WEDNESDAY, April 23 (HealthDay News) -- In teenage boys, high consumption of skim milk is positively associated with acne, according to a study published in the May issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Clement A. Adebamowo, M.D., Sc.D., of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues conducted a prospective cohort study of 4,273 boys who completed food frequency questionnaires between 1996 and 1998 and reported acne in 1999.
The researchers found that acne prevalence by total milk intake was 0.57 for less than one serving per week, 0.69 for two to six servings per week, 0.73 for one serving per day and 0.66 for two or more servings per day. They also found that the multivariate prevalence ratios for acne when the highest and lowest milk intakes were compared were 1.16 for total milk, 1.1 for whole or 2 percent milk, 1.17 for 1 percent milk and 1.19 for skim milk. They suggested that skim milk contains hormones that may have biological effects in consumers.
"Diet causes acne. No it doesn't!" says the author of an accompanying editorial. "But that is what the media will say. What Adebamowo et al actually say is that acne severity is increased in those who consume skimmed milk products. Why not whole or low-fat milk products, too? Their data do not speak to this question, although it would seem to exonerate bovine hormones as the acne factor in milk. Further work is clearly needed."
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