acne and dairy products

[Guest guest]

Hi

 

I'm new to the group (and to ayurveda) but I wanted to ask a question

about your acne recommendations. Most ayurveda books locate skin problems

such as acne as being pitta imbalances. Pacify pitta, and one's acne

improves. However, the conventional ayurvedic thinking on pacifiying

pitta includes the consumption of diary products such as milk and butter.

 

 

Since you are recommending avoiding diary, I was just wondering how you

locate your own perspective within the broader parameters of ayurveda. It

is well known that many people have diary sensitivities and these can

exacerbate skin problems, and yet this flies in the face of ayurvedic

thinking.

 

thanks,

Christopher

[Guest guest]

Christopher,

 

I'm not Todd...but I think it isn't the dairy that is the problem. From my

studies it seems to be the terrible state of the dairy industry and the over

cooking of the life giving milk. Now if you had fresh milk from a health

source and you had been raised on milk so as to have the proper enzymes to

digest it...it would be different. Most people have trouble with milk for the

main reasons stated above.

 

Ryan

 

>Since you are recommending avoiding diary, I was just wondering how you

>locate your own perspective within the broader parameters of ayurveda. It

>is well known that many people have diary sensitivities and these can

>exacerbate skin problems, and yet this flies in the face of ayurvedic

>thinking.

[Guest guest]

> the conventional ayurvedic thinking on pacifiying

> pitta includes the consumption of diary products such as milk and

> butter.

 

hi Christopher

 

the issue of milk has come up before on this list

i do not think that the milk that people consume nowadays is anything

close to the fresh, unpasteurized product that is mentioned in ayurveda

- modern dairy animals are part of a huge multinational agribusiness

that exists to maximize profits - as a result, these animals are given

low quality feed, hormones and antibiotics, and raised in high stress

conditions - i suggest you search the archives on this list - we have

had much discussion on this issue

 

further, it has been my consistent clinical observation that the

elimination of milk products (butter fat excepted) has always had a

positive impact on the course of acne and other skin conditions, as

well as a number of other conditions as well - this i relate primarily

three factors:

1) the quality of the milk (see above)

2) the introduction of milk into the diet at too young an age, i.e.

infant formula, instead of breastfeeding

3) the improper use milk as a dietary article, i.e. consuming it cold,

eating it with cereals, fruit, meat, etc.

 

i say that butter fat appears to be okay for many that otherwise have a

reaction to dairy - i suspect that this is because what people are

reacting to is the casein protein, which is found in very small amounts

in butter, and is totally absent in ghee

 

these three factors i have outlined above have made milk an

immunoreactive substances for many people

 

where milk can be obtained fresh and raw, some people may be able to

digest it well, but many others will not because it is too late - a

lifetime of consuming the wrong stuff in the improper ways has now made

it a kind of poison - this is the current reality that may not have

been anticipated several thousand years ago in India

 

> Since you are recommending avoiding diary, I was just wondering how you

> locate your own perspective within the broader parameters of ayurveda.

> It is well known that many people have diary sensitivities and these can

> exacerbate skin problems, and yet this flies in the face of ayurvedic

> thinking.

 

 

pitta is associated with skin disorders specifically because it

involves organs under its influence, i.e. the blood (rakta) and liver

(yakrt)

skin itself is under the influence of bhrajaka pitta

but what is it that vitiates pitta? there must be something, some cause

pitta is a classification of a metabolic reaction, defined by its

qualities i.e. heat and inflammation

what causes this is ama, and the peculiarities of how ama affects

metabolism in a given individual in a particular disease

so yes acne is pitta, but the cause is ama - remove ama and treat pitta

(however, there may be vitiations of the other doshas as well)

when agni is weak (as in disturbed pitta), milk feeds ama, so, milk and

other ama-forming foods must be eliminated

but it was only one component of a broad dietary change i suggested

 

in some paittika conditions milk may be helpful, but generally

speaking, ONLY those that are nirama conditions

 

Caldecott

todd