(Press-News.org) CHICAGO --- Acne sufferers around the world are using an iPhone app created at Northwestern University to learn how certain foods affect their skin conditions.
The app, called "diet & acne," can be downloaded from the iTunes app store for free. It uses data from a systematic analysis of peer-reviewed research studies to show people if there is or is not scientific evidence linking acne to foods such as chocolate, fat, sugar and whey protein.
"Users may be surprised to learn that there is no conclusive evidence from large randomized controlled trials that have linked chocolate and acne," said Diana Cohen, M.D., creator of the app. "Although one small study found that eating 100 percent cocoa could worsen acne symptoms."
Cohen designed the app when she was a student in the Master of Science in Engineering Design and Innovation program at the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern. She is also a 2013 graduate of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a resident physician at University of Illinois at Chicago.
Research displayed in the app shows that dairy (especially skim milk), whey protein, omega-6 fatty acids and foods high in sugar have been associated with the presence of acne. It also explains that foods rich in antioxidants and fiber have been associated with a decreased presence of acne in some studies.
Details about the use of the app were published online in the March 2014 issue of JAMA Dermatology.
Over a five-month period of time, starting April 1 and ending Aug. 31, 2013, the app was downloaded to 5,507 devices in 98 different countries.
Just over 100 people responded to a survey embedded in the app, and 87 percent of respondents reported having acne for a duration of more than one year, with 37 percent reporting they had not seen a physician for their acne.
These results show that well-constructed apps, based upon peer-reviewed literature, can be a highly effective method to widely disseminate medical information to a large and diverse population.
"People all over the world are turning to mobile apps as a source of information regarding health issues, but most of the apps out there are not evidence-based, and some exist to just sell a product," Cohen said. "This app is different because it uses evidence from a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature and puts it at a patient's fingertips."
Most of the people who downloaded the app found it through searches of keywords such as "acne" in the iTunes app store, but downloading such an app soon could be part of a doctor's toolkit of resources for patients, said Northwestern Medicine®'s Roopal Kundu, M.D.
Kundu is an associate professor in dermatology at the Feinberg School, corresponding study author and an attending physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
"Oil production and hormones have more of an impact on acne than diet, but I don't dismiss dietary intake when I treat patients," Kundu said. "This app is a tool I can offer patients to help them make better food choices based on scientific research."
INFORMATION: END
Got acne? There's an App for that!
iPhone app uses science to help people with acne make better food choices
2014-04-01
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Plugged in but powered down
2014-04-01
It's not news that being a couch potato is bad for your health. Lack of physical activity is associated with a range of diseases from diabetes to heart attacks. It now turns out that young men who have experienced depression early in life may be especially vulnerable to becoming sedentary later in life. And particularly to spending large amounts of time online each day.
A study of 761 adults in Montreal who were identified at the age of 20 as suffering from the symptoms of depression (in 2007-08) were asked by researchers to keep track of how much leisure time they spent ...
Good vibrations: Using light-heated water to deliver drugs
2014-04-01
Researchers from the University of California, San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, in collaboration with materials scientists, engineers and neurobiologists, have discovered a new mechanism for using light to activate drug-delivering nanoparticles and other targeted therapeutic substances inside the body.
This discovery represents a major innovation, said Adah Almutairi, PhD, associate professor and director of the joint UC San Diego-KACST Center of Excellence in Nanomedicine. Up to now, she said, only a handful of strategies using light-triggered ...
NASA caught Tropical Cyclone Hellen's rainfall near peak
2014-04-01
VIDEO:
This 3-D simulated flyby of Tropical Cyclone Hellen on March 30, showed some powerful storms in Hellen's eye wall were reaching heights of over 13 km/8 miles.
Click here for more information.
When Tropical Cyclone Hellen was near the "peak of her career" NASA's TRMM satellite picked up on her popularity in terms of tropical rainfall. Hellen was a very heavy rainmaker in her heyday with heavy rain rates. Hellen weakened to a remnant low pressure area by April 1, but has ...
Low sodium levels pre-transplant does not affect liver transplant recipient survival
2014-04-01
Researchers report that low levels of sodium, known as hyponatremia, prior to transplantation does not increase the risk of death following liver transplant. Full findings are published in Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society.
Medical evidence shows that low sodium concentration is common in patients with end stage liver disease (ESLD), with roughly half of those with cirrhosis having sodium levels below the normal range of 135-145 mmol/L. Moreover, previous research ...
Study finds link between child's obesity and cognitive function
2014-04-01
URBANA, Ill. – A new University of Illinois study finds that obese children are slower than healthy-weight children to recognize when they have made an error and correct it. The research is the first to show that weight status not only affects how quickly children react to stimuli but also impacts the level of activity that occurs in the cerebral cortex during action monitoring.
