Laurie longs to learn…Is there any science behind this Mayo Clinic article? I thought there wasn’t a link between food, acne, and/or the appearance of your skin (i.e., meat = wrinkles).
The Beauty Brains respond:
We’re thrilled to have a new voice on the Beauty Brains to answer your question, Laurie. Meet BeautyScientist, a cosmetic chemist from the UK. Here’s what he has to say…
Forget the war in Iraq, forget PC versus Mac, forget atheism – if you really want to get into a heated argument try talking about the pros and cons of a vegetarian diet. While most people are happy to accept moral scruples about eating meat, the trouble starts when you suggest that being a vegetarian is in some way more healthy or has some other practical advantage. Boy does this seem to get some people going.
I should explain that I am not a vegetarian and I have no intention of giving up eating meat any time soon if ever. But I have looked into the facts on the subject with some interest. It turns out that whatever else you might say about it, meat eating is certainly a heavy cost in terms of farmland. You need a lot of space to rear animals, and we could feed a lot more people if we were less carnivorous. I have been shouted down trying to put this point in late night conversations, even though it is both completely true and when you think about it, obvious.
Veggie Tales
But is the vegetarian diet good for you? I have read quite a bit on this and there doesn’t seem to be any particular evidence that it is. Indeed there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of hard data to suggest that going vegetarian makes much difference to you. One wide ranging review paper concludes that: “Overall, the data suggest that the health of Western vegetarians is good and similar to that of comparable non-vegetarians.”
A largish study in the nineties did indicate that vegetarians were less likely to die of heart disease. It didn’t indicate any significant difference in actual life spans though and other diseases they looked at were not affected by diet. A number of studies have found that vegetarians are a bit slimmer, but not hugely slimmer. One survey carried out in 2005 found their average BMI was 22.1 compared to 24.6.
So does the lack of clear evidence that meat eating is either beneficial or harmful stop any arguments? Does it heck! I can remember one person putting it to me that human development was a result of meat eating and that hunting was what made us into the species we are today. He did this so aggressively that I almost expected him to instantly sprint out the room in pursuit of a woolly mammoth, possibly hitting me on the way out for my stupidity in suggesting the meat eating wasn’t necessary for good health.
So when the Beauty Brains suggested a guest post asking if eating meat affects your skin I was instantly interested. The Beauty Brains had picked up on some advice given by the highly respected Mayo clinic. Someone asked what they should eat to have a healthy skin. The advice given was pretty straight forward – just advising a healthy diet, but interestingly suggesting avoiding meat.
Menacing meat?
So is there any evidence that eating meat affects the skin? There are very few pieces of the jigsaw that have come to light so far.
What effect does diet have on skin diseases? Diet has never been shown unambiguously to cause or exacerbate acne. I have my own thoughts on this, but there is definitely no established link between meat eating and acne and the debate is centred on carbohydrates and dairy products. Psoriasis on the other hand does seem to be affected by diet to some extent and a vegetarian diet does seem to be beneficial to psoriasis sufferers. Why this should be isn’t yet known.
Scientists interested in prostate cancer investigated the effect of meat in the diet on the levels of sex hormones in the blood stream. It turned out that cutting out meat and replacing it with tofu slightly lowered the level of testosterone. Sex hormones can affect skin condition, so this gives us a possible link. But intriguing as this paper is, it gives almost no indication what it implies.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
So basically, I cannot find any real evidence that eating meat is harmful to the skin, but there is a slight hint that it might have some adverse effects. So what do I think? My feeling is that we will never find a link between meat eating and poor skin. At the end of the day meat isn’t that big a deal from a nutritional point of view. It might have a bit more protein and fat than vegetables do, but there isn’t anything much that you can get from meat that you can’t get elsewhere. My bet is that you can eat a normal amount of meat without it making your skin any worse.
