Curing Keratosis Pilaris: Part II

 Last year I wrote that I had cured my keratosis pilaris, an annoying and unattractive skin condition. I thought it was because of different bathing habits. I was wrong. It came back really badly when I started an office job and I brainstormed possible causes:

• Less sunlight?
• Trace vegetable oil and gluten from eating out?
• Too hot showers

Unfortunately, when I tested each of these theories they didn't pan out. I tried sunbathing, not eating out, and cold showers. The keratosis remained. 

When I learned I had a polymorphism that meant I that most of the Vitamin A in my favorite orange vegetables was not getting converted to retinol, I decided to try to get more retinol. Since synthetic retinol has been tied to some issues in studies, I got it mainly from liver and cod liver oil. 

Within a few days my keratosis started clearing up and just in time for swim-suit season! I guess I wasn't getting enough retinol in my diet because I was eating fairly conventionally and eating more vegan meals when I didn't have access to grass-fed meat. By conventionally, I mean an ancestral diet that's just normal diet minus junk, but without the addition of things like offal. Think meals like a burger without the bun and a salad. I guess the lessons here are

• An "ancestral" diet that is just a normal diet minus gluten, sugar, and grains might not provide as many benefits as one that involves eating nose to tail
• Nutrient needs vary among people
• Animal sources of most nutrients are usually more usable