Acne Treatment and Individual Variations

Individual variation in the metabolic syndrome: a new perspective on the debate

This is a letter to the AJCN.ORG concerning the individual variations, and how they should be considered when dealing with metabolic syndrome, as an additional perspective.The letter was sent to participate in the debate between 2 of preeminent scientists in the field of nutrition (Reaven and Grundy), about treatment of metabolic syndrome.

Reaven argues that a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome has no clinical utility and that its risk factors, that predispose individuals to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes should be treated separately and aggressively. Grundy recognizes that this clustering of metabolic risk factors is indeed useful because it directs physicians toward prescribing lifestyle therapies that address all of the risk factors simultaneously.

Both Zivcovic and German sent a letter to the journal to propose that individual variability among people should be a prominent component of the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome and other metabolic disorders. A move away from a one-size-fits-all approach in diagnosis and toward a more individualized approach that recognizes the variability among people is necessary.

This individual variation can be clearly seen in systemic treatment of acne ( which is in some way related to the metabolic syndrome ), specially when using supplements. This leads patients to use very high doses of supplements to get the results other people got, hit by the - Me Too - syndrome and warrants thinking of using them topically in case of acne, and that is another story.