References
Timothy J Key, Gary E Fraser, Margaret Thorogood, Paul N Appleby, Valerie Beral, Gillian Reeves, Michael L Burr, Jenny Chang-Claude, Rainer Frentzel-Beyme, Jan W Kuzma, Jim Mann and Klim McPherson (1998). Mortality in vegetarians and non-vegetarians: a collaborative analysis of 8300 deaths among 76,000 men and women in five prospective studies. Public Health Nutrition, 1 , pp 33-41
M. Wolters 2005 Diet and psoriasis: experimental data and clinical evidence British Journal of Dermatology Vol 153 No 4 pp 706-714
Raymundo C. Habito, Joseph Montalto, Eva Leslie and Madeleine J. Ball (2000). Effects of replacing meat with soyabean in the diet on sex hormone concentrations in healthy adult males. British Journal of Nutrition, 84 , pp 557-563
Appleby PN, Rosell MS Health effects of vegetarian and vegan diets. Proc Nutr Soc. 2006 Feb;65(1):35-41.
Alewaeters K, Clarys P, Hebbelinck M, Deriemaeker P, Clarys JP Cross-sectional analysis of BMI and some lifestyle variables in Flemish vegetarians compared with non-vegetarians Ergonomics. 2005 Sep 15-Nov 15;48(11-14):1433-44.
You can follow BeautyScientist on his blog: Colin’s Beauty Pages.
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
You are extremely biased and do not even make an attempt to research the subject of choice. What about including those who have found evidence to the contrary? The China study is just one example of numerous studies on this issue. Dr. Campbell Finds:
The connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, and also its ability to reduce or reverse the risk or effects of these deadly illnesses. The China Study also examines the source of nutritional confusion produced by powerful lobbies, government entities, and irresponsible scientists.
Powerful lobbies indeed. Who are the Beauty Brains? I would be interested to know if any of you have ties to nonhuman research as well as the meat industry? Who are your corporate sponsors?
Humans also seemed to have evolved by enslaving others both human and non human so that is not a rationale for its continuance.
You might also want to read The United Nations report “Livestocks’ Long Shadow” which details how flesh/non human milk consumption is worse for the planet than fuel exhaust.
What’s counterproductive to the planet is, of course, counterproductive to all life on earth, including humans and their skin.
Tristan:
You are extremely biased and do not even make an attempt to research the subject of choice
Me: and you are not? There are 5 cited references, you have included 2.
The connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, and also its ability to reduce or reverse the risk or effects of these deadly illnesses.
Me: So does nutrition necessarily mean vegetarian?
Humans also seemed to have evolved by enslaving others both human and non human so that is not a rationale for its continuance.
Me; When has evolution become a scientific fact?
You might also want to read The United Nations report “Livestocks’ Long Shadow” which details how flesh/non human milk consumption is worse for the planet than fuel exhaust.
Me: YOU may want to re-read paragraph 3, basically the BBs are agreeing with this statement.
Me: What are YOUR affiliations?
I am an ordinary person with no affiliations, an inquisitive mine, and like my information factual, accurate, and without spin.
Tristan, thanks for your comment. I was expecting this to be a polarising subject!
I agree with you that meat eating is probably one of the biggest environmental problems we face. As the world’s population gets bigger and richer it simply won’t be possible for the amount of meat eaten at the moment to increase and we are all going to have to reduce our consumption. I also agree that eating a lot meat seems to be a cause of heart disease.
But this is a beauty blog and the question was whether meat makes your skin look worse. There is currently no evidence that it does. I personally don’t have any corporate sponsors and I wasn’t paid anything to write this post. I was simply following up something I found interesting. Its great to hear from someone passionate about something, even if you don’t agree with them.
Perhaps a distinction needs to be made between eating natural meats and eating factory farmed meats. I think this can make all the difference in a meat-eating diet.
Factory farmed meats are pumped full of so many additional hormones and chemicals that it seems hard to deny that if these are entering your body they are having some effect over the course of an entire lifetime. Eating a natural, free-range meat eliminates those concerns while still providing the nutrition and satisfaction that meat eaters are seeking.
Body smells can change based on what you eat (ie eat garlic, smell like garlic) and many people that have eaten both veg and non veg diets can testify that their body odors have changed based on their diet, with veg diet making them much less stinky. If food odors can come out in body fluids and through pores then what other chemicals might be doing just that as well?
I’m happy to admit there are also many vegetarians that don’t eat as healthy as they should either. Being veg could still mean a person could sit around eating chips and cookies – they’re veg after all!
