Whether you experience significant or occasional acne breakouts, you have likely wondered what to do to stop those angry-looking (and sometimes painful) bumps on your skin. Acne is a common inflammatory skin condition that affects people of all ages. It occurs when your hair follicles become clogged with dead skin cells and oil.
One thing is sure – what you eat may play a role. For instance, vitamin A (which can be obtained from food) plays an essential role in skin health. The deficiency dramatically affects the skin, making the skin dry and patchy.
Generally, it is accepted that excess hormones, sebum, hyperproliferation of follicular cells, and bacteria are the primary causes of acne. Other factors like genetics, skin products, medications, environment, and certain health conditions can also cause it. Many individual factors depend on the best acne treatment and often necessitate speaking with a medical specialist. Regardless, there are a lot of myths surrounding acne breakout and diet that we should no longer believe.
For instance, no single food can cause acne or successfully treat its symptoms, but a diet could improve or worsen its manifestation. Read on to learn more about acne breakouts and diet myths you should no longer believe.
#1 Myth: Chocolate is bad for your skin.
First, take a deep breath because you probably don’t have to give up chocolate to avoid acne. It’s conflicting to say there are chances that chocolate causes or worsens acne. Though a small group of college students say consuming chocolate is associated with acne, that doesn’t establish that chocolates can cause acne.
Science doesn’t support the possibility that chocolates cause acne; however, if you notice acne increases after eating chocolate, consider changing to dark chocolate, which has reduced sugar than milk chocolate or white chocolate.
#2 Myth: Dairy is to blame for acne.
There’s been an eternal debate about whether dairy causes acne breakouts, and research is still ongoing.
Jillian Greaves, an integrative and functional dietician, says, “It’s suggested that certain types of dairy may contribute to acne. This is likely due to dairy increasing insulin secretion and IGF-1 levels, leading to increased levels of androgen hormones and sebum production.”
Indeed, as dairy may be troublesome for some people, the association isn’t straightforward and is not what people make it out to be. There’s a need for high-quality research to ascertain the link between dairy and acne.
However, if you find out that your acne worsens a day or two after taking milk or other dairy products, you may want to reduce or eliminate those foods from your diet for a limited time to see if your acne improves.
#3 Myth: Consuming greasy foods can cause acne.
Let’s say acne results from oil overproduction in the sebaceous glands. Then, we should expect an increase in acne when we eat oily foods, right?
But it’s not that straightforward. For example, seventy-one per cent of people with acne who participated in a survey thought greasy and fried foods cause acne. That’s to show you how persistent the myth is. There’s no scientific evidence to show that fatty or fried foods cause or heighten acne.
If you’d like to know what to do to avoid acne breakouts. Book an appointment to speak with a doctor.
