Keratosis pilaris is a very common condition. By my best estimate, at least 15% of American teenagers and adults suffer from it. Fortunately it doesn’t entail any significant health damage, but it can be a nuisance, especially if you are picky about the way that your skin looks. There are options for keratosis pilaris treatment.
Keratosis pilaris is a fancy name for an un-fancy condition. Keratosis pilaris is commonly called “chicken skin” – because that’s exactly what it looks like. It presents as small, hard bumps, which are often inflamed or red and dry, on the upper arms. Other common locations are the back, thighs, buttocks, and face. Most websites recommend topical cures for keratosis pilaris treatment. They recommend exfoliating and moisturizing (which can help).
The absolute most important thing to know about keratosis pilaris treatment is that it absolutely must start from the inside.
You may be able to make small changes to the quality of your skin with external factors, but you will never experience long-term freedom from keratosis pilaris without address the underlying conditions in your body that cause it to make the keratosis pilaris in the first place.
The secret to keratosis pilaris treatment:
The secret truth to keratosis pilaris, which regrettably almost no one knows, is that it is primarily a result of nutrient deficiencies.
Many nutrients play a role in skin health. Yet there are three nutrients that are critically important for the quality of your skin:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin K
You need vitamins A, D, and K (the “fat soluble” vitamins) for so many body functions it’s impossible to count. One of the primary functions is membrane maintenance. The skin needs these fat soluble nutrients in order to have healthy membranes (which are made out of fat).
All three of these vitamins are vanishingly rare in the modern diet.
Vitamin A
This vitamin is rare because even though you think you might be getting it every time you eat a carrot (the packaging always says “good source of vitamin A!”), you are unfortunately being misled. Carrots do not have vitamin A in them. Neither do any other plant foods. What these foods have in them instead is beta carotene.
Beta carotene can be converted into vitamin A in your intestines by gut flora (here’s a great probiotic and great probiotic foods that can help with that). If you do not have the right gut flora it just won’t happen. Unfortunately that’s the case for a lot of people today. Gut flora just aren’t as robust as they could be.
So many people are deficient in vitamin A. The only robust source of true vitamin A in the diet is organ meat, particularly liver. Most people cringe at the idea of eating liver. Yet ancestral human cultures prized the liver above almost all other parts of the animal. Presumably this is because they figured out how important it is for health. If you cannot stomach the idea of eating liver a couple of times a month (but you should because it’s delicious), you can try a desiccated liver supplement like this one, which is my favorite.
You can also obtain vitamin A from cod liver oil, which is actually a better supplement for absorbing vitamin A specifically because oil is the right form for a fat soluble vitamin. (Desiccated liver is the best for a lot of other nutrients, though, including the rare and important choline).
This is the healthiest, most nourishing cod liver oil supplement on the market today.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is so rare today because people don’t get outside enough. The main source of vitamin D for the human body is sun exposure. The body synthesizes vitamin D upon exposure to UV rays (and without SPF).
In human history, people spent nearly all of their time outdoors. Today, people are lucky if they get a few hours outside once or twice a week. This is a huge difference, and it shows.
Vitamin D deficiency is an incredible epidemic, and it doesn’t just affect skin health, but also immune system health, your ability to fight off cancer, your gut health, and your mood. This deficiency is one of the major causes of depression, especially in the winter months.
You can enhance your vitamin D status by making sure to get 20 minutes of noontime sun exposure every day (at minimum), or by taking either a vitamin D supplement like this one, or the cod liver oil supplement I mentioned above. The cod liver oil kills two birds with one stone (and we shall see in a moment, actually three).
Keratosis pilaris is often at its worst in the winter months because there is less sunlight in the winter time, Most people guess that this is because the air is drier in the winter. This is true – it’s important. But it’s not the whole story. What many people, including dermatologists, are not aware of is that keratosis pilaris is highly dependent upon vitamin D production.
Even if you get sunlight in the summertime, it’s important to take care of yourself with the supplements I mentioned above in the wintertime!
Vitamin K
Finally, vitamin K is rare in the diet today for a few reasons. One is that people do not eat organ meats anymore, and organ meats are one of the only good sources of vitamin K2.