The focus should be on eating as many fresh, minimally processed foods as possible. Foods high in nutrient content are of the most benefit to body and skin, meat or no meat. An omnivorous diet can achieve good health if lots of produce is included. Clean, quality food can do amazing things…. Energy and good health emanate from within – through and with the skin.
Vegetarianism definately improved my skin. I suffered from awful psoriasis on my hands and feet and when i turned vegetarian (for moral reasons) it cleared up quickly.
Interesting to hear that Deej. Some psoriasis sufferers do seem to improve on a vegetarian diet, which is intriguing. I don’t think anyone knows why. If I had a big research budget or won the lottery that is the question I would spend it on.
Based on the vagueness of “controls”- which there aren’t, but whatever- “replacing meat with tofu” completely screws the results of influencing hormones. Duh. It has been widely published that tofu/soy changes hormone levels, lowers testosterone, and can screw your thyroid up in some people. But if this were a real study, keeping in mind tofu has these effects, it would not be used as a replacement for meat. Meat would be excluded, as would tofu, since we know what results tofu has on hormones. Shame on you Beauty Brains for not including such basic warnings about a shamefully conducted study!
Hi,
I really enjoyed the topic ‘Is Eating Meat Bad For Your Skin?’
Very information. Thank you so much for the contribution.
Hello. I am a vegetarian and have noticed a major difference (good differences) in my ody since cutting meat out. On top of cutting meat, I have also cut processed, packaged, refined foods. THIS has definitely contributed to the way I feel.
I stick with raw, organic, fresh foods. It’s really, the best way to go.
Response to Ann
Tristan:
You are extremely biased and do not even make an attempt to research the subject of choice
Me: and you are not? There are 5 cited references, you have included 2.
Trista’s response : I do not have to give references since this is a post yet I did. BB purports to be unbiased(Without bias or prejudice; impartial). yet the author ignored studies that were contrary to his opinion which is:
But is the vegetarian diet good for you? I have read quite a bit on this and there doesn’t seem to be any particular evidence that it is.
Tristan’s response:
What about this:Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Jun. 2003, pp. 748-65.
Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals. Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than nonvegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer
Or this one
Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals. Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than non vegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 70,No.3,570S, September 1999
Ann:
The connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, and also its ability to reduce or reverse the risk or effects of these deadly illnesses.
Me: So does nutrition necessarily mean vegetarian?
Tristan’s response: Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals. Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than nonvegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Jun. 2003, pp. 748-65
See response to Colin’s post for another article
Also, you claim to have an inquisitive mind now that you are aware that the BB article was misleading, you can decide for yourself if “nutrition” necessarily means vegetarian.
Ann:
Humans also seemed to have evolved by enslaving others both human and non human so that is not a rationale for its continuance.
Me; When has evolution become a scientific fact?
Tristan’s response: Why don’t you ask that question to the BB author. Had you read the article thoroughly, you would have known that I was responding to the article:
I can remember one person putting it to me that human development was a result of meat eating and that hunting was what made us into the species we are today.
Ann:
You might also want to read The United Nations report “Livestocks’ Long Shadow” which details how flesh/non human milk consumption is worse for the planet than fuel exhaust.
Me: YOU may want to re-read paragraph 3, basically the BBs are agreeing with this statement.
Tristan’s response No they are not, the argument made by BB is about loss of farmland not a global emergency which caused senior U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization official Dr. Henning Steinfeld to state that the meat industry is “one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems” and that “urgent action is required to remedy the situation.” There is also a rise in melanoma due to this(Global warming and its dermatologic implications by Haw-Yueh Thong and Howard Maibach International Journal of Dermatology, Volume 47, Number 5, May 2008 , pp. 522-524(3))which was not addressed in the article.
Ann:
I am an ordinary person with no affiliations, an inquisitive mine, and like my information factual, accurate, and without spin.
Tristan’s response: Definition of inquisitive:1. Inclined to investigate; eager for knowledge. 2. Unduly curious and inquiring
The fact that you claim to have no affiliations is suspect since everyone has affiliations. In your defensive attempt to prove me wrong you did not read the article that you were so zealously defending thoroughly, you did not read my answer thoroughly ascribing comments to me when in fact I was responding about something stated in the article. Furthermore you did not even question an article that had a glaring untruth. When someone else did, you attacked the person instead of using the inquisitive mind you claim to have. Your biases and affiliations are very clear .
