Melasma is a common skin condition characterized by the development of dark, irregular patches on the face, particularly on the cheeks, forehead, and upper lip. While various factors such as sun exposure, hormonal changes, and genetics can trigger melasma, diet plays a significant role in preventing and reducing hyperpigmentation. This article explores the intricate connection between melasma and diet, providing insights into how dietary choices can influence skin health and the appearance of melasma.
How Diet Relates to Melasma and Freckles
The skin, being the largest organ in the body, requires a substantial amount of nutrients to nourish its cells. Consuming nutrient-poor foods can lead to low-quality nutrition for skin cell growth and recovery, while nutrient-rich foods high in vitamins, zinc, calcium, magnesium, and manganese provide the skin with high-quality energy to function. Therefore, diet plays an important role in overall skin health.
A healthy diet for bright skin is one that is full of nutrients beneficial to the skin. Beautiful skin must be made up of healthy, elastic, and vibrant skin cells continuously supplied with high-quality nutrition. If you maintain a nutrient-deficient diet, your skin cells will soon be starved and start to dull, age, and lose vitality. Some of the best foods for smooth, glowing skin are green vegetables, fatty fish like salmon, strawberries, broccoli, and citrus fruits rich in vitamin C. When the skin has hyperpigmentation issues such as melasma, freckles, sunspots, and hyperpigmentation, diet can play a role in treatment. One cause of hyperpigmentation in most cases is cellular stress. When skin cells are stressed due to exposure, hormonal imbalances, and infections, following a diet that is good for skin health can help reduce the impact of these factors.
Dietary Steps to Manage Melasma
Here are some dietary steps that can help manage melasma:
Consult a Dermatologist: Seek professional advice regarding your melasma and freckles condition. The doctor may request blood tests to check for nutritional deficiencies and poor liver function that could cause this condition. Additionally, melasma can also be a side effect of a medication you are taking. Ask your doctor to confirm or rule this out.
Read also: The Hoxsey Diet
Choose Folate-Rich Foods: Melasma can also be caused by a deficiency in folate or folic acid. Low levels of this B vitamin can occur in pregnant women or those with an inadequate diet. Citrus fruits, green vegetables, and whole grains are suitable choices to supplement folate or folic acid. The doctor may also prescribe folic acid supplements.
Balance Copper Intake: High levels of copper can be indicated in melasma, as copper promotes melanin production in the skin. If you are taking a multivitamin that contains copper, do not take additional copper supplements. Do not exceed the recommended daily intake of 900 mcg of copper for adults, 1,000 mcg for pregnant women, and 1,300 mcg for breastfeeding mothers. To reduce excess copper, eat foods high in vitamin C and iron or take these nutrient supplements.
Increase Vitamin C and E Consumption: These antioxidant nutrients help repair sun damage to the skin that can cause melasma. These vitamins are found in foods such as citrus fruits, kiwi, nuts, almonds, brightly colored vegetables, and fish.
The Importance of Fresh Foods
Junk food, processed foods, factory-produced foods, artificial sweeteners, flavor enhancers, food colorings, and chemical additives are not considered part of a natural diet. Meanwhile, eating fresh, natural, and nutritious foods is the way to treat melasma.
Eating real food means eating foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, meats, fish, eggs, herbs, spices, etc. The food purchased needs to be fresh, requiring self-preparation and the use of quality ingredients. Anything that comes out of a bag, can, container, jar, box, or bottle is probably processed. If the food is made in a factory, it will have various chemicals added to enhance flavor or preserve the food, which should not be eaten.
Read also: Walnut Keto Guide
Avoiding Inflammatory Drinks
Not only processed foods cause inflammation, stimulate pigmentation, and provide very little nutrition to the body, but many drinks do as well. Therefore, besides wondering what to eat to treat melasma or freckles, if you want to truly heal from within, you should not drink soda, packaged fruit juices, energy drinks, sweetened tea, and should also avoid alcohol and coffee. None of these drinks benefit the skin. Meanwhile, if you want to drink for your health, drink water or simple homemade herbal tea or fresh vegetable juice.
Eliminating Allergenic Foods
When you eat food that can cause allergies or is difficult to digest, the body will automatically cause inflammation, which can also contribute to increased pigmentation. Therefore, when considering what to eat to treat melasma and freckles, eliminate foods suspected of causing allergies such as eggs, milk and dairy products, soy and soy products, wheat gluten, seafood, and peanuts. I used to have food sensitivities, mainly to foods I loved, and it was VERY hard to give them up.