Another reason is that most animals today are raised on grain products and other random bits of food instead of grass. Yet grass is the natural diet for cows, bison, and other ruminants. The highest quality beef comes from cows that eat grass specifically because it enables them to make the right nutrients that they need.
Vitamin K2 can be found in grass-fed butter, but it cannot be found in grain-fed butter. So you can boost your vitamin K (K2, specifically) intake by getting some grass-fed butter in your diet. If you cannot do that, then you may definitely want to consider that cod liver oil supplement I mentioned earlier. Because not only does it have cod liver oil and vitamins A and D in it, but it also has high quality butter oil added, which is rich in vitamin K.
This is how fermented cod liver oil kills three birds with one stone.
More dietary changes that can help with keratosis pilaris treatment
Vitamins A, D, and K are the most important vitamins for supporting healthy skin and eliminating keratosis pilaris. I cannot tell you the number of people I know who have added fermented cod liver oil to their daily routines and significant improved their keratosis pilaris, if not gotten rid of it completely.
Yet there are other ways to help with keratosis pilaris with your diet:
- Focus on nutrient density
- Eliminate inflammatory foods
- Consume an appropriate amount of fat and carbs for your body
Nutrient density
The most nutrient dense foods are:
- eggs
- organ meats
- grass-fed butter (or ghee, like this jar)
- cold water fish like salmon
- vegetables and fruits
Greens in particular pack a great punch, though really a robust variety of vegetables can really do you wonders.
So it is important to include these foods in your diet on a regular basis. I recommend eating at least one or two eggs every day, at least two servings of green vegetables a day, at least one serving of fermented foods like these amazingly tasty snacks every day, organ meat at least twice a month, and fish at least 2-4 times a month.
Beyond simply adding nutrient-dense foods to your diet, it is also incredibly important to eliminate foods that block nutrient absorption.
The most nutrient-blocking food out there, by far, is grain.
Grain products – breads, pasta, cereal, etc. – contain a high amount of a group of molecules called phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are insidious. They bind with nutrients your body needs, like calcium, in your gut, and flush it out with your feces.
If you eat a bowl of kale, but then have a piece of bread, you will absorb significantly less kale nutrients than if you ate the kale alone. This is a very real thing, and it has tragic effects on everybody’s health on a regular basis.
Other foods that have relatively high amounts of phytonutrients in them are legumes and nuts. Fortunately, if you soak and sprout your legumes, nuts, and grains (here’s a guide on how to do it), you reduce the phytonutrient content and can eat them relatively safely.
Yet that is a time consuming process and most people do not do it. If you don’t take the time to do it, you may wish to avoid grains most of the time. This will significantly help your body absorb the nutrients it needs.
Inflammatory foods
One major way your skin can get bumpy, be too dry or too oily, and become red or discolored is from inflammation caused by food.
The most inflammatory foods are trans fats, omega 6 vegetable oils (vegetable oil, canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, wheat germ oil, and the like), added sugars, and grains. These are all common in processed foods.
Do your best to avoid processed foods, fried foods, desserts, and grains. This could go a long way toward healing your skin… and not just your keratosis pilaris the rest of your body, too!
And one final dieting tip: protein sparing
Sometimes people eat perfectly healthy diets and still struggle with keratosis pilaris. What gives?
One of the most important things I did for my own keratosis pilaris treatment (in addition to getting adequate vitamins A, D, and K by taking this supplement), was reduce the amount of protein that I eat.
I don’t recommend that everybody reduce their protein intake. Protein intake, for women at least, should be around 50-100 grams of protein every day. That’s the equivalent of about 2-4 cans of tuna, for a size reference. If your diet contains that range, you are probably all set.
I personally used to eat at the high end of that range, sometimes higher. I cut my protein intake down to about 50 grams a day and the bumps on my skin reduced dramatically. Protein is involved in a lot of “building up” type of processes in the body, and plays an important role in keratin production.
So this is probably not the solution for most people. For people who eat high protein diets, which is common on paleo, it is definitely something worth considering.
