Dairy-free is far from the only diet prescribed as a cure-all for problematic skin. An abundance of pimple-treatment advice online has acne sufferers trying a whole variety of unproven diets and taking up anecdotal stories of improvement as gospel.

With this abundance of often-conflicting advice, acne sufferers’ confusion over treatment tactics seems inevitable. The American Academy of Dermatology, or AAD, doesn’t currently recommend diet changes to manage acne, citing lack of sufficient data.