I am hopeful that, it is simply a vitamin deficiancy But there are alot of people out there who eat alot less healthy than me and dont have it, so this would make me think its the body having difficulty utilising vitamins and minerals or genetics.

I have been looking into Beta Carotene but it kinda scares me as alot of pages describing it contain the word cancer very closely to the words Beta Carotene. I have decided i am definately going to start taking a cod liver oil tablet each day for the next while and see if there are any changes at all.

My local pharmacy dont stock any vitamin A supplements, they advised me to go to another health store for it.
The sun definately clears mine alot, it always has. It doesnt remove the bumps very well but it does remove the red patches almost completely.

haha jonas r u completely serious? this is ridiculous how can our diet in the past not affect our health? DIET completely CAUSES disease, we cause our own disease!! If you eat a really bad diet for years full of sugar/junk food/fat/cholesterol it causes a lot of problems in your body....in later years causing diabetes, cardiovascular disease (heart attacks/high blood pressure) Deficiences of vitamins and minerals are strongly associated with diseases such as the common anaemia due to iron deficiency which can be due to perhaps not eating enough food containg iron or you are lactose/wheat intolerant reducing the production of B12 in your intestinal system because it constantly irritates it causing mucous to form. B12 is essential for Iron absorption and if there is no b12 being produced in your intestinal system there is a reduced chance of you being able to absorb iron over time therefore resulting in an iron deficiency.

Also this may be new to you but it is actually quite hard for everyone to get enough vitamins and minerals from an everyday diet especially if your REALLY healthy, now i dont mean eating a piece of fruit everyday and vegetables a few times a week that is not that healthy. Minerals such as zinc/magnesium/selenium are sometimes not even found in our soils where we grow our produce therefore our food itself is deficient in minerals/vitamins. SO it is very likely that we are deficient even if we ARE healthy. There are so many factors that you aren't even considering.

Ofcourse there is also a big causative factor of our body not being able to utilise the minerals properly perhaps from a GIT disorder such as celiacs/chrons where our intestinal system is not optimal therefore producing a deficiency because this is where we absorb all of our nutrients and our body is unable to appropriately and efficiently utilise the vitamins/minerals from our food. But ofcourse the cause to this DISEASE is our diet, its an over consumption of WHEAT that our body can not digest properly in the stomach, so the molecule of the wheat is too large because it has not been broken down properly in the stomach (the cause perhaps being low stomach acid due to a poor diet) therefore entering the small intestine causing all sorts of irritation/inflammation and mucous as a defense mechanism against the irritating molecule resulting in a really ****py intestinal system unable to absorb ANYTHING.

Or perhaps you drink a lot of alcohol or a lot of acidic foods such as meat/soft drinks etc where they enter your stomach and your body actually tries to aklalise the acidity because it is too acidic by using alkalising minerals in your body such as calcium and magnesium to reduce the acidity. If you are constantly doing this your stores of calcium and magnesium are used up very quickly resulting in a deficiency especially if you are not getting a lot of magnesium and calcium from your diet. Therefore leading to a lot of deficiency signs......cramping/twitching/stress/mental disorders/osteoporosis in later life. Not only that but your liver is probably suffering because of your poor diet because it has to detoxify everything you put in your body, and if it is not functioning properly numerous problems can occur whether is be obesity because your liver can not metabolise fat appropriately or you have bad menstrual cramping because your liver regulates hormones and if it not working efficiently there is a build up of estrogen in the body causing so many symptoms associated with menstruation or reproductive problems. eg. PCOS, heavy periods, infertility, really bad cramping, bloating, constipation.

Diet is the cause of a lot of diseases it is not just genetics!! Did you know skin disorders are commonly associated with how good your intestinal system is functioning and is often linked to food allergies.

However the reason we have this skin disorder with no doubt in my mind is because of a deficiency from a vitamin and mineral due to a dis-ease in our body however the reason i suggest people start supplementing appropriately with a healthy diet is because a lot of the people on the board will NOT go see a naturopath a lot of people dont even know what one is. And it scares me because being this deficient throughout your whole life will cause SO many problems greater than a skin disorder it is frightening. SO supplementing vitamins and minerals that your body NEEDS to function optimumly is much better than it having nothing at all.

