Acne skin care

Acne is defined as a diseased condition of the skin that involves the hair and oil glands. It is characterised by pimples, black/white heads, reddishness and cysts. Face acne can spoil your appearance to a great extent and body acne can really ruin your day by making you very uncomfortable. Considering acne as a minor problem, some people tend to totally discard the topic of ‘Acne skin care’. However, the importance of ‘Acne skin care’ cannot be undermined in any way.

Acne skin care should really start much before the acne actually appears. ‘Acne skin care’ is more about being proactive than reactive. Acne skin care is about being aware of preventive measures. Acne skin care is - following daily skin care routines with complete discipline. So let’s have a look at how ‘acne skin care’ can be applied to our daily routine.

‘Acne skin care’ starts with the most basic thing - cleanliness. So morning showers are the most basic way of keeping the skin clean. In fact, a lot of people take night showers too (that not only helps in keeping your skin clean but also provides relaxation to your body and enables a good sleep). If you are living in a hot and/or humid place, a night shower becomes a must. In fact, a shower is recommended after any activity that causes high levels of sweat to develop. It’s a very effective ‘acne skin care’ technique.

However, acne skin care is not about just showers. Acne skin care is also about wearing clean clothes and sleeping on clean pillows. Moreover, too tight clothes can cause sweat to accumulate quickly; so soft and comfortable cotton clothes are recommended, especially if you already have acne. In the same sense, ‘acne skin care’ also advocates regular cleaning of your make-up brush and any equipment that you use on your body.

Besides that, you should also use a mild, water-soluble, oil-free and soap-free cleanser for keeping your face, neck and arms clean. Cleansing is the most important part of any acne skin care routine. Cleaners are the easiest and the most effective way of removing dirt, grease, pollutants and excess oil from your skin; thus reducing the probability of acne occurrence. Acne skin care also recommends removing your make up using a make up remover, and this should happen before you go to bed (not in the morning).

If you already have acne, do not try to touch them or squeeze them; it can lead to permanent scars. ‘Acne skin care’ advocates gentle cleansing and cleaning of the affected area using an over-the-counter medication and a clean/soft cotton pad. There are various acne skin care creams and lotions available over-the-counter (a lot of these acne skin care products are actually cleansers). However, if these ‘acne skin care’ measures don’t give you the desired results, contact a dermatologist for ‘acne skin care’ advice and treatment.

Omega 6 fatty acid and skin cancer

Here is another important fact regarding polyunsaturated fat in particular omega-6 acid. As per my previous blog discussion on the link between acne and Omega 6 fatty acid (refer to my blog article on Omega 6 link to acne), there is now mounting medical evidence associating skin cancer to high consumption of food containing Omega 6 fats.

Polyunsaturated fats such as Omega 6 fatty acids makes its way into our body through certain types of foods that we consume such as raised meats, vegetable and seed oils. In today's heavily polluted environment, it is estimated that the our body contains Omega 6 fatty acid five times more the amount as that of the Omega 3 fats and this out of proportion of almost 2 to 1 ratio extremely detrimental to our health.

Many people mistakenly assume that exposure to the sun is the leading cause of skin cancer. On the contrary, the sun is just a co factor which together with unfavorable skin condition and cell degradation triggers the formation of skin cancer.

In a nutshell, the presence of high omega 6 fatty acids in the body cause oxidation and inflammation to the cell membrane. The fatty acids prevents blood and nutrients flow to the cells thus impairing and impacting cell to cell communication. Once the body cell membrane is damaged or compromised, the body ability to remove toxin is severely compromised and eventually leads to cell DNA damaged resulting in formation of cancer cells.

Thus it is not surprising that there is increased skin cancer among the population. The skin being the largest human organ is exposed to external environment and increase oxidation and exposure to UV light triggers the onset of skin cancer.

The solution to reducing risk of skin cancer is simply by avoiding over consumption of foods that are high in polyunsaturated omega 6 fatty acids. Increase intake of Omega 3 fats to boost your body natural protection against inflammation and thus reduce aging effects.

