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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Dr. Ken Berry argues that keratosis pilaris (KP) is usually a sign of hyperinsulinemia caused by a high-carbohydrate diet, so he recommends cutting sugar, processed grains, and seed oils rather than only treating the skin itself. He says KP is harmless alone but can be a visible marker of an underlying metabolic problem that matters for long-term health.
Key Points
- Berry says KP is very common, affecting up to 80 percent of children and up to 40 percent of adults, and is usually harmless on its own.
- Berry says the root cause is often hyperinsulinemia, because insulin acts as a growth signal that drives keratin buildup in hair follicles and pores.
- Berry says the American Academy of Dermatology's website does not address the cause of KP and lists treatments that are mostly expensive laser therapies, while the British Association of Dermatologists acknowledges the cause is not fully understood.
- Hyperinsulinemia can be invisible in people of normal weight, so he says it must be checked with blood tests rather than judged by body size.
- Berry says only about one in a million people with hyperinsulinemia have it due to an insulinoma (an insulin-secreting tumor); he attributes the rest to diet.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- Remove all sugar from the diet, both added and naturally occurring.
- Remove processed grains, meaning anything made from ground wheat, rice, oats, or corn, or containing high fructose corn syrup.
- Remove high vegetable seed oils such as soybean, corn, canola, sunflower, and safflower oil.
- Get more sun on the affected skin.
- Moisturize the affected area with beef tallow or coconut oil to soften it and make the keratin plugs less noticeable.
- Ask a doctor for three blood tests: hemoglobin A1c, fasting insulin, and C-peptide. Berry says a result even one-tenth of a point above normal on any of these tests indicates hyperinsulinemia, in his view; if a doctor refuses to order them, he suggests using an independent lab.
- Berry says KP may take a few months to fully clear after diet changes, and he expects improvement of 80 to 90 percent or complete resolution, based on his clinical experience.
- KP is also called lichen polaris, chicken skin, or goose flesh, and most often appears on the back of the arms, front of the thighs, or face.
- Berry says his claims are supported by studies he links in the video's show notes, which he suggests printing for a doctor.
Bottom Line
KP itself is harmless, but Berry frames it as a possible visible sign of hyperinsulinemia, and he recommends testing and diet changes as the path to addressing the cause rather than relying on skin treatments.