Reducing Carbohydrate Intake
For many people, melasma and freckles are triggered by hormones. When there are too many carbs in the diet, it causes hormonal imbalances and leads to hyperpigmentation. For majority of people, decreasing the amount of carbohydrates in your diet can help to reduce the melasma.
If you have melasma during pregnancy, breastfeeding, taking birth control pills, hormone replacement therapy, or if melasma worsens at different times of the menstrual cycle, actively controlling carbohydrates in your diet can be helpful to treat melasma and freckles. However, if you are pregnant or exclusively breastfeeding and have melasma, I don’t recommend decreasing the carbohydrates in your diet. You can take the processed food out of your diet and eat healthy whole foods which will be better for you and your baby. Once you give birth and your baby is no longer exclusively breastfeeding (after 6 months of age), you can then experiment with decreasing the carbs in your diet to see if this can help fade the melasma (if you continue breastfeeding but not exclusively, you’ll still need a good amount of carbohydrates in your diet to maintain your milk supply, so make sure not to take too much out).
Here are some examples of processed foods high in carbs: sugar and syrups, flour, baked goods (bread, cakes, crackers, bagels, muffins, cookies, etc.), pasta and noodles, chips and crisps, candies and desserts, cereals, soda or alcohol, fruit drinks, sweetened drinks (energy drinks, sweetened tea, sweetened coffee drinks, etc.).
Read also: Weight Loss with Low-FODMAP
However, there are still sources of fresh foods high in carbs to consider cutting down: sweet fruits (mangoes, papayas, bananas, grapes, pineapples, etc.), legumes (chickpeas, lentils, black beans, pinto beans, etc.), starchy vegetables (potatoes, beets, carrots, pumpkins, squash, sweet potatoes, etc.).
You could even keep a food journal for 3-5 days, and at the end, circle all the foods that are high is carbohydrates. I’ve worked with many people who’ve made a conscious effort to replace a substantial portion of the starchy or sugary carbs in their diet with foods that are full of healthy fats and proteins, and have amazing results fading melasma.
Supplementing with Antioxidants
Along with eliminating all processed foods and junk food from your diet while reducing carbohydrate intake, another important aspect of what to eat to treat melasma and freckles is ensuring you consume enough antioxidants daily.
Antioxidants help reduce inflammation, enhance cell repair, and can protect skin cells from free radical damage. In this day and age we are constantly exposed to pollution and strong UV rays. We need as much internal and external protection we can get. As you probably know, sun damage and UV exposure makes melasma so much worse. At this time, antioxidants are a key component from a natural diet that can protect the skin from the inside out.
Antioxidants that should be included in your diet: Vitamin C, E, A, resveratrol, flavonoids, beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, and selenium. Examples of antioxidant-rich foods include:
- Berries (blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, blackberries, pomegranates, dragon fruit, kiwi, etc.)
- Beans (kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, cacao beans, etc.)
- Vegetables (tomatoes, onions, artichokes, broccoli, red cabbage, beets, etc.)
- Leafy greens and herbs (kale, spinach, bok choy, artichokes, cilantro, thyme, basil, etc.)
- Spices (turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, ginger, etc.)
- Nuts (pecans, Brazil nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc.)
Additionally, the easiest way to tell if a food is high in antioxidants is by the colour of the food. The deeper the colour (like wild blueberries, spinach, or turmeric), the more antioxidants it will have. Since you want to get rid of melasma by lowering the carbs in your diet and boosting consumption of antioxidants, the easiest way around this is eating antioxidant-rich foods that are also low glycemic. That means eating more green vegetables, colourful vegetables, spices, herbs, berries, and some nuts and beans. Vegetables like carrots and beets that are high in natural sugars are fine to eat in small quantities, just not too much all the time. Getting the bulk of your nutrition from your food is the way to go. We really don’t know how much of the nutrients in supplements are really being absorbed. Plus, we don’t know what kind of stress supplements put on your kidneys and liver to break them down.
Foods to Avoid
Certain foods can exacerbate melasma due to their inflammatory properties or hormonal effects:
- Dairy Products: Dairy contains hormones that can interfere with your body’s hormone balance, potentially exacerbating melasma.
- Spicy Foods: Spicy foods can dilate blood vessels, leading to increased heat and redness in the skin.
- Citrus Fruits: Citrus fruits are high in acidity, which can make the skin more sensitive to UV radiation.
