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Question:
Are there any nutritional supplements that can help with acne?
Answer:
Absolutely. My general recommendation is to take a high potency multiple vitamin and mineral. On top of that, look to extra zinc. Several double-blind studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of zinc in the treatment of acne. In fact, these studies have shown zinc to yield similar results to tetracycline in superficial acne and superior results in deeper acne.
Although there are some studies of zinc in acne patients where improvements of this magnitude were not obtained, the inconsistency of the results can be explained by differences in dosages or the form of zinc used. For example, studies using zinc citrate or zinc gluconate show improvements similar to tetracycline while those using plain zinc sulfate have shown less beneficial results. The reason being is that zinc sulfate is poorly absorbed. There have been no studies to date using other highly absorbable forms of zinc such as zinc picolinate, zinc acetate or zinc monomethionine. These forms of zinc are more effectively absorbed than the zinc gluconate or citrate used in the positive studies and, therefore, may produce even better effects.
Although some people in these studies showed dramatic improvement immediately, the majority usually required 12 weeks of supplementation before good results were achieved. A safe and effective dose for zinc is 30-45 mg per day.
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