Does Chocolate Cause Acne Or Is It an Urban Legend?
A lot of us have been told that chocolates are a big no-no if you want clear, acne-free skin.
Does chocolate really cause pimple breakouts? Or is this just another urban legend or old wives' tale? The answer is both yes and no.
Why? It all lies with chocolate's chemical composition and the biological processes that lead to acne in the first place.
Deconstructing Chocolate Chocolate basically consists of three main ingredients: cocoa, sugar, and milk.
Different chocolates have varying amounts of the three plus other added ingredients like vanilla, nuts, raisins, etc.
Generally, chocolate comes in three variations: dark or bitter chocolate made up mostly of cocoa, milk chocolate that has more milk and sugar than cocoa, and white chocolate that has cocoa butter plus milk and sugar.
Cocoa has been found to have many health benefits.
It has lots of antioxidants that help protect the body's cells from damage.
It also helps protect the arteries from blockage as well as reduce blood pressure, migraines, and dementia.
These antioxidants, however, lose their effect once cocoa is blended with milk and non-cocoa fats.
Processed cocoa powder also has considerably less antioxidant power than raw cocoa.
The bad stuff in chocolate isn't the cocoa per se, but the added milk, fats, and sugar in it.
These ingredients are what makes chocolate very high in calories.
So much so that binging on chocolates without expending an equivalent amount of physical activity will may make you fat.
The buildup of simple sugars and carbohydrates on your body can also have an indirect effect on your skin.
Chocolate and Acne When you eat too much chocolate, or any high-sugar food for that matter, your blood sugar level shoots up.
For some reason, this also causes levels of the pimple-causing hormone testosterone to rise.
This in turn triggers the skin to produce more oil, leading to acne breakouts.
Scientists have also theorized that eating a high-fat diet can make the skin produce more oil because of a higher concentration of fatty acids in the bloodstream.
That is why it is possible that eating too much milk or white chocolate, which has a considerable amount of cocoa butter and other fats, may trigger an acne breakout.
Eating a lot of sweet and fatty foods (milk chocolate included) is also known to increase the level of stress hormones in the body.
When this happens, the skin becomes even oilier and acne breakouts become worse.
Everything in Moderation Scientific studies that directly focus on the link between chocolate and acne have mostly come up with negative or inconclusive results.
This may be due to some weakness in general methodology, or simply because the body has enough safeguards in place to counteract the probable effects of too much chocolate on the skin.
There is still however believable logic behind the warning - that yes, too much chocolate (particularly the milk and white varieties) can make acne worse because of its high sugar and fat content.
As with anything else, the best solution is to keep everything in moderation - eating chocolate included.
Does chocolate really cause pimple breakouts? Or is this just another urban legend or old wives' tale? The answer is both yes and no.
Why? It all lies with chocolate's chemical composition and the biological processes that lead to acne in the first place.
Deconstructing Chocolate Chocolate basically consists of three main ingredients: cocoa, sugar, and milk.
Different chocolates have varying amounts of the three plus other added ingredients like vanilla, nuts, raisins, etc.
Generally, chocolate comes in three variations: dark or bitter chocolate made up mostly of cocoa, milk chocolate that has more milk and sugar than cocoa, and white chocolate that has cocoa butter plus milk and sugar.
Cocoa has been found to have many health benefits.
It has lots of antioxidants that help protect the body's cells from damage.
It also helps protect the arteries from blockage as well as reduce blood pressure, migraines, and dementia.
These antioxidants, however, lose their effect once cocoa is blended with milk and non-cocoa fats.
Processed cocoa powder also has considerably less antioxidant power than raw cocoa.
The bad stuff in chocolate isn't the cocoa per se, but the added milk, fats, and sugar in it.
These ingredients are what makes chocolate very high in calories.
So much so that binging on chocolates without expending an equivalent amount of physical activity will may make you fat.
The buildup of simple sugars and carbohydrates on your body can also have an indirect effect on your skin.
Chocolate and Acne When you eat too much chocolate, or any high-sugar food for that matter, your blood sugar level shoots up.
For some reason, this also causes levels of the pimple-causing hormone testosterone to rise.
This in turn triggers the skin to produce more oil, leading to acne breakouts.
Scientists have also theorized that eating a high-fat diet can make the skin produce more oil because of a higher concentration of fatty acids in the bloodstream.
That is why it is possible that eating too much milk or white chocolate, which has a considerable amount of cocoa butter and other fats, may trigger an acne breakout.
Eating a lot of sweet and fatty foods (milk chocolate included) is also known to increase the level of stress hormones in the body.
When this happens, the skin becomes even oilier and acne breakouts become worse.
Everything in Moderation Scientific studies that directly focus on the link between chocolate and acne have mostly come up with negative or inconclusive results.
This may be due to some weakness in general methodology, or simply because the body has enough safeguards in place to counteract the probable effects of too much chocolate on the skin.
There is still however believable logic behind the warning - that yes, too much chocolate (particularly the milk and white varieties) can make acne worse because of its high sugar and fat content.
As with anything else, the best solution is to keep everything in moderation - eating chocolate included.