Topical treatments
Topical treatments for keratosis pilaris are not the most important thing, but they can certainly help.
There are two helpful things to do: exfoliate well, and moisturize.
Exfoliate:
You can use a loofa or clean, organic sponge to exfoliate in the shower. (This kind is my favorite).
Yet it might be best if you do dry exfoliating. Dry brushing not only helps remove old, dry skin, which is what you do in the shower, but it also helps activate the lymphatic system. This s great for stimulating the immune system and boosting your body’s healing capacities.
If on your arms, brush in an upward moisture, to get lymph moving in the best direction for immune health.
Use a great, organic, feels-so-good-omg brush like this one.
Moisturize:
Moisturizing well can help with keratosis pilaris treatment, though it is last on the list after adjusting your diet, supplementing well, and exfoliating.
There are many different moisturizers you could try, yet the best moisturizers for keratosis pilaris are ones that contain vitamins in them.
My favorite moisturizer on the whole planet, and believe me when I say I’ve tried most of them, is this Green Pasture’s Beauty Balm. It contains vitamins A, D, and K in it, as well as the anti-microbial coconut oil.
Basically: amazing.
I apply the balm only to my face and to the back of my arms (where the shadows of my keratosis pilaris were/are) in order to save it for those areas where I need it most. You can get it on Amazon here. It’s the most nourishing moisturizer around, relatively inexpensive, and so, so, so great for skin.
The takeaway
Many people offer different tricks to help cure keratosis pilaris. Yet the one most important thing about keratosis pilaris is the one that they are missing out on:
It’s that you need nutrients – and specifically vitamins A, D, and K – in order to truly overcome it for good, which you can get from the foods I mentioned above. You can also get all three of them from this one supplement, Fermented Cod Liver Oil (in capsules).
You can also get all the missing nutrients you really need from liver from a desiccated liver supplement.
You can help heal your gut and cool inflammation with this great probiotic, or, better yet, these great probiotic foods.
What about you? What did you do for your keratosis pilaris treatment? Do you have any thoughts, tips, or tricks that I missed? I’d love to learn from your experiences!
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Hi Stefani, thanks so much for this post and for all that you do!
Do you include white rice as a grain that should be avoided when you’re trying to heal from KP?
Nope! Eat your heart out 🙂
Hi Stefani,
Thanks for you help. I’m trying to understand what types of foods are acceptable. Can I eat potatoes, sweet potatoes, quinoa, bean/pea-based noodles, almonds or will any of these inhibit the absorption of the vitamins? I’m only asking because I think the items I listed also have phytonutrients, no?
I found another website that says that fiber is the issue for inhibiting fat soluble vitamins (https://www.gutsense.org/reports/fiber-related-malnutrition.html). In that case, wouldn’t everything I listed be bad?
I have severe KP and have had it all of my life (I’m 47). MSM is the only thing that works for me. I do all of the above, but I can tell in one day if I don’t have 10,000 mg of MSM daily. I also add it to my lotion and it is incredibly smoothing.
Danielle – me too – it has gotten worse over the last couple of years and I’m not sure why as my diet is better. I used to control it through steroid creams and I think being out in the sun helped but its worst in places that I can’t show the sun 😉 Do you do powdered MSM or just the lotion?
Great post Stephanie – I have battled this all my life and as always you have provided more great insight. Also thinking of adding MSM per the comment above.
I have a conundrum. If I take fish oil (and I’m not sure exactly what type of fish is in the oil) I break out in cystic type acne. I have tried taking the supplement and different varieties, but each results in the same. I have yet to get into the fermented cod liver oil but am stuck because I don’t want to spend money on another supplement that will give me cystic acne in hopes to get rid of my KP. Do you have any suggestions or have you heard of others that get cystic acne with fish oils? Should I just bite the bullet and try some fermented cod liver oil and see what my skin will do?
this is a great question. I can think of a few things it might be: it might be saturated fat in the capsules, supplying fodder for imbalanced hormones; it might be a stomach acid or gut flora issue causing inflammation when you consume fat; or it might be rancid oils causing inflammation. In the first two cases I’d say no, don’t bother, yet in the third it would deinitely be worth a shot. Unfortunately I can’t say whether FCLO would be good for you or not. I personally would wait a bit and try other methods of healing the acne first
I know what you mean about worrying about shelling out a bunch of money for something that might not work for you after you try it for a little while.
