![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 11 of 11. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 4, 2007, at 3:12:33
I'm thinking my mildish acne is caused by some sort of lack of zinc in my diet. Well, my acne has got worse since moving to Finland I have to say. Perhaps its all the dairy that they eat here. Anyway, it also correlates with me stopping any vit/min supplementation. Perhaps its hormonal?
Oh well, I'm kinda sick and tired of it to be honest.So zinc rich foods (that are, um, relatively easy to obtain/eat - oysters are alittle hard to come by here!)?
And does anyone know of any 'signs' of lack of zinc, except the usual 'white marks on fingernails' (I have no marks, BTW).
Kind regards
Meri
Posted by nolvas on March 4, 2007, at 4:32:14
In reply to What are some zinc rich foods?, posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 4, 2007, at 3:12:33
Pumpkin seeds and chickpeas are rich in zinc. I'd go for them before I ate anything that came out of the sea, which is likely to be contaminated with mercury and other heavy metals.
A solution called Tendskin contains salicylic acid and is known to be useful in treating acne. It's used to treat ingrowing hairs which it does admirably, it works for acne as well.
Some acne studies >
Michaelsson, G., et al. Erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase acitivity in acne vulgaris and the effect of selenium and vitamin E treatment. Acta Derm Venereol Stockholm. 64(1):9-14, 1984.This study found that acne patients often have low levels of selenium (leading to low levels of glutathione peroxidase). 29 acne patients were given 400 mcg of selenium per day (together with 20 IU of vitamin E) for 6 - 12 weeks. All patients experienced improvement in their acne symptoms (especially those patients with low glutathione peroxidase levels). In three control patients, acne worsened and their levels of glutathione peroxidase declined.
Shupe-Ricksecker, K. A Bacteriological Study. 1994.
Dr Shupe-Ricksecker is a biologist and assistant professor at the University of Dallas, USA. She undertook a series of in vitro bacteriological examinations testing various percentages of Aloe vera solutions against tissue cultures of Propionibacterium acnes (the cause of many cases of acne). Exposure of Propionibacterium acnes to Aloe vera was found to exert a 100% killing effect within 24 hours of continuous contact with Aloe vera.
As with all conditions, treat the cause and not just the symptoms.
Posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 4, 2007, at 5:31:53
In reply to Re: What are some zinc rich foods?, posted by nolvas on March 4, 2007, at 4:32:14
Hey Nolvas!
Thanks very much for the info. I've actually ordered some online zinc citrate (no idea is thats a good form or not, but hey).
I just checked online:
And I have to say that chickpeas aren't *that* much loaded with zinc (1.5mg at best) for 100g. Still, I've discovered a source of hummus here (man, Finland is lacking good health food shops, or even just stuff in supermarkets which isn't milk, potatoes, or ham....) Anyway I can eat hummus by the bucket load, which isn't going to do any harm....
Wow thats interesting with the selenium and vit E. Hmmm. I've stopped eating nuts (again, there isn't much to chose from here) and I used to eat a fair amount of brazil nuts, which apparently contain alot of selenium. Perhaps there's a link?
Yeah its a pain, I'd love to find out what the root cause is too. I think it must be a mixture of hormones (cleared up with BC pills, but I'm never taking those again!) genetics and probably, nutrition and diet. I've always been acne prone. Although I have to say its been better when I've been on a 'healthy' phase, you know, eating tons of nuts and veggies and soups and things. Hmmm.
One thing I have noticed and I'll tell you, because I think you'll fully understand, is how my skin clears up when I'm away in the mountains outside doing fieldwork all day. Its like I need the extra grease to protect my skin from the lashing rain and wind! And I bet all that UV is doing a nice job of killing acne bacteria. Apparently acne is much more prevalent in industlrised countries, and I bet this shift from largely outdoor work to indoor work has something to do with it. And perhaps because industrilised countries tend to have an obsession with dairy produce too.
Oh well. I'll get buying some pumpkin seeds and brazil nuts then...... actually, you can get pumpkin seed butter...but its quite expensive.
