"Eating too much soy sauce will cause spots" and "Getting acne is from eating spicy food and getting 'heatiness'." Many people in Guangzhou firmly believe in this theory about "heatiness" from spicy food. As soon as they get a pimple, they think about how to "reduce the heat." But dermatology experts explain that Guangzhou people have many misconceptions about acne. Acne is not caused by "heatiness" from food, but by problems like endocrine disorders. Eating spicy food does not cause acne.
In the prevention and treatment of skin diseases, many people in Guangzhou have long-held beliefs. When many people in Guangzhou develop acne (medically known as acne), dermatitis, eczema, or other skin conditions, they often attribute it to improper diet and hope to control the condition by avoiding certain foods, such as spicy and irritating foods, beef, eggs, and milk. Professor Chen Mingchun, Deputy Director of the Dermatology Department at the Second Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, explains, "Many skin diseases like eczema and acne are not caused by food, but by factors such as environmental factors, poor mental state, irregular sleep, and endocrine disorders." It is necessary to adjust one's mental state.
Young people who get acne also often believe that it is caused by food. In fact, the root cause of acne is the body's sensitivity to androgens, while endocrine factors and bacterial infections are merely aggravating factors. Blindly avoiding certain foods can lead to nutritional imbalances, especially in children, which can weaken the immune system, affect physical development, and have the opposite effect on disease control. Eating too much carotene turns the skin yellow.
Many citizens also believe that eating soy sauce will darken the skin, so they dare not eat it. "In fact, pigmentation is related to ultraviolet rays." The idea that eating soy sauce darkens the skin is unfounded and has no medical basis. What is medically certain is that consuming a large amount of carotene in a short time will cause the skin to turn yellow. This is because when too much carotene is ingested, the liver cannot convert it into vitamin A quickly enough. The excess carotene then travels through the bloodstream throughout the body, temporarily causing the skin to turn yellow. However, the yellow color will fade after a few days of not eating foods rich in carotene. Foods rich in carotene are mainly orange and green vegetables, such as spinach, carrots, chives, rape, and shepherd's purse, so don't over-consume them. As long as you follow a normal diet and eat a bit of everything, there will definitely be no problem.
Chen Mingchun points out that after summer begins, skin diseases also become more prevalent. "The number of outpatients for skin diseases in the summer is 10% to 20% higher than in the winter," Chen Mingchun explains. High temperatures, humidity, and poor perspiration can easily cause skin itching and small papules. There are many types of skin diseases. If you have a skin problem, you should see a doctor for a diagnosis as soon as possible. Chen Mingchun explains that many people are accustomed to buying their own ointments to apply when they have skin problems. Using these hormone-containing ointments too much can lead to steroid dermatitis, a new and difficult-to-treat skin disease develops before the old one is cured.