However, there is a major online supplement store (with a huge variety of products, carrying many brands, with low prices) that will give you a full refund up to one year after you bought a product, with no questions asked, and they will even pay for the return shipping of the partially-used container.
Over the years, I have bought a lot of things from them, and I have returned a handful of items that did not work for me for a refund, and they have always credited my credit card promptly.
I am not sure if I can mention the name of that retailer here or not. I am not connected to them in any way – except for being a customer.
Here’s the webpage explaining their 365-day money-back guarantee — http://www.swansonvitamins.com/help/guarantees/guarantees-faqs/seven-leaf-guarantee.html
I have experienced this since I was a child. I’ve searched things about this as deep as I could to find the effective method. Well I have found some ways on the internet but some worked, and some don’t. Until I have found some natural ways to effectively stop KP. Natural ways = Less cost! And you dont have to spend a fortune to pay for the dermatologist which is only temporary. I have carefully handpicked some methods that works for me and I hope it will work for you too! http://www.diseasepreventionfordummies.tk
Hi Stefani! Thank you so much for a great resource! I have had KP for as long as I can remember, and this post makes a lot of sense. But I cannot find any reserach to back up the link between KP and food(ex. vitamin A). What is your resource for all this knowledge? 🙂
Sorry if my english is bad, I’m from Norway! Love your book. Thanks for everything you do. It matters.
-Ingrid
Thank you so much for this great post, Stefani! I love your work. I have had KP my whole life. I eat a very clean diet- my own version of paleo, I do not include any fruit, sugars, nuts, alcohol and tend to lean towards fish, chicken, turkey as I really don’t have a taste for red meat, however I do make my own bone broth and eat regularly. I do not use anything on my skin that I wouldn’t eat, I include lots of my own homemade raw organic kimchi as well as probiotics (years 0f leaky gut/ candida/ low stomach acid hell) and I have been taking Green Pasture Fermented Cod Liver Oil for years now and as much as my health has improved and its been a grand journey my KP has never gone away…SO frustrating! I read your article in July and reflected back to a conversation I had with my nutritionist a few years back, she kept telling me, ” you need liver!” I really tried. I made liver pate, hid it in turkey burgers….wasn’t for me. BUT…reading your article was a blessing because I immediately ordered the dessicated beef liver, 4 weeks later my KP is 75% GONE! Yep! Happy dance! I won’t lie, they taste pretty awful and are kind of large but it was for sure a missing piece to the puzzle. Thank YOU!
Hi!
I just read your article and I’m going to start trying all of this. My dermatologist game tretinoin cream and I have been using for more than a month I haven’t seen any change. I have been using a scrub from lush with Shea butter and I feel the other arm looks a little better. I also noticed that in the morning My arms are not red but once I get out of the shower they look red. I don’t even use soap sometimes on my arms. I don’t know by the water makes them more red. What is msm? And is Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese bad for me ? When you say organs meat what is that mean?. I eat only Ezekiel bread is consider a grain? I’m really desperate and want to make changes to get rid of kp. Thank you!!!
Great article! I’ve always suffered from KP, and when I was younger, did a lot of exfoliating, which did little but make it more red.
For the past 14 days, I’ve been doing the Whole 30, and my KP and what your saying is true! Inflammatory foods, like grain, fuel KP.
This is the first time my upper arms have been clear, since the last time I took acutane, 15 years ago.
Thank you, this article was informative.
I’m going to try the vitamin that are recommended to treat it. I wish I could had found or knew about this before scaring everywhere fro keratosis pilaris. I hope it works I have been dealing with it since I was a kid. I know have a son and he has it too. There’s not much for kid vitamins that’s been difficult. It’s been a nightmare to have it. It has been me to not wear tank tops or bikinis. Totally over keratosis Polaris. If this doesn’t work I give up. Neutrogena carried this read bump lotion and it totally worked I was so excited the a couple months later they discontinued it. I about cried. It was like a miracle lotion for only $13.00. I can’t afford more than that. I’ll comment if it works I’ve been taking the vitamins for only a few days.
