an association between obesity and higher rates of acne

A word of warning for parents who have overweight teenage girls is that they are much more likely to develop acne than their normal weight friends. The evidence for this comes from a new study done in Norway that looked at around 3,600 Norwegians between the ages of 18 and 19 to determine whether there was an association between obesity and higher rates of acne.

The study was done by taking weight and height data and lifestyle factors such as smoking, drinking, eating habits and stress and also obviously evaluating the degree of acne that some of the volunteers were suffering from.

Professor Jon Anders Halvorsen from the Oslo University Hospital who led the study said that while the results clearly showed that overweight girls suffered from higher rates of acne the same could not be said for overweight boys. The classifications of being overweight and obese were done using a BMI of 25 and 30 respectively.  Thirteen percent of all the females were found to have acne. Of the females who qualified as either overweight or obese, however, 19 percent had acne. As for the males, between 13 and 14 percent had acne regardless of their weight.

This research which was published by the clinical journal Archives of Dermatology could be used by parents to encourage their daughters to lose weight. It is often difficult to persuade teenagers to lose weight purely from a health perspective but showing them that there is a significant cosmetic benefit might provide a bigger incentive.

In fact, parent should also take note of other research published by Ukmedix News which shows that overweight teenage girls are much more likely to have unprotected sex thus significantly increasing the chances of sexually transmitted disease and unintended pregnancy. 

All in all, there are so many reasons why being overweight or obese is dangerous for teenage girls that parent should take affirmative action before it is too late.