Click here for more info on ways to protect your skin

Does certain food contribute to worsening acne condition?

Multiple factors contribute to acne problem. Acne is not just caused by hormone imbalance. (Think about adolescent teens or those reaching menopause that results in the uncontrolled secretion of sebaceous glands leading to clogged skin pores.)

New research studies have shown that accumulation of high Omega 6 fatty acid compounds may cause skin inflammation and this indirectly leads to worsening acne problem.

The key enzymes such 5-LOX or COX in the body are known to turn the omega 6 fatty acid into certain group of potent inflammatory compound (leukotrienes) and this contributes to skin inflammation. Thus the presence of the 5-LOX enzyme together with excessive omega 6 is a recipe for worsening acne condition.

Some people are prone to acne because of the increase key enzymes in their body. As a matter of fact, scientists now believe such findings explain why acne problem could be hereditary in nature due to the fact that increase of such enzymes in the body can be hereditary in nature and this results in higher probability and frequency of skin inflammation.

One solution to solving acne problem is by preventing omega 6 fatty compound acids from interacting with such key enzymes to produce inflammatory compounds. Some topical acne medications containing salicylic acid is quite effective in treating acne by inhibiting and blocking COX enzymes from interacting with omega 6 fatty compounds to generate inflammatory compounds.

Thus based on the above facts, you should restrict or limit consumption of Omega 6 rich content food such as margarine, mayonnaise, salad dressings and processed food. Many of these types of foods are prepared using vegetable oil, corn oil, soybean oil and cottonseed oil all of which laden with high omega 6 fatty acid.

The key to an acne free and good complexion is by understanding what’s triggering acne and making necessary lifestyle changes to minimize skin inflammation. A holistic treatment and prevention measure would help to keep acne at bay.

In summary does certain food contributes to worsening acne condition? The answer is obvious. Anyone who tells you food has got nothing to do with acne does not understand the complex interaction between our body enzymes and external environment that triggers acne.

Too much sugar harmful to the brain

Too much sugar intake not only caused obesity or diabetes. Well now it seems that high sugar intake could also cause dementia and increase cognitive problems. I have to admit though taking sweets or chocolates helps to keep me wide awake during office hours, more so especially amidst mental taxing situation whereby I have sort out complex software problems.

By all means enjoy some of those sweet stuffs and as in all cases, always remember to enjoy intake of high sugar content food in moderation. Sugar is converted to energy by the cells in our body thus sugar is vital to proper regulation of our health. Too much unregulated intake of sugar though would flip the internal switch in our body system and post serious health risks.

Checkout the following report on sugar effect on dementia.

Danger of over exercise

Gyms and health workout centers are quite popular with younger generations nowadays.
Gone are the days where young people practice qigong, taichi or other form of breathing exercise. Instead, what we are seeing today is modern repetitive aerobic strenuous exercise such as jogging, weight lighting and other high intensity workouts.

Quite often, health conscious people spend on the average like half an hour or more daily in the gym workout and there are some who go to the extreme of spending almost 3 hours and beyond in daily in the gym workout.

No doubt exercise is good for health, one has to be cautious though so as not to over do it due to the fact that over exercise could just be as harmful as not exercising at all. Know your body limits and don't push nor exert yourself beyond what your body is able to take. If you experience dizziness, abnormal fast heart beat or difficulty in catching your breath or vomiting after strenuous exercise stop the workout immediately.

There has been quite a number of cases whereby healthy people otherwise supposedly in excellent health suddenly collapsed and died while exercising on treadmills or other high intensity workouts. Certainly not all deaths were attributed directly due to exercise, however it is evident that strenuous exercise in one form or another is able to trigger dangerous and harmful body reactions.

A well balance and progressively adjusted exercise is good for the heart. Excessive exercise could increase blood pressure and this may lead to uncontrollable heart palpitation and heart failure. There are contradiction findings as to whether exercise is good for heart problematic patients.
As a safety guide, light exercised lasting 15 minutes or less daily is recommended to begin with. Generally most doctors agree that strenuous and high intensity workout is harmful to those with heart complications, high blood pressure, diabetic and other

Repetitive strenuous exercise may cause stiffness and soreness of neck,shoulder, arm, joint,upper and lower back. Repetitive strenuous over exercise causes chronic muscle strain and pull. The muscle becomes stronger,tighten and pull 2 or more bones closer together and this may result in stress and strains or tears to soft tissue.

