Acne and PMT in 23 year old female

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Note - the monographs are provided for educational purposes only, and are not to be used for self-medication.

Specific Nutrient Requirements

Recommended micronutrients for treatment of this condition are summarised in table 3 below.

Micronutrient	Rationale
Vitamin A ²	Stabilises hormones good for PMT Maintenance of skin Reduces sebum production ³
Vitamin C (with Bioflavonoids)²	Protects Vitamin A and E from oxidation. Useful adrenal support and stress. Important for immune function. Improves wound healing ¹
Vitamin E	Reduces breast tenderness, nervous tension, headache, fatigue, depression, and insomnia all symptoms of PMS ³
Vitamin B6, B5 Folic Acid, and B complex ¹	Efficacy proven in treatment of PMS ³ Menstrual acne responds to this ¹ High dose B5 decreases sebum production ¹
Zinc ¹	Involved in local hormone activation Vitamin A transport Wound healing Immune system activity Tissue regeneration As effective as tetracycline for the treatment of acne ¹
Magnesium	Deficiency is strongly implicated as a causative factor in PMS ³
Calcium	Useful for cramps and will be deficiency if estrogen levels are down ⁴
Chromium	Improves insulin effectiveness in converting linoleic acid to prostaglandin ¹
Iron	Loss of blood experienced in menstruation
EFA ¹	Prevent formation of inflammatory prostaglandins

Table 3 Micronutirents recommended for treatment of acne and PMT

Diet Notes

Avoid refined sugars, saturated fats and processed foods

Improve digestion with apple cider vinegar

Include garlic in the diet

Avoid commercial soft drinks, reduce milk consumption and Trans fatty acids

Avoid alcohol, tea, coffee, chocolate, and tobacco

Reduce salt intake

Restrict dairy to two servings per day ¹

Limit intake of animal fat and increase consumption of green leafy vegetables

Diet for acne and PMT		Vitamin A IU	Vitamin C mg	Vitamin E IU	Vitamin B Complex							Zinc mg	Magnesium mg	Calcium mg	Iron mg
					1	2	3	5	6	9	12
Breakfast
Fruit Juice (Orange)	250ml	194	97	0.077	0.23	0.07	0.1	0.5	0.09	109	0	0.1	27.5	27.5	0.5
Fruit Salad
Watermelon	30gm	112	3.2	0.05	0.03	0.01	0.1	0.07	0.05	0.73	0	0.02	3.7	2.7	0.06
Guava	30gm	264	61.17	0.37	0.02	0.02	0.4	0.05	0.05	4.67	0	0.08	3.3	6.7	0.1
Apple	30gm	17.67	1.9	0.11	0.01	0.00	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.93	0	0.01	1.7	2.3	0.06
Kiwi Fruit	30gm	58.33	32.67	0.37	0.01	0.02	0.17		0.03	12.67	0	0.06	10	8.7	0.14
Eggs (boiled)	2	1,180	0	0.83	0.08	0.28	0	1.8	0.12	48	1.32	2	1.4	0	1.19

All day snack
Pumpkin Seeds	33gm	128.52	0.6	0.3	0.0714	0.1071	0.595	0.1	0.1	16.3	0	2.499	178.3	14.3	4.99
Almonds	33gm	0	0.2	16	0.0595	0.2023	1.071	0.119	0.0714	21.42	0	1.666	98.7	88.7	1.22
Sunflower Seeds	33gm	16.66	0.6	30	0.7735	0.833	1.547	3.1	0.4	104.6	0	1.666	118	38.7	2.26
Carrot (Raw)	2	40506	14	2	0.097	0.059	0.928	0.197	0.147	14	0	0.2	15	27	0.5