Kind regards
Meri
Posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 4, 2007, at 6:00:21
In reply to Re: What are some zinc rich foods? » nolvas, posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 4, 2007, at 5:31:53
Interestingly, (and I sort of knew this already, but I just did the calculations for it) a single brazil nut provides 57.5mcg of selenium, which is apparently around the recommended daily intake. I'd only need to eat 6 to get up to the 400mcg used in the acne study Nolvas quoted. Hmmm. Now, just to work on drinking 100ml of olive oil to get my allowance of vitamin E........
Huh, well how about that!.
Posted by Larry Hoover on March 4, 2007, at 8:40:43
In reply to Re: What are some zinc rich foods?, posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 4, 2007, at 6:00:21
> Interestingly, (and I sort of knew this already, but I just did the calculations for it) a single brazil nut provides 57.5mcg of selenium, which is apparently around the recommended daily intake. I'd only need to eat 6 to get up to the 400mcg used in the acne study Nolvas quoted. Hmmm.
Not so fast. The selenium content in Brazil nuts is highly variable, and often well below published values. N.b.: a) the variability in this study (0.03 through 512.0 ppm); and b) it is remarkable that both samples (mean values) fall well below the published values I've seen in yet other analyses.
Chemosphere. 1995 Feb;30(4):801-2.
Selenium content of Brazil nuts from two geographic locations in Brazil.
Chang JC, Gutenmann WH, Reid CM, Lisk DJ.
Toxic Chemicals Laboratory, New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca 14853-7401.Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa) natively contain very high concentrations of selenium. Since dietary selenium, including Brazil nuts, have been associated with protection against tumor development in laboratory animal studies, it was of interest to determine the selenium content of the nuts from different nut-growing regions of Brazil. In the work reported, 162 nuts from each of two regions (Acre-Rondonia and Manaus-Belem) were individually analyzed for selenium. The average +/- standard deviation and range of selenium concentrations in ppm, fresh weight for nuts from Acre-Rondonia and Manaus-Belem regions were, respectively, 3.06 +/- 4.01 (0.03-31.7) and 36.0 +/- 50.0 (1.25-512.0). The toxicology of Brazil nut consumption is discussed.
The great thing about Brazil nuts is that the selenium content is not free mineral ions. Apparently, it is in the most biologically useful forms as substituted amino acids, selenomethionine and selenocysteine.
J Agric Food Chem. 2002 Sep 25;50(20):5722-8.
Characterization of selenium species in Brazil nuts by HPLC-ICP-MS and ES-MS.
Vonderheide AP, Wrobel K, Kannamkumarath SS, B'Hymer C, Montes-Bayon M, Ponce De Leon C, Caruso JA.
Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0172, USA.Brazil nuts have been classified as the foodstuffs that contain the highest level of unadulterated selenium, an essential trace element that appears to prevent cancer. To date, characterization of the selenium species in brazil nuts has not yet been investigated. In this work, various sample preparation approaches, including microwave extractions and enzymatic treatments, are examined with the goal of species preservation and subsequent selenium speciation; of these approaches, an enzymatic treatment with Proteinase K proved most effective. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation strategies and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) detection schemes will also be presented. Extracts are evaluated against available standards for the commercially obtainable seleno-amino acids, selenomethionine (SeMet), selenoethionine (SeEt), and selenocystine (SeCys); selenomethionine was demonstrated to be the most abundant of these seleno-amino acids. Further characterization of unidentified selenium-containing peaks is attempted by the employment of several procedures, including electrospray-mass spectrometry (ES-MS). A peptide structure was identified; however, this was considered a tentative proposal due to the large background produced by the extremely complicated brazil nut matrix.
Best,
Lar
Posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 4, 2007, at 12:42:13
In reply to Re: selenium in Brazil nuts » Meri-Tuuli, posted by Larry Hoover on March 4, 2007, at 8:40:43
Thanks for the info Lar. Well. I guess I'll still be buying some through..... I've been meaning to for quite some time anyway.