- Caffeine: Caffeine can dehydrate the skin, making it more prone to inflammation and pigmentation changes.
- Alcohol: Alcohol naturally dehydrates your cells, including your skin cells, making your skin dry and exposed to sun exposure.
- Plain Carbs: Both refined and unrefined, including popcorn, white rice, white bread, carb snacks, pizza, and others because they deplete good bacteria in your body and increase skin oil production.
- Salt: All salty snacks, including crackers, chips, beef jerky, and others because salt contains sodium, which at high quantities dehydrates your skin cells.
The Liver's Role in Melasma
The liver is the primary organ of detoxification, and the appearance of melasma sometimes indicates impaired liver function. An overburdened liver can’t properly perform its functions. A central tenet of Chinese medicine asserts that supporting the liver equals supporting optimal overall health, and practitioners of Chinese medicine learned centuries ago that certain organ systems express dysfunction through specific areas of the face and skin. In short, the health and tone of the face can reflect a burdened liver. The line of thought is that if detoxification pathways are impaired in the liver, our body will use the skin-its largest organ-as a backup excretory system to eliminate toxins. Even in the absence of other symptoms, the emergence of melasma may indicate a possible liver imbalance. The imbalance can be caused or exacerbated by use of a variety of prescribed medications, including antibiotics, hormonal contraceptives like birth control pills, and other pharmaceuticals. Even commonly prescribed acne medications like Accutane can cause liver damage if used for extended periods of time. Any prescribing physician should caution us about these side effects, but we can always take the power into our own hands by asking some extra, liver-focused questions about anything a doctor prescribes.
Many common affective states can stress our livers as well-like chronic anxiety, depression, and anger issues to name a few-it’s important to keep mental health on the list of priorities for more liver balance and overall wellness. The correlation between pregnancy (especially in people over age 30) and the emergence of melasma is super strong as well, underscoring the connection between hormones, the liver, and the skin. As an example, our livers have the job of ridding our bodies of hormonal waste products like inflammatory estrogen metabolites as one of its many functions.
Action Steps for Liver Support
Here are four action steps that have helped me personally in reclaiming my vitality and healing my skin:
Start the Day with a Cleansing Concoction: Just like we shower in the mornings for personal hygiene, we can also cleanse our bodies internally at the start of each day. Since toxins accumulate overnight, it’s just as important to rinse them away as it is to clean our external bodies. One way to do this is by treating yourself to a little concoction upon waking and on an empty stomach. Drinking a tall glass of warm water or ginger tea (~10 oz) with some fresh organic lemon juice (~¼ of a lemon or 1 tsp. squeezed juice) and a pinch of Himalayan or Sea Salt (⅛ tsp.) first thing in the morning is a daily ritual your skin will thank you for. This internal bath both hydrates and gently stimulates the liver’s bile production. More bile helps the liver flush out toxins and fat-soluble nutrients through the bloodstream and bowel. “In addition to the increase in bile, having warm lemon water in the morning, also increases in essential enzymes, immune function, digestion and assimilation of essential nutrients, excreting waste products from the cells, calming hunger signals due to blood sugar instability and decreasing cellular uric acid as well as fighting inflammation”. Make sure the salt is “melted” into your drink. When fully incorporated, salt changes the molecular structure of the water, making it fully mineralized. Also, Himalayan pink salt has higher iron content, making it the best choice for menstruating women who lose blood monthly. Male-bodied folks may want to opt for Sea Salt as their blood ferritin levels can spike with excess iron.
Incorporate Bitter and Leafy Green Vegetables: Bitter vegetables like arugula, radishes, watercress, endive, mustard greens, and dandelion greens support both digestion and detoxification. Leafy greens in general are great sources of calcium and minerals, so see if you can find ways to incorporate Swiss chard, bok choy, collards, and beet greens into your regular diet. Kale and spinach are great to incorporate occasionally, preferably when cooked down to reduce lectins. Cruciferous veggies like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and collard greens provide high levels of sulfur and phyto-nutrients, which are immune and detox-boosting (a perfect aid to overall health). On top of that, we can widen our nutrient spectrum and contribute a variety of necessary prebiotics into our guts by eating more artichokes, beets, squashes, and onions. Prebiotics are a type of insoluble fiber that act like the soil and foundational structure for probiotics and other beneficial gut flora. Each is needed for optimal gut health and functioning.