Might want to try giving up grains, too – they seem to exacerbate a lot of people’s KP, mine included. Regular sunlight can help a lot too? It’ll be great to hear your results – please keep me posted!
Three years ago, I was suffering from keratosis pilaris and was really depressed of the fact that it would really harm my skin . But then I consulted a doctor and he recommended an ointment HALOTOP to apply on the body after bathing and before sleeping. I used it for 2 days and could feel the change. My skin started recovering and within 1 week my skin was the way it was before . But I would add one more point here is that I was not suffering from the severe form of keratosis pilaris maybe thats why HALOTOP helped me out. Drinking water daily is an important thing one must include in her/his daily routine..
I googled that and its ice cream?
It’s also a lotion that is a corticosteroid which helps with skin itchiness or inflammation. I would not recommend using a product like this for long term use.
Hi Stefani,
I eat grass fed butter almost daily (in my bulletproof coffee) AND I have been taking desiccated liver (2 capsules a day) for the past year. I had KP on the back of my arms for years that is basically gone now, but the skin on my entire chest and upper back still has strong symptoms of KP. It definitely gets worse when I sweat or don’t wear breathable clothing, which means it’s also acne-related but the skin in general is just consistently SO rough and bumpy, and if I rub at it, bits of keratin/dead skin come off. It just seems like my pores are eternally clogged and my skin doesn’t have the ability to rid itself of dead skin or oil/grime. Is there anything else you would recommend since my diet is already quite high in those vitamins? Or maybe I’m too sensitive to the dairy, even grassfed? Ive tried probiotics in the past and never noticed a difference, but maybe I need different strains. Sorry for such a long post but it gets so frustrating when you feel like you’ve tried everything! Its worth mentioning too that I don’t exercise near enough, which I know promotes natural exfoliation too. But I want to get to a baseline where my skin’s natural state is smooth and clear without being so dependent on constant attention and exfoliation. Any help is so appreciated!
Hi Rebecca, there could be a lot here. I have found that if I am fasting or not eating enough carbs (or fat, for that matter) my skin gets very dry. The literature appears to show this being the case for many other people, too. So you may wish to try cutting back on the coffee habit (which also could amp up your adrenals and therefore cause skin problems? it’s possible) and adding some more carb-heavy foods. The probiotic idea is possible but also not necessary.
Also, if your pores are perpetually clogged you may wish to consider lowering the protein content of your diet. Protein contributes to the production and stickiness of skin cells. Of course if you are already moderate-low protein then this might not help, but if you eat a high protein diet this is something to consider.
B12 has been known to aggravate acne. If you have acne-like symptoms you may wish to try laying off the liver capsules for a while and seeing if that helps.
Also, Noelle and I JUST recorded a podcast talking all about dry skin – it’s episode 91 if you ever listen in 🙂
Hi, Stefani! I keep a dairy free diet because of allergies, but I noticed that the supplement you linked to on amazon contains butter oil. The description seems to emphasize the synergistic combination of butter oil and cod liver oil. If i ordered the supplement of just fermented cod liver oil, do you think it would be effective enough? Or do I need the combination of both? Thank you!
You could also try the fermented cod liver oil supplement without butter oil in it… that should really help, even without the K. Plus, if you can get your hands on some grassfed liver that will be a good source of K2, or if you’re willing to take a supplement or eat natto beans that can also get you the k2 you need 🙂
Hi Stefani,
I have had both cystic acne and KP for 6 months now. I have been trying to figure out which diet protocol to start following (if you have any opinion about the candida diet I would love to hear, as I am pretty desperate and willing to do anything no matter how strict), as well as which supplements to start adding. For the past 2 months I have been taking vitex, vitamin D and zinc/magnesium, and very recently started taking alive energizer multivitamin (my acne has only continued to worsen).
