Oh boy have I been indulging in some decadent chocolate lately. I just love the stuff. I fully admit it. However, I was upset to see a big 'ol zit appear on my chin after a chocolate binge. I'm not exaggerating either…it's BIG and it hurts. I'm using every concealer tip & trick known to woman-kind to hide this bad boy. This leads me to ask the question, "Does chocolate cause zits?" In one of my previous posts, Understanding Your Acne, I told you that it most certainly does not. But can this be right? Could I have been wrong? Well…
The answer is still: NO– chocolate does not cause acne. Remember that it takes approximately 90 days for a pimple to develop. So, this nasty bugger on my chin began to form sometime in May. What caused it to rear its ugly head now you ask? Well, it could be a number of things for me (or you) such as fluctuating blood sugar levels due to increased amounts of ingested sugar (chocolate binge), hormonal changes (the 'monthly curse') and/or an increased stressload (oh yeah, my hubby crashed his new motorcycle).
All of these things were simply catalysts for this explosion to take place on my chin. Nothing less, nothing more. The belief that chocolate is to blame for acne is simply a myth. On the other hand, if you're sensitive to chocolate and you do notice breakouts even if you eat just one teeny tiny bite, well then please avoid it.
I'm putting away the bag of Dove. =-(
Cheers!
-The Mineral Makeup Coach
That’s actually a great question!
Myths like the one above actually start from a person’s own misguided interpertations. Then it gets passed on and so on and so on.
The ultimate ‘de-bunking’ of this myth comes from a study conducted by Dr. James Fulton, Dr. Albert Kligman and Dr. Gerd Plewig of the University of Pennsylvania.
They ordered some special bars of chocolate from the Association of Chocolate Manufacturers of America. Then they took 65 teens, all of whom had acne, and fed them each 2 of these candy bars a day for one month.
Unknown to the teens, half of the group were eating chocolate bars that contained 10x’s the usual amount of chocolate. The other half of group were given bars that looked and tasted just like chocolate but actually contained no chocolate at all. Both bars contained the same number of calories. However, these particular bars for Group #2 contained large amounts of vegetable fat which also gave the researchers a chance to see the effects of high fat foods with acne occurences.
Out of 65 teens, one got better, one got worse and all the rest stayed the same. It proved that the extra fat and extra amounts of chocolate really had no effect at all on their acne.
So, by all means enjoy that B&J Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream!
Cheers!
-The Mineral Makeup Coach
ref: Fulton, J.E., Plewig, G., and Kligman, A. “Effects of Chocolate on Acne Vulgaris,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 210:2071-2074
I wonder where the myth came from anyway? I guess everyone is different. I’m not a huge chocolate fan, except for B&J Choc. Fudge Brownie ice cream. Good to know I can have some this weekend and not break out. Now, about that exercise class.