Want to Eat Everything? You Better Think Twice; Food Allergies that Causes Acne
Food allergies that cause acne have been a problem of people who hates having pimples. Food intake can either do you good or bad. It depends on the type of food; some kinds can bring you acne. Although having acne is natural, it can be very embarrassing. Come to think of it, it’s a big hassle if you wake up with pimples on your face because of something you just ate. Dairy products are the most common kinds of food that can trigger the appearance of acne.
Some Foods that Causes Acne
Foods like the following can cause acne:
- white flour / refined flour
- red meat such as beef and lamb
- spicy foods
- rice
- ready to eat meals
- caffeine
- alcohol
- candy and chocolate
- eggs
- garlic
- mushroom
- broccoli
- pumpkin
- Oyster
Rice is surprisingly one of the foods that cause acne. It is a necessity for Asians, and a staple source of carbohydrates for many. Naturally, rice is very starchy and therefore is converted to sugar. If you must eat rice, brown and wild rice are a much better option.
The bad thing about eating red meat is that it’s full of artificial growth hormones. The reason why hormones are injected is to make the meat beefier, giving it more mass. These hormones can cause the glands to produce more oil, which causes acne.
Most people are drawn into ordering fast food, because of limited time. This is one of those products that lead to having acne. Food that is served in fast food chain contain oils that are responsible for clogging the pores therefore leading the emergence of acne.
Caffeine, an Indirect Source of Acne
Drinking coffee has become more of a habit than a routine for most people. Drinking coffee gets you going after waking up early, it keeps you awake to finish whatever task you are working on. However, coffee has caffeine in it, which in one contributor to the appearance of acne, although there are other products that contain caffeine like chocolate, tea, soda, and some chewing gums. There has been no solid scientific fact that directs caffeine as a source of acne, but its effect on the human body can trigger acne. Caffeine is considered to be a mild diuretic which means it dehydrates your body. Once your body is dehydrated it makes your skin suffer. Consuming too much caffeine triggers your adrenal glands, driving more stress hormones to the body. These stress hormones give negative effect on the skin. Check your skin after having sleepless nights, you’ll see that it’s somehow unhealthy and some spots and pimples start to appear. It is also said that women who takes too much caffeine-containing beverages or even caffeine-containing medications are prone to severe mood and physical changes.
Chocolates and Candies, Not so Sweet for your Health
Taking appropriate amounts of sugar won’t do you any harm. Just when you abuse the sweetness of the sugar will you get its ill effect. Eating chocolates and candies or any sugar product increases the sugar content of your blood. The more sugar product you intake, the higher the blood sugar level would be. This action leads to the excretion of too many hormones all at once, giving you that sugar rush. In other words, it is when you abuse your liver with excess hormones that acne will be triggered – a direct result of too much sugar. All excess hormones cause your sebum glands to produce too much skin oil, leading to the aggravation of already existing acne.
Types of Food Allergies
One of the food allergies that cause acne is egg allergy. Eggs are one of top five food allergens, and although this is not a direct cause of acne, this can worsen the problem. Eating too many eggs increases insulin and inflammation in the body. This drives up oil glands to produce more oil, making your skin oilier and inviting acne and bacteria in. Non-organic eggs from the poultry farm are also being fed hormones, which can interrupt the hormonal activity in your body.
Another type of food allergy is the peanut allergy. Nuts like peanuts; pistachios; walnuts; and cashews; are rich in proteins and fats. Some proteins are heat-stabled so the digestive system can’t digest these proteins and fats, and the immune system can’t produce antibodies. The sebaceous glands are very sensitive to these antibodies, it tends to get inflamed and overproduce sebum which eventually then leads to acne.
Seafood allergy is one of the food allergies that cause acne. Seafood such as crabs, shrimps, crawfish, lobster, and oysters are high in iodine. This is the only dietary component that is directly linked to acne pimple breakouts.
Milk can also contribute to the pimple breakouts on your skin, with its hormones and allergenic proteins. Almost all commercial milk in the market come from pregnant cows. These hormones are close to the hormones that signal the skin cells to overproduce sebum. The overproduction of sebum will definitely lead to an oilier skin, thus attracting more bacteria therefore leading to acne. Like egg, milk also produces insulin, and more insulin means more acne. Cow milk may also contain bacteria. Once the bacteria enters our bloodstream, our immune fights them off, thus more inflammation happens, leading to more acne.
As you have noticed most of the acne-related products are the daily foods that we take like eggs, milk, seafood, rice, meat, chocolates and candies, sodas, and coffee. We eat just about anything, never worrying about the content and ill-effects it can bring. It is very important to eat in moderation; these are just some out of the number of acne-inducing products. Food allergies that cause acne are very common in the market, you don’t know what it is until you get to experience its effects first hand. Note that having acne is one of the lesser effects of food allergies; this is nothing compared to the dangerous, if not deadly, effects of other food allergies.