If you find a food reliably brings on a symptom like a headache or a rash, or worsening acne, then for you that food is probably a trigger. In consultation with your GP, it may be worthwhile avoiding it to see if it makes a difference.
With acne though, the commonly assumed food triggers are dairy and chocolate. The question is whether the evidence supports the belief?
Acne is common and results from skin pores becoming blocked with all sorts of things but mainly fatty secretions, skin cells and bacteria which causes the well-known pimples, whiteheads, and blackheads.
The fatty secretion is called sebum and in most people with acne they carry genes that produce thick sebum which is more likely to get stuck in the pores. Conditions such as polycystic ovarian syndrome increase the chances of having acne probably due to excessive male hormones (androgens). The Western diet is also a risk factor and interestingly people who grow up in a society with low levels of refined carbohydrates have lower levels of acne but when they move to a country with an unhealthy diet, their acne risk goes up. Oral contraception may also be weakly linked to acne risk.
The strength of genes illustrated by the fact that identical twins are much more like to both have acne that fraternal twins.
For those who follow social media, you’ll find plenty of people who swear their changed diet has cured them of acne. What you don’t see are all the people for whom dietary change has made no difference. Nonetheless people with acne when asked, do feel that nutritional advice has been neglected by their health practitioner.
So what about dairy and chocolate?
Studies have not been high quality but the better ones suggest that if dairy does make acne worse, it’s not all dairy products. If there is a link it seems to be with milk consumption, particularly skim milk, which may have something to do with the carbohydrates rather than the dairy itself.
What has better evidence is the glycaemic index (GI) which is about the speed that your blood sugar goes up after eating the food. And when you boil down the evidence on chocolate, it looks as though the effect on acne is more about it being a high GI food.
So, a Mediterranean style diet has more chance of helping you than avoiding the occasional chocolate.
Although – if chocolate is your trigger, then what harm is there in avoiding it?
