Friday Health Report: How eating sugary food affects your skin
BATON ROUGE — On this day after Halloween you may have a big pile of candy at your home, chocolate, in particular, is often blamed for causing pimples.
"What we know when it comes to breakouts related to food is that when you have spikes in your sugar, so when you're eating things like sugary drinks or you're eating, you know, pastas, white rice, things like that, that really makes your sugar pull up quickly – sometimes in candy, there's lots of sugar, too – so anything that makes you have spikes in your glucose, or your sugar in your body, makes you more likely to get a pimple,” Dr. Jennifer Lucas, a dermatologist, said.
Sugary and processed foods ultimately cause inflammation in the body, which can lead to oily skin and breakouts.
Experts say a particular food like chocolate can't be blamed for pimples, but eating unhealthy in general can make some people more prone to breakouts.
Genetics also play a role, so some people may not experience any issues with their skin after enjoying certain foods.
Along with what you eat, other factors impact your skin as well.
"So when it comes to people and figuring out what's causing your pimple, it's usually multiple things: it's your age that you're at, it's the hormones that are going through your body, it's the stress that you're having, it's the products that you're using on your skin that are thick and occlusive. And then, yeah, it's things like your diet on top of that," Dr. Lucas said.
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If acne is something you are struggling with, a dermatologist can help you sort through the factors and come up with a treatment plan.