The functional nutrition approach to healing acne focuses on identifying and addressing the root causes of symptoms through diet and lifestyle changes. This whole body, root cause approach is individualized based on a comprehensive functional nutrition assessment, individual symptoms, health history, and labs aiming to restore balance to the body.

From a functional nutrition perspective, acne is viewed as a symptom of deeper underlying imbalances in the body. Rather than just treating the surface of the skin, functional nutrition seeks to identify and address root causes. When it comes to acne, the goal is to find the root cause of where the acne is coming from in order to heal it from a whole body, root cause approach. The goal is to reach a long term solution and not reach for the quick fix bandaid approach.

When it comes to acne and skin health, the goal is to find the root cause of where the acne is coming from in order to heal it from a holistic approach and to reach a long term solution. The other methods include band-aid approaches to acne such as taking prescribed doxycycline which is an antibiotic that works to remove and target bacterial acne in the gut. The problem with taking doxycycline is that it removes not only the harmful bacteria but the beneficial bacteria as well as resulting in the disruption of the gut microbiome. After taking doxycycline, you would have to work on repairing the gut with the off-chance that the acne will re-appear since it wasn’t healed at the root of the issue.

It is easier to think about it as many different factors such as changes in the gut microbiome, the endocrine system (hormonal imbalances), blocked detoxification pathways, or the skin microbiome – think of those factors as puzzle pieces that will come together to make the entire puzzle complete or to find the root cause of where the acne is stemming from. When you work with a functional nutrition dietitian to heal acne, they will look at all of these different factors, that may or may not include functional lab testing, in order to find a root-cause solution that will heal the acne for good.

Acne is multi-factorial meaning it can stem from a combination of different factors. When working with a functional nutrition dietitian, they will work with you to rule out different potential root-causes and to hone in on the factors most likely causing the acne. The process involves looking at your current diet, identifying and addressing symptoms related to gut issues, hormonal imbalances, blocked detoxification pathways, inflammation, stress, sleep, and movement/exercise.

The whole body, root cause approach to acne from a functional nutrition perspective:

Overall from a whole body, root cause approach, to heal acne we would look at using a therapeutical diet, targeted supplements, and then if needed, work to rebalance the gut using the 5R Treatment Protocol. Any potential root causes are identified using the STAIN method specifically looking at stress, toxins (mold, plastics, heavy metals), adverse food reactions, infections, and nutritional imbalances.

During the initial comprehensive functional nutrition assessment, we will look at:

• Past Medical History: initial comprehensive patient questionnaire, symptom questionnaire, root causes: STAIN (stress, toxins, adverse food reactions, infections, nutritional imbalances), history of N/V/D/C, family history of chronic health conditions, current medications/OTC’s and supplements, lifestyle factors such as sleep, stress, exercise, etc.
• Anthropometrics: changes in body weight, weight loss, weight gain.
• Nutrition Focused Physical Exam: dark circles under eyes, abdominal distention/bloating, hair loss/hair thinning, red, swollen, or coated tongue, skin rashes.
• Dietary and Food Habits: nutrient density in meals, caloric intake, meal pattern and timing, macronutrient balance, fiber types and sources, processed food and refined sugar intake, alcohol intake, adverse food reactions (food allergies or intolerances), FODMAPs, lactose, fructose, or sucrose intolerance, gluten sensitivity, histamine intolerance, prebiotic sources, probiotic sources, fermented foods, gut microbiome diversity.
• Conventional Labs: Comprehensive metabolic profile (CMP), CBC with differential, fasting insulin & HbA1C (Hemoglobin A1C), complete iron profile including serum ferritin, serum 25-OH Vitamin D, serum B12.
• Functional Labs: GI-MAP by diagnostic solutions, DUTCH test for hormone imbalances, or OAT test by mosaic diagnostics.
• Wearables Data: apple watch for exercise/HRV (heart rate variability), whoop for exercise/HRV, oura ring for sleep tracking.

A personalized functional nutrition care plan will be created for you based on the data from the initial comprehensive functional nutrition assessment that includes personalized diet therapy, personalized targeted supplements, as well as lifestyle changes in stress level, sleep quality, and exercise which are important for gut and hormone health.