Jonas i would think again bout making such a crude statement if you have absolutely no knowledge about how the body works and utilises vitamins and minerals. I have been studying natural medicine for the past 3 years and know a LOT about the body relating to vitamins/minerals and human disease processors due to them. I would never in my right mind suggest anything like this if i didnt have a faintest idea what was happening to our bodies. If you have a theory about why we have keratosis pilaris i would love to hear it.

Rachel do you have your KP under control from taking vitamins and keeping a better diet? what parts of your body is/was it on?

Jonas is right, KP is an autosomally dominantly inherited genetic disorder (meaning, if one or both of your parents had KP, then you are more likely to get it), there is a good summary at http://dermnetnz.org/acne/keratosis-pilaris.html. Eating poorly can make your KP worse, but so can taking too many vitamin pills. Taking too much Vitamin A pills will actually cause skin problems! This includes: erythema, eczema, pruritus, dry and cracked skin, angular cheilitis, conjunctivitis, palmar and plantar peeling, and HAIR LOSS! See http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic638.htm if you don't believe me.

I think a very useful thing would be to ask our parents if they had (or have) KP? And if they do (or did have it), ask them: When they were babies? When they were teens? When they were adults? Do they still have it or did it go away?

This will probably give us clues to what will happen to our KP over time. My dad had it starting in his teens, and his KP never went away. Mine started in my teens, and it has not gone away yet.

jeanlee i do believe you i know the toxicity affects of vitamins have you realised how high these doses are compared to the ones we are taking? the suggestions i made were the RECCOMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCES of all of the vitamins and minerals i thought we are lacking in, i dont know why everyone is saying omg Vitamin A has toxicity affects ofcourse it does, which is why i said beta carotene is much more safer compared to vitamin A.

HAIR LOSS DOES NOT OCCUR UNLESS YOU ARE TAKING over 75 000 IU of Vitamin A DAILY! Where as i suggested you take Vitamin A at the RECCOMENDED DAILY INTAKE OF 5000- 10 000 IU!!! 75 000 IU is a HUGE number compared to the RDA, most of the toxicity signs you mentioned are due to effects of CHRONIC overdose. However the toxicity signs can be seen from dosages from 26 000 IU to 1 000 000 IU daily depending on the person but this is after TWO YEARS which is due to vitamin A being fat soluble and it CAN accumulate in the body but OVER LONG PERIODS. We are not taking supplements for this long that would be plain stupid!!! Im really sick of everones accusations that im suggesting taking vitamins/minerals at absolutely ridiculous amounts. Do your research properly before you start accusing me of ****.

Yes i do believe there is some sort of hereditary link with kp perhaps we are more 'likely' to get it in regards to a vitamin deficiency compared to others that wont get it even if they are deficient but may get a different sign/symptom. But i still think there is more to it than a genetic link.

Who's been working on their diets and have you seen results? Is your skin totally clear?

While I am intrigued by all of this, I have to say, I am also skeptical. My daughter's KP hit with a vengeance when she was just 7 months old. She was breastfed and hardly eating any solids. She certainly wasn't drinking sodas or alcohol, eating candy and a bunch of ****. We went through so many diet changes (we were told it was eczema at first). No dairy, no wheat. I kept a food log for months. No amount of totally healthy eating helped.

[quote=rachel18] Im really sick of everones accusations that im suggesting taking vitamins/minerals at absolutely ridiculous amounts. Do your research properly before you start accusing me of ****. QUOTE]

Dear Rachel,

I wasn't pointing my comments at you, and I wasn't accusing you of suggesting too much. I was just trying to contribute my 2 cents to the discussion, as there are some people who might not be aware that too much of a good thing won't help. There have been some recent news stories in the evenings about people taking too many vitamin pills. I'm sorry you felt I was accusing you of anything, and want to assure you I am not, you have contributed much about the benefits of vitamins.

rachel, apologies for trying to contribute to the thread.

from my point of view, kp is gentic. It runs in families. I dont think you can possibly disagree. I think for most people you'll find the onset of this condition occurs during puberty. Now that to me does not suggest a dietry cause. Possibly hormonal or something other. Im no expert.
I appreciate your argument and that you obviously seem to know far more than the average person about nutrition, diet and the human body. However you dont have the answer yet. You have a theory.
The science you are quoting is nothing new. There are people out there with an understanding of this condition, but no definitive guide to a cure, or relief from it. This to me suggests that what you are saying is good scientific theory, but in no way absolute. If it is true that one in ten people suffer from KP then if the answer was so simple then it would already be common knowledge. I dont doubt that what you say may bear some significance and in some cases, it may be the whole solution. But to most people with severe KP I think your answer may only touch the surface.

