Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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I know I've been a bit of anomaly in what I've experienced on the Paleo diet. My diet was pretty clean before Paleo, so really the only foods Ive added to my diet are different kinds of meat (vegetarian before), and eliminated the rice, (occasional) corn, and legumes, and yogurt. No dairy now. And I've been off nuts for several weeks too to see if it would help my very inflamed liver and gallbladder. It hasn't. For years, I've eaten lots of nuts, ghee, coconut, and my acne was under control. I'm sure my omega 6 to 3 ratio was very high, but my body didn't have a lot of inflammation. After I cut out gluten a few years back, inflammation and acne virtually disappeared.

Three months ago, I also added in a DHA supplement. First from fish, then from algae. I've had cystic acne on my face - showed up about a week or two after I started the DHA. Week by week, it had gotten worse. Definitely worse around that time of the month. I didn't make the connection at first until I thought back to a few years ago. I tried fish oil caps and broke out. I tried flax oil and broke out. I was drinking soymilk that had algae DHA in it, and broke out. Is it from the elevated testosterone? I've not taken the DHA for 10 days now, and the breakouts are clearing. My GB and liver are still in distress, but that has eased up some as last week I cut my meat intake back to once a day or every other day, and have upped my greens to be the majority of my diet.

I've read about other people breaking out from DHA, but just wondering if anyone has theories on why? Oh, and I have done several liver cleanses in the past, so I think that sucker is pretty clean!

flag	asked Feb 19 2011 at 16:00 valkyrie 889●4●18

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Yes it's very common! I throw my Krill Oil Capsules in the trash, because they were promoting oily skin for me. Some people tend to think very simplistic. Acne = inflammatory conditon (not the whole picture) Fish Oil = anti-inflammatory therefore upping the intake of DHA is good. But that's totally wrong and so far, i've only read about the bad outcomes from acne sufferer. Whenever here is a new acne thread, one of my advices is to throw away all the DHA supps. PUFA in excess could be the problem. You could test it by eating the same amount of vegetable oil instead of the DHA Fish Oil. – Paul Feb 19 2011 at 16:38

what brand and how much fish oil are you taking? – johnc Feb 21 2011 at 19:30

Thanks Paul. John C - not fish oil, but DHA from algae, by Spectrum. Though before that it was DHA from fish. I was taking between 125-600 mg a day, depending on what I ate that day. – valkyrie Feb 22 2011 at 3:22

Paul, do you think it's throwing my hormones out of whack? – valkyrie Feb 22 2011 at 3:24

is there anything about DHA in particular verses EPA that might cause breakouts? don't they convert rather easily? perhaps the DHA was oxidized/not fresh? did you try a high quality fish oil like nordic naturals? some say they can take that without breaking out, but not other brands. maybe you are missing some GLA? – Eric Mar 30 2011 at 22:17

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mary · Answer 1 · 2011-03-02 20:16:24Z UTC

We gave my daughter DHA supplements for children thinking it would help her concentration. Within a week, she started to get acne (she is nine). I went into complete panic mode fearing she was hitting puberty way too fast. For about three months she was taking the supplements, and we could barely control the breakouts. Unrelatedly, I stopped the supplements (I didn't feel they were helping the concentration issue). Guess what? Her acne is gone. We're going on week 3 with not so much as a blemish. There must be some connection . . . not sure this is answers your question, though.

Jack Mac · Answer 2 · 2011-04-18 21:33:25Z UTC

I'm in my 40's with no history of acne, but after I started paleo in May 2010, I experienced severe breakouts of acne for several months, mostly on my chest, shoulders and back.

Paleo was a big departure from my pescatarian/vegetarian/vegan diets of the previous ten years. These were very low fat diets [~10% with almost no sat fat], but still I was getting a fair amt of n-3 fats from fish and fish oil supplements.

When I went paleo, my fat content went from 10% to 70% [50% saturated], and I started taking huge qtys of fish oil, per Robb Wolf's calculator.

Over time the breakouts became less frequent and less severe. I've had zero acne for the past 5+ mos.

Not sure what triggered the acne - probably just my body adjusting to the radical increase in overall fats, but it may have been due to the 10-20g of EPA/DHA I was supplementing.

My dietary fat content continues to be in the 60-70% range, but I've cut way back on the fish oil supplementation [1-2g per day].

themobiustrip · Answer 3 · 2011-03-02 20:53:02Z UTC

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All of the DHA / fish oil supplements that I've seen contain soy lecithin, glycerin, and/or some type of starch to create the capsule film. Could it be that you are sensitive to these substances? If you decide to stick with the DHA, you may want to try a liquid version that eliminates the gel capsule substances.

answered Mar 2 2011 at 20:53

themobiustrip
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	It's definitely the DHA, because a lot of sufferers get outbreaks even from fishes. I've read it so often. – Paul Mar 2 2011 at 21:03
	Never noticed sensitivities to these things in the past. I've only had one very small zit since eliminating the DHA - and there is no way I'm trying it again. – valkyrie Mar 3 2011 at 0:02
	Interesting, I am a sufferer of acne and never noticed anything wrong with DHA. I take 1 gram of DHA and 500mg of EPA from fish everyday. If DHA was a problem for acne and one wanted to suspend it, would EPA and ALA have enough of an anti-inflammatory kick of omega-3s for proper health? – PaleoLover Mar 9 2011 at 7:11

Louise · Answer 4 · 2011-04-16 23:25:23Z UTC

Well, I've been reading books about boosting midlife brain performance, so I got a whole lot of supplements and starting breaking out right away. Strange! I was just considering adding DHA - I've just heard of it but have never taken it. When I am out of stock on my many vitamins, my face is clear...my brain isn't. It's Catch-22. NO idea what's causing this at all. It's surely not DHA in my case.

Simibee · Answer 5 · 2011-04-16 23:55:42Z UTC

It could be that the fish oil is triggering your acne, but that the DHA isn’t the culprit. Like all marine products, fish oil contains high levels of iodine, which in observational studies has been shown to trigger/exacerbate acne. The exact mechanism is still poorly understood, but thyroid function (directly linked to iodine intake) manifests itself in the skin e.g. hypothyroid sufferers often note that their pores have become enlarged. Also many poor quality fish oils often have high levels of pollutants, which could also be triggering your acne.

On a more positive note, zinc supplementation is as effective at treating acne as oral antibiotics, without any of the side effects.

puckett · Answer 6 · 2011-06-11 18:33:55Z UTC

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There's iodine in algae as well and I am assuming this is the culprit. I took Deva Vegan DHA awhile back and experienced outbreaks.

Interestingly, I just reintroduced iodine into my diet via dulse and haven't had any skin issues.

answered Jun 11 2011 at 18:33

puckett
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Yes, seaweed, including dulse doesn't have any negative on my skin. Fish oil also gives me terrible acne though. – valkyrie Jun 14 2011 at 3:10

RR · Answer 7 · 2011-06-11 23:03:55Z UTC

My two cents: I used to take a ton of flaxseed oil (8-10g/day) and it improved my acne. I used to take fish oil too but I don't think that had any effect. I switched to flaxseed oil because it had more omega-3 per capsule, although I'm not taking any supplements right now except 50mg zinc/day (for my acne).

Jeff · Answer 8 · 2011-08-30 16:24:59Z UTC

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In some people (including myself) too much DHA can cause overactivity of the sebaceous glands and cause acne.

answered Aug 30 2011 at 16:24

Jeff
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DHA causing acne?

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