By addressing these underlying causes — through personalized approaches like nutrition, simple lifestyle changes, and targeted supplements — functional nutrition aims to bring the body back into balance and resolve acne at its root.

What is the skin microbiome and how does it relate to acne?

Your skin microbiome is a biome of trillions of diverse micro-organisms that live in harmony together including bacteria, fungi, and viruses. When there is an imbalance in that biome, that can result in acne depending on the specific imbalance – in either bacteria, fungi, or viruses. This could be from the overuse of harsh skin products or antibiotics resulting in altered skin flora. Addressing any imbalances in the skin microbiome, gut microbiome, potential hormone imbalances is crucial to finding the root cause of where the acne is coming from.

What are the different types of acne that are based on specific causes: Hormonal, Fungal, and Bacterial.

Hormonal acne is caused by often multiple hormonal imbalances within the body specifically elevated cortisol which can cause a domino effect with every single other hormone in the body or elevated androgens as seen in PCOS. This type of acne typically appears around the jawline and chin.

Fungal acne, also known as Malassezia Folliculitis, is caused when there is an overgrowth of yeast specifically Malassezia in the hair follicles. It can often be mistaken for bacterial acne which can lead to use of methods which are only useful in healing bacterial acne. In fact, the wrong diagnosis of the cause of the acne may cause more harm than good. For example, being prescribed an antibiotic, such as doxycycline which is a common method of treatment for hormonal acne, may exacerbate symptoms even further due to the elimination of all forms of bacteria in the gut (good and bad) causing an imbalance in the gut microbiome. A useful website for learning more about fungal acne as well as fungal acne safe moisturizers is linked here.

Bacterial acne is caused when there is an overgrowth of a specific type of bacteria triggered by excess oil production, clogged pores, hormonal changes, inflammation, stress, and diet.

By identifying the root cause of acne, treatments can be better targeted to address the specific causes using a personalized functional nutrition care plan.

What are root causes of acne?

• Hormonal Imbalances caused by chronic stress, insulin resistance, or PCOS.
• Gut Health Issues: an imbalance in the gut microbiome or leaky gut syndrome (increased intestinal permeability) resulting in inflammation in the body.
• Lack of a nutrient-dense diet resulting in inflammation.
• Food sensitivities related to gluten, dairy (lactose), or fructose.
• Impaired detoxification: There are 3 phases for proper detoxification. An error in one of the three phases, specifically the last phase which involves elimination, will result in impaired detoxification.
• Chronic inflammation

How can I help treat acne using functional lab testing?

There are different methods to using functional lab testing to find the root cause of acne. Specifically, the three different methods to use: DUTCH testing for any potential hormonal imbalances, GI-MAP stool testing for gut health issues, and OAT (Organic Acids test ) testing for any vitamin or mineral deficiencies.

Acne and poor gut health are often linked together. We are aiming to first heal and repair the gut, slowly re-introduce new foods, identify any trigger foods, and then work to rebalance the gut using the 5R Treatment Protocol.

My storefront is linked here to order functional labs, which is signed off by a nationally-licensed physician, to assess for gut health issues, hormonal imbalances, or vitamin/mineral deficiencies. If you need help creating a personalized functional nutrition care plan based on the interpretation of any of the above functional labs, you can work with us here.

Functional lab testing would be a good idea if you really wanted to hone in on the specifics of gut microbiome imbalances, hormonal imbalances, vitamin/mineral deficiencies.

Are there any therapeutic diets used in healing acne from a root cause approach?

There are different evidence-based therapeutic diets to heal acne depending on the root cause of acne. Looking at it from the STAIN framework — Stress, Toxins, Adverse Food Reactions, Infections, and Nutritional Imbalances — we aim to identify the root causes and design a personalized nutrition care plan based on your unique biochemical individuality. Biochemical individuality is the concept that each of us has a different nutrition blueprint to achieve optimal wellness. We each have our own, unique genetic expression and that is shown in a personalized nutrition care plan made just for you.

Tip: Keep a food journal so that pre and post meals you can become more in tune with your body and see how certain meals make you feel. Continuously check in with yourself to see how you are feeling, this is the type of subjective information that only you can know for yourself and make sure to share this information with the dietitian that you are working with!