"I like to explain action monitoring this way: when you're typing, you don't have to be looking at your keyboard or your screen to realize that you've made a keystroke error. That's because action ...
Misleading mineral may have resulted in overestimate of water in moon
2014-04-01
The amount of water present in the moon may have been overestimated by scientists studying the mineral apatite, says a team of researchers led by Jeremy Boyce of the UCLA Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences.
Boyce and his colleagues created a computer model to accurately predict how apatite would have crystallized from cooling bodies of lunar magma early in the moon's history. Their simulations revealed that the unusually hydrogen-rich apatite crystals observed in many lunar rock samples may not have formed within a water-rich environment, as was originally ...
Monkey caloric restriction study shows big benefit; contradicts earlier study
2014-04-01
MADISON, Wis. – The latest results from a 25-year study of diet and aging in monkeys shows a significant reduction in mortality and in age-associated diseases among those with calorie-restricted diets. The study, begun at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1989, is one of two ongoing, long-term U.S. efforts to examine the effects of a reduced-calorie diet on nonhuman primates.
The study of 76 rhesus monkeys, reported Monday in Nature Communications, was performed at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center in Madison. When they were 7 to 14 years of age, the ...
Wind energy: On the grid, off the checkerboard
2014-04-01
WASHINGTON D.C., April 1, 2014 -- As wind farms grow in importance across the globe as sources of clean, renewable energy, one key consideration in their construction is their physical design -- spacing and orienting individual turbines to maximize their efficiency and minimize any "wake effects," where the swooping blades of one reduces the energy in the wind available for the following turbine.
Optimally spacing turbines allows them to capture more wind, produce more power and increase revenue for the farm. Knowing this, designers in the industry typically apply simple ...
Scientists solve the riddle of zebras' stripes
2014-04-01
Why zebras have black and white stripes is a question that has intrigued scientists and spectators for centuries. A research team led by the University of California, Davis, has now examined this riddle systematically. Their answer is published April 1 in the online journal Nature Communications.
The scientists found that biting flies, including horseflies and tsetse flies, are the evolutionary driver for zebra's stripes. Experimental work had previously shown that such flies tend to avoid black-and-white striped surfaces, but many other hypotheses for zebra stripes have ...
Should family businesses always keep it in the family?
2014-04-01
Montreal, April 1, 2014 – From the Murdochs to the Hiltons, families have long sought to keep their businesses in the bloodline. But new research from Concordia University's John Molson School of Business shows that's not necessarily the best method of management.
The recent study, published in the journal Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, shows that if the family business is part of a traditional industry built on quality and reputation, a family member would make a good CEO. But if it operates in an industry that values innovation, and the firm has to stay on the ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Chinese herbal medicine’s potential in preventing dementia
Firms that read more perform better
Tightly tied waist cord of saree underskirt may pose cancer risk, warn doctors
10% of children in high-burden tuberculosis settings may develop the disease by age 10
Health experts push for the elimination of a ‘remarkably harmful toxin’
University of Tennessee, Lockheed Martin expand Master Research Agreement
Testing thousands of RNA enzymes helps find first ‘twister ribozyme’ in mammals
Groundbreaking study provides new evidence of when Earth was slushy
International survey of more than 1600 biomedical researchers on the perceived causes of irreproducibility of research results
Integrating data from different experimental approaches into one model is challenging – this study presents a community-based, full-scale in silico model of the rat hippocampal CA1 region that integra
SwRI awarded grant to characterize Las Moras Springs watershed
Water overuse in MATOPIBA could mean failure to meet up to 40% of local demand for crop irrigation
An extra year of education does not protect against brain aging
Researchers from Uppsala and Magdeburg obtain an ERC Synergy Grant to advance cancer immunotherapy
Deaf male mosquitoes don’t mate
Recognizing traumatic brain injury as a chronic condition fosters better care over the survivor’s lifetime
SwRI’s Dr. James Walker receives Distinguished Scientist Award from Hypervelocity Impact Society
A mother’s health problems pose a risk to her children
Ensuring a bright future for diamond electronics and sensors
The American Pediatric Society selects Dr. Maria Trent as the Recipient of the 2025 David G. Nichols Health Equity Award
The first 3D view of the formation and evolution of globular clusters
Towards a hydrogen-powered future: highly sensitive hydrogen detection system
Scanning synaptic receptors: A game-changer for understanding psychiatric disorders
High-quality nanomechanical resonators with built-in piezoelectricity
ERC Synergy Grants for 57 teams tackling major scientific challenges
Nordic research team receives €13 million to explore medieval book culture
The origin of writing in Mesopotamia is tied to designs engraved on ancient cylinder seals
Explaining science through dance
Pioneering neuroendocrinologist's century of discovery launches major scientific tribute series
Gendered bilingualism in post-colonial Korea
[Press-News.org] Got acne? There's an App for that!iPhone app uses science to help people with acne make better food choices