Response to Colin:
But this is a beauty blog and the question was whether meat makes your skin look worse. There is currently no evidence that it does
Tristan’s response: Your article encompasses many issues including:
But is the vegetarian diet good for you? I have read quite a bit on this and there doesn’t seem to be any particular evidence that it is.
Tristan’s response: Yes there is. How about:
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Jun. 2003, pp. 748-65
Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals. Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than nonvegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.
Or this one:
Animal foods, protein, calcium and prostate cancer risk: the European ProspectiveInvestigation into Cancer and Nutrition.
British Journal of Cancer (2008) 98, 1574–1581. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.660433
Published online 1 April 2008MJ, Animal foods, protein, calcium and prostrate cancer risk: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Here is another one, in case you didn’t read response to Anne post:
Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals. Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than non vegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 70,No.3,570S, September 1999
Colin: But I have looked into the facts on the subject with some interest. It turns out that whatever else you might say about it, meat eating is certainly a heavy cost in terms of farmland. You need a lot of space to rear animals, and we could feed a lot more people if we were less carnivorous. I have been shouted down trying to put this point in late night conversations, even though it is both completely true and when you think about it, obvious.
Tristan’s response Since it is so obvious, then why:
Colin: I should explain that I am not a vegetarian and I have no intention of giving up eating meat any time soon if ever.
Tristan’s response: Trying to point out a problem seems disingenuous considering that you are a participating in the problem. Flesh/cows milk diets are responsible for:
more climate change gasses than all the motor vehicles in the world;
70 per cent of the Amazon deforestation;
64 per cent of all the acid rain-producing ammonia;
and 15 out of the 24 vast global ecosystems that are in decline can blame livestock.
Livestocks Long Shadow.Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations
Rome, 2006
Colin: I personally don’t have any corporate sponsors and I wasn’t paid anything to write this post. I was simply following up something I found interesting.
Tristan: Personally? Can you vouch for BB as well? Since you have nothing to hide, reveal your names and corporate sponsors.
Beauty Brains purports to be unbiased yet I have not found this to be true especially when dealing with other species(“some species are more sacred than others”).I think that your collective cognitive dissonance is causing you to disseminate biased information.
Colin: I agree with you that meat eating is probably one of the biggest environmental problems we face. As the world’s population gets bigger and richer it simply won’t be possible for the amount of meat eaten at the moment to increase and we are all going to have to reduce our consumption.
Tristan: That time is now. To reiterate, senior U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization official Dr. Henning Steinfeld states that the meat industry is “one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems” and that “urgent action is required to remedy the situation. There is more to come because people will not change their habits and think that the consequences of their actions will have repercussions “in the future“. The future is now. Unfortunately for those of us who care about the planet and all of its inhabitants and are doing everything we can to delay the destruction, by the time anyone listens it will at best be a pyrrhic victory.
I’m a MD, I’d love to love you guys, but you are sometimes sloppy. Those studies your guy references AREN’T ABOUT THE ISSUE asked. Talk about sloppy inference. It’s not hard to find these studies referenced below (and many others). Why the cherry picking? Such poor science.
How bout this:
http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/20/1/71#F2
Here’s the easy to-the-point graph:
http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/20/1/71/F2
@Jennyq – Thanks for the articles. We’ll forward them on to our guest poster for his comments.
Unfortunately, we don’t always have access to complete articles. We are always happy to have someone direct us to research that we may have over-looked.
This blog content is completely bogus. You do not deserve to have any readers.
If you look at Asian cultures, their diet is mostly vegetables and they use meat as flavoring.
There are micronutrients in meat/animal protein that can’t be found in vegetable sources. Western science doesn’t know everything about food and nutrition. Westerners do not eat insects. Insects have micronutrients and protein that can be used by the human body to maintain health. But, because Westerners see insects as “gross” they aren’t included in the diet.
Bush people, hunter-gatherers eat a combination of root vegetables, greens, flowers, fruits, birds, small reptiles, insects and larger grazing game animals.
Strict vegetarians suffer B-vitamin deficiencies — proof that this diet is not balanced.
You don’t have to eat meat with every meal, but a little animal protein, once or twice a month, is good for over all health.