Ask yourself: How do I feel after eating this specific meal? *insert symptom here* It’s helpful to have a dietitian that is able to look at your food journals so that they can decipher what specific ingredient or a combination of ingredients that may be causing these symptoms. Having a food journal is also helpful to look for any potential food reactions that may be related to acne.

Are there any supplements, Probiotic strains, botanicals, or herbs that can help heal acne?

Targeted supplements, alongside a therapeutic diet, are supportive and healing depending on the root cause of the acne, whether it is due to a hormonal imbalance, gut heath issues, impaired detoxification, etc. Remember supplements are there to “supplement” or to help the main treatment which is using a food as medicine approach to healing.

For proper detoxification, take high quality antioxidant-rich supplements such as:

• Liposomal glutathione (better absorption that regular glutathione)
• NAC
• CoQ10 or ubiquinone

Make sure to order from a high quality and third party tested brand instead of purchasing from Amazon where practically anyone can sell anything without any rigorous testing. To make it easier for you, you may order from my supplement dispensary below through Fullscript’s catalog where each brand and product meets strict top quality standards. You can learn more about third party testing here.

My supplement dispensary is linked here (with a 30% off discount!) and you do not need to be a client to place an order.

What are some diet and lifestyle tips that can help me during the process of healing acne?

Look at sleep, diet, exercise, and stress management.

Here are some helpful tips for you to begin the process of healing acne:

• Each time you fill up your water bottle, add 1 tablespoon of raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar (ACV) to 8 fluid ounces of room temperature water for better blood sugar balance resulting in balanced hormones and better gut health.
• Try to identify and limit any chronic stressors in your life for balanced cortisol.
• Have a nervous-system regulating sleep routine. Some helpful tips are epsom salt baths with lavender, an evening walk before bedtime, and swapping your phone use before sleeping with a book.
• Swap out your personal care products, perfumes, deodorants, shampoos, conditioners, and laundry detergent for cleaner “low-tox” products that have ingredients that will not act as endocrine (hormone) disrupters. To make this process easier for you, click here to search the personal care products that you currently own.
• Invest in a water filter: Head over to the link here and type in your zipcode to see what’s currently in your shower water!
• Using a bidet
• Consume probiotic-rich sources of food: click here to find the recipe for homemade probiotic yogurt! Adding probiotic strains to ferment in yogurt allows them to multiply and digest easier as well survive intestinal transit ensuring optimal nutrition. How cute are these baby-sized jars.

Remember, acne does NOT define you. It doesn’t dictate or define your worth as a person. It is a condition that is easily treatable with a functional practitioner.

Gentle reminder: the acne took a while to appear, in certain situations such as hormonal imbalances potentially months. It’s important to be patient during this process of healing which may take some time but will ultimately be worth it in the long run. You got this.

Note: Don’t stress yourself with an all or nothing mentality where you feel like you have to implement everything on this list all at once. Sometimes in order to reach the end goal, you need to take baby steps at first and build these habits bit by bit.

How can I heal acne with the help of a functional nutrition dietitian?

Each person is unique and this is recognized in a personalized functional nutrition assessment and intervention plan that engages and empowers the patient in this process to restore optimal function, manage symptoms and promote overall health and well-being.

Functional nutrition addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms. We look at it from a root-cause perspective and create a focus on prevention through nutrition, therapeutic diets, targeted supplementation, exercise, interpretation of conventional and/or functional lab testing, botanicals, detoxification protocols, and stress management tools.

Overall from a whole body, root cause approach, to heal acne we would look at using diet therapy, targeted third-party tested supplements, botanicals, specific probiotic strains, functional lab testing for potential gut health issues, hormonal imbalances, and vitamin/mineral deficiencies, as well as lifestyle modifications —sleep, stress, and exercise — to heal acne from a root cause standpoint and to prevent it from reoccurring. Finally, we would work to rebalance the gut using the 5R Treatment Protocol linked here.

By addressing these underlying causes — through personalized approaches like evidence-based nutrition, simple lifestyle changes, and targeted supplements — functional nutrition aims to bring the body back into balance and resolve acne at its root.