Association between dietary glycemic load and severity of skin lesions in young adult males with acne vulgaris

Abstract

Objective To assess dietary glycemic load (GL) in young adult males with acne vulgaris and to evaluate its association with severity of skin lesions,in hope to provide evidences for comprehensive treatment of acne vulgaris.Methods The Global Acne Grading System (GAGS) was used to evaluate the severity of acne,and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and 24-hour dietary recall (24-HDR) to assess GL.Differences in GL and body mass index (BMI) were assessed by t test and analysis of variance,and Logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the factors influencing BMI and GL.Results This study included 99 young adult males with acne vulgaris who were 19-24 years old.Logistic regression analysis revealed that GL was the risk factor of BMI,and higher GL was always associated with increased BMI (β3 =1.119,P ＜ 0.05,OR =3.062,95％ confidence intervals:1.044-8.986).No factors were found to have influences on GL.The patients with a disease duration of ＞ 6 months showed a higher GL (t =2.947,P ＜ 0.01),but similar BMI (t =0.798,P ＞0.05) compared with those with a disease duration of ≤6 months.Significant differences were observed in GL (F =76.296,P ＜ 0.01),but not in BMI (F =3.142,P ＞ 0.05),among the three groups of patients with different GAGS score.GL was higher in patients with GAGS score of ≥39 than those with GAGS score of 1-18 (P ＜0.01) and GAGS score of 19-30 (P ＜ 0.01),and higher in patients with GAGS score of 19-30 than in those with GAGS score of 1-18 (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion GL is positively correlated with the severity of lesions and disease duration in young adult males with acne vulgaris.