M
Posted by Larry Hoover on March 4, 2007, at 12:47:54
In reply to Re: selenium in Brazil nuts, posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 4, 2007, at 12:42:13
> Thanks for the info Lar. Well. I guess I'll still be buying some through..... I've been meaning to for quite some time anyway.
>
> MThey are very good for you, no doubt. Just the selenium content cannot be standardized. And, high calorie density is a factor.
Lar
Posted by tealady on March 5, 2007, at 17:08:39
In reply to Re: selenium in Brazil nuts, posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 4, 2007, at 12:42:13
> Thanks for the info Lar. Well. I guess I'll still be buying some through..... I've been meaning to for quite some time anyway.
>
> M
they work well for me and I believe its far the best way of taking selenium..and definitely the most enjoyable. Just don't pig out on them too often but a couple to a few a day is fine.
The thing about standardisation is all wrong IMO, as its the amount one absorbs that counts.. not the amount in a pill!
Also my body at least, and I presume the huge majority of living things have this really fantastically clever mechanism for judging the optimal intake, which seems to be so complicated noone can even guess how it works..but which seems to work well.
it's called..
Gee I Love these..can't eat enough of them
Gee I don't care if I eat these or not.. no craving and "drive" to eat them
Gee I don't want anymore of these really..I guess if I force myself (don't)
Gee I am sick of the sight of these.. NO moreIt's your bodies way of saying I have enough of whatever this food contains.
Some days I actually feel like some foods ...and it always seem to work out that whatever was high in those foods is what I was short on... excepting sugar maybe, but even that is telling one your receptors are probably saying more glucose.. like am I getting insulin resistant?, short on B1, low on insulin due to an automimmune diabetics developing..etc?Works well for most living things..even my dogs, but all animals and even plants I guess!..
Just my opinion though all of this, but it does seem to be how my body works.
I used to get a LOt of dark brazil nut chocolate.. but we seem to be being USized here and now its being replaced by hazelnuts-yuk!YUK!Jan
Posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 8, 2007, at 8:06:08
In reply to Re: selenium in Brazil nuts » Meri-Tuuli, posted by Larry Hoover on March 4, 2007, at 12:47:54
Hello again!
> They are very good for you, no doubt. Just the selenium content cannot be standardized. And, high calorie density is a factor.
I don't really have a concern with high calorie density stuff - I don't eat junk (well very occassionally!) and I don't eat red meat and I'm pretty slim and I cycle everywhere (except when its really cold and there's alot of ice around!) and well, I find that if I snack on nuts, it actually suppresses my hunger very well. And they're not something I can just eat and eat - a handful when I'm peckish and looking for something to eat in the cupboards and thats about it.
I think nuts are underrated.
Kind regards
Meri
Posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 8, 2007, at 8:06:13
In reply to Re: selenium in Brazil nuts » Meri-Tuuli, posted by Larry Hoover on March 4, 2007, at 12:47:54
Hello again!
> They are very good for you, no doubt. Just the selenium content cannot be standardized. And, high calorie density is a factor.
I don't really have a concern with high calorie density stuff - I don't eat junk (well very occassionally!) and I don't eat red meat and I'm pretty slim and I cycle everywhere (except when its really cold and there's alot of ice around!) and well, I find that if I snack on nuts, it actually suppresses my hunger very well. And they're not something I can just eat and eat - a handful when I'm peckish and looking for something to eat in the cupboards and thats about it.
I think nuts are underrated.
Kind regards
Meri
Posted by LOOPS on March 15, 2007, at 9:52:27
In reply to Re: selenium in Brazil nuts » Larry Hoover, posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 8, 2007, at 8:06:13
Well there you have it - you don't eat red meat and that is the king source of zinc. Zinc absorption is much higher from animal products so I would start taking tablets or eat red meat if you can stomach it (are you veggie?). Maybe you can eat some oysters instead?
Loops
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Alternative | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.