I was about to order the fermented cod liver oil supplement you recommend but saw that you suggested to Noelle to perhaps try laying off the cod liver for a while because B12 has been known to aggravate acne. So, my question is, do you think it is NOT a good idea to take this cod liver oil supplement if you have both acne and KP, as I do? Also, I would love to hear your opinion on estroblock!
Thank you SO much Stefani!!
Cod liver oil I think would be okay… but you’re right that B12 can aggravate acne, this may very well be why the energizer multivitamin is aggravating your acne.
Re: estroblock and vitex. Estrogen helps heal the skin, so I wouldn’t be trying so hard to keep estrogen levels down. Now, you want to make sure your progesterone is good and up, to keep up with the estrogen, but I wouldn’t try to DECREASE it with the supplementation… this could be why the vitex isn’t working all that well for you either.
I hope this helps! <3
I’m going to give eating liver a shot. I’m a 200 lbs male, should I be eating a whole one about once a week? Above you mention to go with maybe twice a month.
Also, if I eat beef liver will this cover vitamins A, K2 and D or should I still take vitamin D supplements? Also, is beef liver the best kind or could I also do chicken liver?
Thanks for your help.
Beef probably has the best balance of vitamins but chicken is also good 🙂
Hi nice post, I would like to add that the ketogenic diet helps with keratosis pilaris, mine is gone. My ketogenic diet was very low in carbs, but including a lot of low carb veggies and greens; a moderate amount of protein like you mentioned; lots of fat, among them grass fed butter; and some supplements like vitamin d and k (but I didn’t take vit A, which I am going to add now). Seems that the factors you mentioned but also going into ketosis, creates the right circunstances to get rid of it. Get rid of keratosis with ketosis, LOL.
Yes I think also a lot of people suffer KP when their diets are too low in fat. I personally get bad KP when I eat grains or when I don’t have enough fat in my diet. 🙂
Hey Stefani! Do you have a recommended dosage to take of the supplements each day? (…cod liver oil/butter blend and desiccated liver?)
Unfortunately I don’t feel comfortable giving people dosages to take because I feel like everybody is different? Going by your degree of sensitivity that you think you’ve discerned to food or supplements, I would A) if it feels normal, start with the recommended dose, and B) if you feel sensitive, start with HALF the recommended dose, and C) if you feel like a HORSE, feel free to take maybe 25% more than the recommended dose. 🙂
Hi Steph,
The long for the cod liver oil just takes me to Amazon in general– not even to a cod lover oil. Should I refer to your website for the name of where can I get that info? Thank you!
Oh, I’m very sorry. The item appears to have been removed from amazon. Yes if you google ‘fermented cod liver oil’ you’ll want to go with Green Pastures or Rosita’s brand. 🙂
would taking a cod liver supplement ( with out thebutter oil in it) and the desiccated liver supplement be effective enough? Not sure if my body would react well to the butter oil in the Fermented cod liver supplement since i’m lactose imtolerant.
There is no lactose in the butter oil, you’d be safe. If you’re still concerned about the dairy fat however you could take a regular cod liver oil supplement without butter oil added and instead add a vitamin K2 supplement along with the cod liver oil 🙂
Hi Stefani,
Since pregnancy my KP has gotten so much worse. It has literally started spreading all over my body. Do you suggest I take the probiotic, desiccated liver and cod oil? All three everyday? I am not breastfeeding so I do not have to worry about taking supplements.
Thanks!
Sounds to me like you already had your baby? A probiotic and the supplements could help, yes. My guess would be however that also important would be simply eating really nourishingly for a while. Pregnancy can deplete your body of nutrients, so you may simply need to replenish just about everything. Probiotics, codliver oil, and liver supplements are a great way to help with that, though I would also make sure to eat some eggs and lots of veggies 🙂
Stefani – how does the Paleovalley Grass Fed Organ Liver compare to the desiccated beef liver you previously recommended? Also, have you discussed kp on the podcast?
On episode 20 actually 🙂 https://www.healthtoempower.com///episode20/ way back in the beginning!
