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www.ascpskincare.com 29 expertadvice FEED YOUR FACE Ditch the Dairy Removing milk products from your diet can help improve complexion by Alex Caspero Are your clients seeking clear, youthful skin? They might want to consider ditching the dairy. While we still don't know the exact culprit between dairy intake and acne, the research is clear: removing milk, cheese, and butter from the diet will reduce breakouts and redness, and improve complexion. Which came fi rst, the milk or the hormones? Most dietitians and dermatologists believe that it's how the milk is produced and processed that causes the most complexion problems. Dairy cows not only have naturally occurring hormones, like progesterone and insulin growth factor, but are often given additional hormones to increase production and keep them in an artifi cial state of lactation. This means that excess hormones make their way into the milk, which can lead to increased levels of infl ammation, aging, and acne. Some people may fi nd benefi ts in just transitioning dairy intake to organic sources only, which have less hormonal and antibiotic content than conventional dairy. For others, that might not be enough to combat everything. If you're dealing with dairy-related issues, I recommend removing dairy completely for 12 weeks to see if you observe noticeable changes. Since the average life of a skin cell is about 120 days, you should see improvements in your skin tone and acne production within that time period. From there, reintroduce one dairy product at a time into your diet to see how you respond to it. For most Americans, dairy is their primary dietary source of calcium and vitamin D. Therefore, it's critical you fi nd other foods to replace those nutrients. Many nondairy milks, like almond, cashew, and soy, are usually fortifi ed with calcium and vitamin D, but check the label to make sure. A serving of dark leafy greens like spinach, kale, and broccoli contains roughly 150 milligrams of calcium, 1⁄7 of the daily requirement. Most dietitians and dermatologists believe that it's how the milk is produced and processed that causes the most complexion problems. lactation. This means that excess hormones make their way