Avoid Inflammatory Foods: We can get some powerful benefits for the health of our skin and organ systems by avoiding refined sugars, gluten, and unfermented cow’s milk dairy products (grass-fed butter is okay) as well as omega-6 oils, fried foods, alcohol, and processed packaged foods.
Use Herbs and Spices: There are many herbs and spices that promote wellness and deliciousness. Adding turmeric, ginger, cilantro, cinnamon, garlic, cumin, or fennel into our cooking gives our meals tantalizing, unique flavor profiles and helps our bodies regulate the metabolism of hormones. Not only that, but these spices assist in digestion, assimilation, absorption, and detoxification processes, improving the overall functioning of our organ systems. We were meant to avail ourselves of all the flavors and spices that the natural world offers-and they each serve a unique nutritional purpose. For instance curcumin, the active constituent in turmeric, fights systemic inflammation. Curcumin must always be paired with a good fat like coconut oil and some black pepper to activate and optimize its beneficial properties. Additionally, cilantro facilitates our detox pathways, rosemary supports cognition, and garlic is a mighty antimicrobial. The list goes on and it can be a lot of fun to learn what each spice does beyond packing a powerful flavor punch.
Lifestyle and Environmental Factors
A study confirmed that sun exposure and sex hormones are key risk factors for melasma. Notably, this is the first study to demonstrate a strong positive relationship between alcohol intake and melasma. Although this association is compelling, further research is necessary to clarify the underlying mechanisms. Matsumoto et al. showed that ethanol intake can induce skin hyperpigmentation in an aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 activity‐dependent manner in vivo, with the degree of pigmentation being concentration‐dependent. Additionally, other studies have reported that ethanol consumption exacerbates UV exposure‐induced hyperpigmentation, particularly in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis and alcohol‐related liver disease. These studies suggest that the pigmentation disorder, which is characterized by excess melanin in giant melanosomes with a normal number of melanocytes, shares pathogenic similarities with melasma. Similarly, breast cystic hyperplasia, a condition more common in women, is associated with factors such as stress, abnormal hormone levels, and genetic predisposition.
Another significant finding of the study was the association between changing residence and house renovations with a reduced risk of melasma. This may be explained by relocation from more polluted areas to cities with healthier environments, likely driven by economic improvement. Pollution, particularly particulate matter (PM) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is a well‐documented contributor to oxidative stress and skin disorders. Roberts et al. noted that these pollutants penetrate the skin and generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), exacerbating melasma. The interplay between ROS, ultraviolet (UV) exposure, and genetic factors increases metalloproteinase activity, leading to melasma development.
The observed protective effect of soft drink consumption may be linked to the availability of vitamin‐enriched beverages, particularly those containing vitamin C (VC). VC has well‐established antimelanogenic properties, as it inhibits tyrosinase activity and reduces oxidative stress in melanocytes. Clinical studies demonstrate that VC can significantly improve melasma symptoms, as evidenced by reductions in pigmentation following iontophoresis treatments. Additionally, VC and its derivatives induce intramelanocytic acidification, further suppressing melanogenesis without altering melanogenic protein expression. Dietary antioxidants, including VC, have also been shown to lower melanin levels and prevent hyperpigmentation.
Conversely, the relationship between regular sunscreen use and increased melasma incidence observed in this study may appear contradictory to established knowledge. While sunscreen is widely recommended for UV protection, its efficacy in reducing pigmentation disorders such as melasma depends on proper usage. Inadequate application or reliance solely on sunscreen without additional physical barriers (e.g., hats or shade) might fail to prevent UV‐induced pigmentation effectively. Moreover, this finding could reflect reverse causation, where individuals with melasma are more likely to use sunscreen after diagnosis.
Environmental factors also play a pivotal role in melasma's pathogenesis. Air pollution, particularly in urban areas, is a significant contributor to skin hyperpigmentation. Recent studies highlight that PM and PAHs exacerbate UV radiation's harmful effects, accelerating skin aging and pigmentation. PM2.5, a specific type of fine particulate matter, activates the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), potentially upregulating melanogenesis pathways. This synergistic interaction between pollution and UV exposure underscores the importance of environmental quality in mitigating melasma risk.
Professional Treatments for Melasma
To address melasma effectively, it’s essential to consider professional treatments. PicoSure is a cutting-edge laser technology that can effectively target melasma and other skin concerns. Melasma treatment can include external lotions, skin protection and internal remedies involving hormone balancing and nutrition. Consult a doctor or dermatologist to know the appropriate course of action before personally treating melasma.
tags: #melasma #and #diet #connection