Either of these dessicated liver options is good 🙂
I developed a fish allergy after my 3rd pregnancy (Probably not fish but mercury, and I have not eaten it in 3 years). I have some FCLO in the fridge from when my husband had a cavity we were trying to heal. Do you think I would have a reaction to it? Or is it like the lactose intolerance and the butter oil, it may now be an issue. Also is it important to heal the gut first with probiotics and eating grain or gluten free before starting in the FCLO?
If you have an allergy to fish, yes, i would try to heal the gut before consuming any fish products. But if you don’t suspect its an allergy, then it’s probably reasonably safe to go ahead and start in with some FCLO right away. IF your ultimate goal is to reduce keratosis pilaris, then actually eliminating grains and dairy could go a long way, as the KP could be related to a gut issue
At age 75, my KP first appeared a few months after I started using a powdered collagen supplement hoping it would help replace cartilage in my thumb joints. I now get steroid injections every 6-7 months, trying to prevent or delay joint “replacement”. Could the collagen cause KP? Thank you.
mmm. great question. most people say that collagen helps with KP, but given that KP is actually caused by an excess of keratin and skin cell growth in the skin, if you stimulate growth with the collagen, I totally see how that could be possible. Daily exfoliating might be able to help with that? <3
I think that indeed those three nutrients are crucial to KP, at least my own. I’m 24 and have had KP since early teen years, but it’s gotten much worse in the past year thanks to my hormonal problems (PCOS-like) caused by chronic insomnia. The Paleo diet and CrossFit helped me dig this hole; I vehemently reject them now.
But for the past 3-4 weeks my KP has been totally down. The appearance unfortunately remains (and it’s on many body parts), but the bumps are gone. My arms are so smooth…
I’ve only started doing two things differently. I’ve been eating cheese each evening as my protein. I’m in France and normally eat the wrapped supermarket cheeses, almost always raw milk.
(I’ve already been eating lots of pâté and it definitely wasn’t solving the problem alone. In fact I’m not sure I’ve had any at all in weeks.)
The second thing is that at some point I lowered my vitamin D dose from 10,000 IU to 5,000. I couldn’t supplement K2 so I decided it was safer to take less.
Interestingly this has happened right when winter has begun, and I definitely have dry skin issues. I don’t normally moisturizer at all, except sometimes olive oil. I did find shea butter recently and it made my arms even better, but I’ve only tried that once.
“Beta carotene can be converted into vitamin A in your intestines by gut flora…”
That’s nonsense, beta-Carotene is converted to Retinal by the enzyme BCMO1 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23727499).
Retinal is interconvertible with Retinol.
“So many people are deficient in vitamin A. The only robust source of true vitamin A in the diet is organ meat, particularly liver.”
Vitamin A deficiency is virtually unknown in developed countries (https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/#h5).
Why don’t you mention cheese and natto as K2 sources?
They are good sources (if the cheese is grass fed) but since they’re not “technically paleo” and since I can’t eat them (both dairy and soy give me bad acne) and generally recommend people be cautious with them, I did not mention them. I wrote this post a few years ago and was a bit more cautious with food than I am now; if I wrote it now I would have included those things in the list <3
MY DAUGHTER IS 6 YEARS OLD AND HAS BEEN DIAGNOISED WITH KP, IS IT SAFE FOR HER TO TAKE THESE VITAMINS AND FISH OIL DAILY???
at much smaller doses, yes. i would also recommend glycolic acid topically
Hi Stefani, I’ve had KP on my thighs and back of my arms for quite awhile now. It gets way better, almost disappears in the summer but is terrible in the winter. My hair is usually pretty dry too so I’ve tried this new shampoo that has a lot of Keratin in it. After about a week or two of using it, I’m noticing tons of KP bumps on the back of my shoulders…. could the residue from washing my hair affect my skin and start KP on new places?
yes definitely. i would wash my body thoroughly after using a keratin (or any) shampoo <3
The summer could be because the air is more moist, or also the vitamin D. You can address both of these in the winter with humidifiers and with activity or vitamin D supplementation <3
Hello! I’ve struggled with severe KP all my life. Just turned 29 today. It’s on my legs, butt, arms, sides – everywhere! I just figured there was nothing that I could do and that it was genetic (my mom and sister also have it). But I came across this article and am so excited to try these! I’ve obviously read ways to “fix” kp before, but you usually have to pay before they’ll give you the answer or buy the book or subscribe or something, so thank you for this free and amazing information! Nothing has worked so far so I’m crossing my fingers with these! Also will keep in touch with results.
