or not, I have even more to say on zinc later. As well as some words from the man himself.

That’s wonderful Peata! I can just imagine how elated you must feel. I’m still trying to figure my skin out. Zinc has never really done much for me personally. I wish I knew what my missing nutrient was.

 

[Kray]

Today I picked up a small vial of Trace Minerals Ionic Zinc to keep on hand for when I can't get shellfish. It is a liquid form that looks pretty safe and also contains copper gluconate.

Hi loess -- do you still take this supplement? I'm looking at it since it also contains Cu. Thank you!

 

[loess]

Hi loess -- do you still take this supplement? I'm looking at it since it also contains Cu. Thank you!

Hi @Kray - no, I don't. In fact, I don't recall that I ever actually took it after ordering it so I can't really speak to any experience with it. That was a long time ago; at the time I was just beginning to study Ray Peat's work and pretty much ultimately settled into getting zinc from food sources rather than overtly supplementing it...

 

[Kray]

Hi @Kray - no, I don't. In fact, I don't recall that I ever actually took it after ordering it so I can't really speak to any experience with it. That was a long time ago; at the time I was just beginning to study Ray Peat's work and pretty much ultimately settled into getting zinc from food sources rather than overtly supplementing it...

Thank you, I appreciate the quick response. I think we can all relate to your experience-- there is so much to learn and process.