Exercise stimulate the body hormone response and reduce insulin. High intensity and over exercise can cause enormous oxidative stress and result in antioxidant insufficiency. Some of the antioxidant that are affected by over exercise are coenyzyme Q10, magnesium and vitamin E.

Severe iron deficiencies can also be noted on female that over exercise. Over exercise can cause oxidation of LDL (good cholesterol) and set a person up for cardiac events and sudden death. Supercharged sympathetic nervous system can lead to cardiac arrest and sudden death.

In summary exercise is certainly good for health when carry out in moderation and progressively adjusted to suit one's body ability and tolerance. If possible try to get a fitness instructor or doctor to advice on appropriate form of exercise that is best suited to your health condition. Over exercise and strenuous exercise is harmful and should be avoided for those who have health complications.

Peanut contamination

It's just been few months since China’s melamine milk product contamination scandal rock the nation,caused the lose of at least five children's life within the country and leads to global criticism of the country's daily industry and food health safety standards.

The chairman of Sanlu, the country's largest milk powder producer has been sentenced to life imprisonment and along two others, brothers were sentenced to death for their part in mixing melamine into the milk powder.

It is difficult to pinpoint and persecute all those involved in the melamine contamination scandal due to the way dairy food products are manufactured in China. Official corruptions further complicates and impedes the effort to maintain dairy and food industry safety standards.

China's dairy manufacturing process involved long chains of sub contractors that forms part of the manufacturing pipeline, from the front end processing preparation of the raw ingredients and materials to final packaging.

Anywhere along the dairy food manufacturing pipeline chain, some of these sub contractors could potentially cut corners so as to cut cost and thus compromise the product safety, mostly through various unscrupulous means such as mixing with dangerous toxic industry chemicals, compromised hygiene requirement standard and etc.


Sanlu officials in particular the chairwoman 'Tian WenHua' knew about the Melamine contamination as early as April last year but regrettably only choose to act on recalling the contaminated milk products several months later.

Apart from trying to avoid milk product recalls that may results in huge loses to the company, one main reason cited by her was the concern of such impact to the Beijing Olympic. There were even rumors that some of the high rank government officials were as much guilty as Sanlu officials and in some way influence the delay of recalling of the products to avoid bad publicity during the Olympic.

It is not surprising though since the Sanlu melamine contamination court hearing was a close door event much to the dismay of even the local Chinese, chances are that high level government corruptions charges are either toss out of the window or sweep under the carpet so to speak.


Now it seems that now the table has turn around with US made peanut butter by Peanut Corp contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. To date at least eight deaths associated with Salmonella bacteria were being reported throughout the nation.

Press reports indicates that the salmonella outbreak has been tied to Peanut Corp.'s peanut processing facility in Georgia. The most shocking news though is that just like Sanlu milk powder contamination scandal whereby officials knew about it months before disclosing it to the public, the FDA knew about unsanitary condition of the Peanut Corp's facility for well about nine months prior to publicly disclosing and warning consumers!.


Back in April 2008, around the time as Sanlu officials discovered their milk powder contaminated with Melamine, Peanut Corp try to ship some peanuts to Canada. The shipment was rejected by Canada health authorities after spot check indicates the presence of putrid, filthy and decomposed substance. The FDA was alerted of this but did nothing to contain the situation nor issue a public warning. Instead, Peanut Corp decides to continue to ship the contaminated peanuts to other countries including US itself.

All too often we start to put the finger at China for its gross violation of food health standard but what about other countries such as the US or Europe? Would anyone be found guilty for Peanut Corps mishandling of the contaminated peanuts , would the guilty parties be tried in the court, charge and thereafter sentence to death or life imprisonment for the death of well over eight consumers?

You be the judge, cause as for me it seems more like the kettle calling the pot black!