Balance Your Hormones to Reduce Acne

There are actually two big groups of bodily hormones that you will need to balance if you ever wish to treat your acne that is caused from hormonal reasons.

The first set of hormones that we will look at are called androgen's, and they are responsible for regulating the oil in your skin, otherwise known as sebum. You can get acne if you have too much of this skin oil because it can block the pores and mix with dirt and bacteria that cause those dreaded inflamed spots called acne.

The trapped bacteria starts to spread and multiply within the pores which creates redness and swelling because the body attempts to fight this "infection" which creates that disgusting stuff called pus.

The other important type of hormones are called prostaglandins. These hormones are produced in the cells and act as chemical messengers. Prostaglandins are important because the control both inflammation and the anti-inflammatory response in the body which is why you need a balance of the 2 kinds. They are sometimes referred to as "bad" and "good" prostaglandins.

The big question on every ones mind then is, how do you begin to regulate these hormones in our body's naturally?

To start with, many people lack essential nutrients that the body actually needs to produce these so called "good" prostaglandins. When this happens you get an over-abundance of the other kind which is responsible for causing inflammation and is not what an acne sufferer needs more of.

A chemical called ALA or ((alpha-linolenic acid) which is a fancy name for Omega 3, is an essential fatty acid that is actually the precursor for "good" prostaglandins which means it's needed for it's production. Most people in the US are chronically deficient in Omega 3.

Most oil products that you have in your household are high in the other types of Omega fatty acids being 6 and 9 but very little in the 3 type. Incidently, Omega 6 is the precursor for the "bad" type of prostaglandin.

Some of the best sources for getting Omega 3 are flax or fish oil. These oils are good because they often have a ratio of 2-1 in favor of Omega 3 which is good to balance the other oils that you eat throughout the day.

Taking a good quality enzyme supplement with these oils is also a good idea which will make sure that the oils get broken down properly and get utilized by the body. Funny enough, a lot of people in the US also have an enzyme deficiency.

Another good idea is to take your healthy oils with fruits that naturally contain high amounts of enzymes such as papaya, kiwi fruit, figs and pineapple.

Stress causes the body to use up most of it it's precious supplies of the "good" type of prostaglandins. So do other practices such as smoking, that create nasty chemicals called free-radicals, that actually attack the necessary chemicals that are used for the synthesis of prostaglandins inside the body.