Discussion threads are intended for discussion. For people to offer opinions and perhaps if we talk long enough we might get somewhere. So please, as much as I value your educated opinion, dont criticise me for offering my humble thoughts on the topic.

Well look can we forget about who thinks they are right for the moment???? Only by combining our knowledge will we ever come up with anything!!!

Is there somewhere we could put up a questionnaire, does anyone think this would benefit us??
It would need be rather detailed!!

It would be great if everyone suggested questions but first things first is there anywhere free that will provide the ability to host one?? Can this site? If there is interest in this, we should start a new thread for listing possible questions.


There are alot of question to ask but some questions such as
1. Are you or female?
2. What age bracket did KP first appear? 0-10 11-20 etc
3. How long have you had it? Did it ever clear up at all?
4. Click The parts of your body it is on! Lower Legs, upper Legs, Front of Torso, Back of Torso, Sides etc
5. Do you know if anyone else in your family has it Mother, Father, Brother sister, Grandmother, grandfather
6. Have you tried taking vitamins select which vitamins B,A,E etc and also select the time frame you took it for and finally if it did help??
7. which meats do you eat , fish, red, white, none and the amount of times per week as in the question below
8. How often do you eat vegtables, list of the main vegtables click the ones you eat maybe also under each vegtable, 0-1 times 2-4 a week or 5-7 times a week
9. Also we would need to find out the answers to same questions, if people know the answers, but answering the question in regard to their diet when KP first began appearing.

I have a feeling that many people don't understand how our body really works and why years of malnutrition can be the cause of the inability of the cells of the body to obtain nutrients from foods eaten.
I'd just like to recommend this book I liked :Breaking the vicious cycle (by Elaine Gottschall)

Sorry guys for being so defensive but the impression that i get from jeanlees and jonas's posts were that my theory about diet and how it can affect the body were completely wrong. And jeanlee especially when you state 'Taking too much Vitamin A pills will actually cause skin problems! This includes: erythema, eczema, pruritus, dry and cracked skin, angular cheilitis, conjunctivitis, palmar and plantar peeling, and HAIR LOSS! See http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic638.htm if you don't believe me.' i thought was directed at me and i took quite offence to this coment as i thought it suggested that i am stupid enough to not notice the toxicity affect of Vitamin A.

I've been studying this skin disorder for 6 years and have put a lot of my own personal time into figuring out what is the true cause to it because lotions and exfoliating just does not cut it for me. And after putting a lot of time into the initial post and i recieve posts about how i may be wrong i guess it can be a little frustrating.

ANYAS i do understand that not a lot of people know how our body works and aren't quite intuned with their body and what affects this, i guess i am still amazed by this everyday because it has come almost second nature to me because ive been doing naturopathy for 3 years and we have been taught to do this from day 1. I'm sorry i guess im not a very patient person and have to understand that not everyone is going to agree with what i say.

Furthermore if anyone has any problems that they would like to talk about regarding nutrition and naturopathy, even if it is not skin related be it either a different disorder feel free to message me and id be happy to give some advice. Educating individuals about their body and their diet is very important! And if everyone understood this then perhaps in the future we can prevent a lot of diseases including this skin disorder if we start treating the cause right now.

Rachel18-- I agree with you, I also believe that our skin problems reflects an internal imbalance, therefore, I have sincerely appreciated your posts. So, please do not be discouraged. The forum brings out open and honest dialogue, and therefore, helps us determine what is theory and what are facts.

ronan001- to respond to your post, what about health conditions? For example, allergies.

thanks cc camilo i appreciate that! Yes a question about health conditions will be very important aswell as including foods that you are sensitive to. Not only this but instead of just stating how many veges or fruits you eat, actually writing perhaps one day of your diet will be much more helpful. Also considering body weight is important as well.

Ronan: regarding your questionnaire i think it may be a good idea to post it as a new post on the board if you cant be bothered id be more than happy to produce a questionnaire.