jmr@philabs.UUCP (Joanne Renza Mannarino) (03/12/86)
Someone recently told me about a vitamin called Acidophilus which is supposed to be better at clearing up acne than any antibiotics that the dermatologists prescribe. It is supposedly made with a "yogurt culture base" and the daily dosage is 2 100mg tablets. Anyone heard anything about this? thanks in advance, Joanne Mannarino philabs!jmr
dyer@spdcc.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (03/13/86)
In article <620@philabs.UUCP>, jmr@philabs.UUCP (Joanne Renza Mannarino) writes: > > Someone recently told me about a vitamin called Acidophilus which is supposed > to be better at clearing up acne than any antibiotics that the dermatologists > prescribe. It is supposedly made with a "yogurt culture base" and the daily > dosage is 2 100mg tablets. Coupla points: 1.) These pills aren't "vitamins", because they don't contain any substances which satisfy the criteria for vitamins. "Dietary supplement" would be a better word. 2.) Lactobacillus acidophilus is one of the bacteria which convert milk to yogurt, and most yogurts have active cultures still present when you purchase them. Species of lactobacilli are also part of the normal intestinal flora. 3.) If you ingest live lactobacilli, they either are killed by your stomach acid, or survive to become part of your normal flora. But, they stay in your gut. They do not travel elsewhere (like to your skin surface.) 4.) Acne is a condition of the sebacious glands associated with infection by Propionibacterium acnes. Lactobacilli are not normal flora on the skin, and if you gave yourself a mudpack of yogurt, the lactobacilli probably wouldn't last very long, and would have no effect on the P. acnes population. So, it's hard to imagine acidophilus tablets yaken orally having any salutary effect on acne. What's more, with the popularity of yogurt these days, especially among the acne-prone teenagers, you'd think that this discovery would have been made a long time ago, and without the necessity to purchase expensive dietary supplements. REALLY severe acne can now be treated orally with a compound called isotretinoin, a retinoid. It has a lot of side-effects, and requires a doctor's supervision. But for those people whose present condition outweighs the potential side-effects, it's a miracle drug. -- Steve Dyer dyer@harvard.HARVARD.EDU {bbncca,bbnccv,harvard}!spdcc!dyer
wts@burl.UUCP (wts) (03/14/86)
In article <620@philabs.UUCP> jmr@philabs.UUCP (Joanne Renza Mannarino) writes: > > > > >Someone recently told me about a vitamin called Acidophilus which is supposed >to be better at clearing up acne than any antibiotics that the dermatologists >prescribe. It is supposedly made with a "yogurt culture base" and the daily >dosage is 2 100mg tablets. > >Anyone heard anything about this? > > > thanks in advance, > Joanne Mannarino > > philabs!jmr If my memory serves me correctly, Acidophilus is a bacillus, not a vitamin. The pioneering work on introducing the Acidophilus bacillus into milk was done by NC State University Food Science Department. One of the first dairies to market the product was Pine State Creamery of Raleigh, NC, as Sweet Acidophilus Milk. The thrust was that the acidophilus bacilli is naturally found in the GI tract, but modern eating habits have reduced or destroyed this beneficial creature in our gut. By drinking the milk, some balance was supposedly restored to the flora and fauna of the GI tract (aid to digestion?). Effect on acne I can't say. As a student at State at the time, I remember an incident in which a co-ed tried to by a pint of the milk at a dorm snack bar. She started to ask for a pint of "Sweet Acidolph... uh ... Sweet Acedoh... uh .. Acadop... uh... Sh*t, lemme have a pint of that new sweet ass milk!" A round of chuckles all around. -- _______________________________________________________________________________ William T. Sykes AT&T Federal Systems Burlington, NC 27215 ...![ ihnp4 ulysses cbosgd mgnetp ]!burl!wts
uribe@muddcs.UUCP (Lydia Uribe) (03/17/86)
In article <620@philabs.UUCP> jmr@philabs.UUCP (Joanne Renza Mannarino) writes: > >Someone recently told me about a vitamin called Acidophilus which is supposed >to be better at clearing up acne than any antibiotics that the dermatologists >prescribe. It is supposedly made with a "yogurt culture base" and the daily >dosage is 2 100mg tablets. > >Anyone heard anything about this? > Lactobacillus acidophilus is a bacterium, not a vitamin. It is the same bacterium that you find in yogurt cultures. I know of no reason why it would have any effect whatsoever in the treatment of acne. (For the record, I am a pharmacist.) -- Lydia Uribe Claremont, CA ...scgvaxd!muddcs!uribe
wmartin@brl-smoke.ARPA (Will Martin ) (03/18/86)
I believe that the relationship between acidophilus and acne may be along the same lines as that which I have seen recommending it as a preventative for cold sores and suchlike. The idea is that the cold sore, and, I suppose, the acne, is a symptom or manifestation of an imbalance in your intestinal flora, which causes various effects, the susceptibility to such dermatological defects being among them. Drinking buttermilk is also recommended for restoring the proper balance of the intestinal microorganisms. Since I like buttermilk anyway, I try to drink some fairly often, and always drink it when I get a cold sore or the incipient beginnings of one. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. I took acidophilus capsules for a while, but noticed no particular effects. Since you can get this sort of thing realy cheap from sales and specials advertised in Prevention or in mail-order vitamin dealer flyers, it can be experimented with with little investment. Or just buy buttermilk instead of regular milk at lunch; it's usually the same price, if you eat at a place that has it. This may all be nonsense, or it may be a "higher truth". The trick is to not sink much money in it either way... Will