Lunch
Green Salad
Lettuce - cos	30gm	866.7	8	0.15	0.03	0.03	0.17	0.06	0.02	45.23	0	0.08	2	12	0.37
Lettuce - iceberg	30gm	110	1.3	0.09	0.02	0.01	0.06	0.02	0.01	18.67	0	0.07	3	6.3	0.17
Capsicum (Red)	30gm	1900	63.3	0.23	0.02	0.01	0.17	0.03	0.08	7.33	0	0.04	3	3	0.15
Onion	small	0	3.2	0.065	0.02	0.01	0.07	0.05	0.06	9.5	0	0.10	5	10	0.11
Tomato	1	623	19.1	0.38	0.059	0.048	0.628	0.247	0.08	15	0	0.09	11	5	0.45
Dressing (Peanut Oil)	25ml	0	0	3.23	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0.04	0.09	0.03
Sardines	50gm	54	0	0.16	0.02	0.05	1.3	0.4	0.04	3	2.2	0.3	19.5	191	1.46
Orange	1	269	69.7	0.314	0.11	0.05	0.4	0.3	0.08	40	0	0.1	10	40	0.1
V8 Vegetable Juice	250ml	2925	69.25	0.8	0.11	0.07	1.82	0.67	0.35	52.75	0	0.5	27.5	27.5	1.05

Dinner
Steamed Clams	50gm	242	11.05	-	0.1	0.18	1.45	0.35	0.05	14.4	49.45	1.35	9	46	14
Black Eye Peas	33gm	5	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.02	0.2	0.1	0.03	146.67	0	0.4	17.3	42.7	0.37
Potato (Baked w/skin)	1 large	0	26	0.02	0.22	0.07	3.3	1.1	0.7	22	0	65	21.5	17	3.52
Orange	1	269	69.7	0.44	0.11	0.05	0.4	0.3	0.08	40	0	0.1	10	40	0.1
V8 Vegetable Juice	250ml	2925	69.25	0.8	0.11	0.07	1.82	0.67	0.35	52.75	0	0.5	27.5	27.5	1.05

Total		52666	621	56.92	2.4	2.27	16.7	10	3.00	800	52.97	76.94	624.3	684.6	33.9

Diet Analysis

The micronutrients provided by the proposed diet are summarised in table 4.

Micronutrient	Amount in diet	Therapeutic Dose	Comment
Vitamin A	52666 IU	30,000 – 100,000 IU	On target
Vitamin C	621 mg	4 – 10 gm	Supplement required
Vitamin E	57 IU	250 IU	Supplement required
Thiamine (B1)	2.4 mg	10 – 200 mg	Supplement required
Riboflavin (B2)	2.27 mg	10 – 50 mg	Supplement required
Niacin (B3)	16.7 mg	100 – 6000 mg	Supplement required
Pantothenic Acid (B5)	10 mg	50 – 1000 mg	Supplement required
Pyridoxine (B6)	3 mg	10 – 200 mg	Supplement required
Folic Acid (B9)	800 m g	400 – 2000 m g	On target
Cyanocobalamin (B12)	53 m g	5 – 50 m g	On target
Iron	34 mg	10 – 50 mg	On target
Zinc	77 mg	15 – 50 mg	Above target
Magnesium	624 mg	400 mg (RDA)	Balanced with Ca (1:1)
Calcium	685 mg	800 mg (RDA)	Balanced with Mg (1:1)
Chromium	?	200 – 300 m g (optimal)	Unable to find reference

Table 4 Summary of micronutrient levels provided by proposed diet

In general, the diet provides therapeutic levels of minerals with the exception of Calcium (debatable).

Although the diet in most cases easily satisfy RDA requirements, clearly therapeutic levels are not provided for Vitamins C, E, and most of the B’s (except B9 and B12). Supplementation is required to obtain therapeutic levels of these vitamins.

References

1. Osiecki H, The Physician’s Handbook of Clinical Nutrition – 5^th Edition, Bioconcepts Publishing, Queensland, 1998.

2. Kirschmann, GJ, Kirschmann, JD, Nutrition Almanac – 4^th Edition, McGraw Hill, New York, 1996.

3. Murray M, Pizzorno J, Encyclopaedia of Natural Medicine, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1995.

4. Bridgman, K, We Are What We Eat! – Volume 5 Minerals, Nature Care College, Sydney, 1997.