Journal Reading

Salty and spicy food; are they involved in the

pathogenesis of acne vulgaris?
A case controlled study
Anindya Anjas Putriavi - 1102014027

Pembimbing:
dr. Yanto Widiantoro, Sp.KK
dr. Hilman Wildan Latief, Sp.DV
INTRODUCTION

A wide variety of food items have been postulated to be associated with

acne exacerbation including milk, chocolate, cereal and non-nutrient
dietary variables such as high-glycemic index foods and salt

The relation between acne vulgaris and the consumption of

salty or spicy food has been overlooked in the literature in
comparison with the highlight on other dietary elements

Many of our patients reported acne exacerbation

upon consumption of salty or spicy food

To investigate the relation between those

food items and the exacerbation of acne vulgaris
MATERIALS
& METHODS
A QUESTIONNAIRE FORM:
• Personal and social information
(age, sex and style of life)
• History of the disease including
age of onset, severity, duration of
acne and current acne treatment
• Each patient was asked whether
he/she believed that salty/spicy
food exacerbated his/her acne
24 h Recall:
• Food intake on the day previous
to the data collection
• Household measures of food
items consumed by the patient
were converted to grams (slice,
piece, spoonful, glass)
200 patients with acne vulgaris
attending the Dermatology
Outpatient Clinic
200 age- and gender-matched
volunteers with no history or
current acne as controls
The pattern of consumption of
different food items was
made using the frequency food
sheet  used to determine the
amount of salty and spicy food
consumed by each patient per
month, from the average
amount of salty and spicy food
consumed per day
MATERIALS
& METHODS
1

• Clinical examination was carried out to

evaluate the type and severity of acne 2
• Acne grading was performed using the
International Consensus on Acne
Classification

3
 Demographic Data

RESULTS
Clinical Data
From clinical examination of the studied (200) patients with acne vulgaris
The amount of sodium consumed by:
• patients with acne per day: 1.837 to 18.274,25 mg (median 3.367,54 mg)
• the controls: 1.000 to 4.991,08 mg (median 2.271,8 mg) (P < 0.001)
Recommended Daily Amount (RDA) of sodium: 2.400 mg/day
according to the joint FAO/WHO expert consultation on human vitamin and mineral requirements
• The amount of NaCl intake by patients with acne showed significantly negative
correlation with the age of onset of the disease (r = –0.216; P = 0.031)

• It also did not correlate with the duration or the severity of acne (P = 0.18, P = 0.993)

👨 1.837,93 – 18.274,25 mg
Median 3.336,54 mg 👩 1.812,4 – 7.737,95 mg
Median 2.827,43 mg

of patients with acne (n = 68) reported increase in the

severity of their disease following the intake of salty food
The amount of spicy food consumed by:
• patients with acne: 2.936,64 ± 614,8 g
• The controls: 2.884,86 ± 415,7 g
The difference was not significantly correlate (P = 0.919)

The amount of spicy food consumption by patients with acne

did not significantly correlate with the age of onset, duration,
or severity of acne
(P = 0.157, P = 0.052, P = 0.609)

21% of patients with acne reported that

spicy food exacerbated their acne
 Follicular keratinocyte
proliferation and
differentiation

+ Propionibacterium acne

ACNE
Inflammation and
the balance of Sebum
steroid hormones synthesis
👨
👩
Limitation

• Larger well-consorted studies to further verify the relation

of salty diet to acne through examining multiple
nutritional factors
• Studying and comparing different populations could be of
much interest because some population groups have a
reduced capacity of sodium excretion which may be
genetic or may be related to their habitual or traditional
dietary consumption of large amounts of sodium
Conclusion
• It could be suggested that the intake of high
amounts of salty food could contribute to the
pathogenesis of acne and could be related to an
earlier onset of the disease

• Accordingly, acne prone age groups should be

advised to decrease their salt intake
Thank You!