I do have one question though. Can we take these supplements at the same time, or should we try one at a time?
At the same time 🙂 You may have a genetic predisposition to it. There are many other things worth trying – eliminating grains and/or dairy from your diet, for example, or reducing protein intake – I couldn’t say since I don’t know anything about your life at all. This is a good place to start trying, however <3
Great! Thank you! It’s been so hectic so I haven’t been able to try them yet lol but if I were to try one first, what would be the one you recommend? (I know it varies person to person) or would you recommend I do both at the same time?
unfortunately it is really specific to the person because we don’t know what you’d be deficient in! if you try a cod liver oil with butter oil added that should cover your bases and get you three crucial vitamins at once. if you notice your KP gets less bad in the summertime then perhaps focus on getting more vitamin D first 🙂
Hi Stefani, thank you so much for your amazing article <3
I have tried all the possible external remedies but nothing really worked for my KP.
So, I wanna start with the diet you mentioned above because I am pretty sure it's something inside our bodies, you convinced me!:)
I have also noticed that when I eat pasta or pizza it gets worse, and I'm Italian, so this happens very often..
Quick questions for you: which gluten-free food can I eat? Rice, corn, quinoa are fine or not? Do you suggest the Paleo diet to cure this disease? Specifically, which kind of probiotics should I take? Could you tell me some good brands available in Italy too?
Thank youuuu for everything! xoxo
i think rice, corn, and quinoa are probably okay, less potentially problematic than wheat. do you have biokult or prescript assist in italy?
Yes, we do:) I usually take Symbiolact by Guna, which is homeopathic but I will try these brands too. It’s day 4 without gluten and casein and with supplement of cod liver oil (both internal and external ones) and I can tell you that it’s the first time in my whole life that my arms are quite smooth and bumps appearance has so much improved! Can’t believe it!
I wanted to ask you if it is fine to integrate with MSM by Longlife or if it can contrast the benefit of the cod liver oil. I’d like to take it because of my hair conditions but now that I see these great results on my arms I want to be sure it doesn’t interfere with my KP improvements. Can’t thank you enough! <3
It is definitely worth trying to see if they can both work! You can always stop if it has a negative effect. 🙂 SO GLAD YOU’VE HAD A POSITIVE OUTCOME! <3
Hey Stefani. I was just wondering how many capsules a day should you take the fermented cod liver oil supplement? It didn’t say on the bottle.
I recommend reading this: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/know-your-fats/precious-yet-perilous/
🙂
Hello Stefani,
First of all, thank you very much for the lovely article. I’m excited to try out. But before I proceed my purchase on Amazon, I wanted to ask a question. I see that there is the same (or if not, a very similar) product on Amazon. I was wondering if they are exactly the same thing. Would you happen to know?
This is your link sold by Green Pastures:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002M06SMU/ref=as_li_tl?imprToken=EU18kqAGTenwNuZ3pUs82Q&slotNum=13&ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002M06SMU&linkCode=w61&tag=palforwom-20&linkId=UWFF6GXWHEWSZINS
This is the link sold by Blue Ice Royal:
https://www.amazon.com/Pasture-Blue-Ice-Royal-Fermented/dp/B00OZHWX1I/ref=pd_sbs_121_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00OZHWX1I&pd_rd_r=382e9946-11c8-11e9-af29-9f1ba580f978&pd_rd_w=INabM&pd_rd_wg=p2dM3&pf_rd_p=7d5d9c3c-5e01-44ac-97fd-261afd40b865&pf_rd_r=VATAWQWZ6DDXVAZMMYHX&psc=1&refRID=VATAWQWZ6DDXVAZMMYHX
The only difference I notice is the ingredients. The former one has these two extra ingredients:
unbleached beeswax,plant cellulose
Thanks Stefani!
Yes they’re the same company! 🙂
Keratosis can also be due to a GLA deficiency..
Agree <3