A little chocolate doesn’t hurt the soul, but definitely the skin

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All you need is love, but a little chocolate doesn’t hurt?

Well, while it might be good for the soul, it sure may not be all that god for your skin.

When it comes to diet, there’s good data to suggest that high glycemic index foods — rich in refined carbohydrates and sugar, including sugary drinks and processed breads and snacks — are bad for acne-prone skin.

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In a study, participants were randomly assigned to eat a chocolate bar or 25 jelly beans, both of which provided the same glycemic load, an indicator of how high blood sugar will rise after each portion of food.

All patients received both “treatments.”

Interestingly, jelly beans didn’t have an effect on acne.

But when people ate chocolate, their pimples increased.

“We found that, on average, people had about five more pimples with the ingestion of chocolate,” said study author Dr. Gregory R. Delost of the Department of Dermatology at University Hospitals, Cleveland Medical Center.

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“Some people might say, five pimples, no big deal, but if someone is getting ready for their high school dance … then five pimples is definitely clinically relevant in that situation.”

Based on his findings, Delost is convinced that chocolate can make your acne worse, though he admits that by giving participants milk chocolate, he didn’t tease out an important variable.

“There’s a lot of literature about milk causing acne, so that would be the big fault in my study.

“But even when both milk and sugar are taken out of the equation, chocolate appears to play a role in pimple formation.In one 2016 study involving 25 people, researchers investigated whether an ounce of 99% cacao dark chocolate, without added sugars or milk, would cause acne to worsen in acne-prone males when consumed daily.”

After four weeks, researchers found a statistically significant increase in both comedones (also known as blackheads) and pimples when compared to baseline.

However, there might be a window of relief because the researchers stated that the study as not a hundred percent conclusive.

“We did not conclude that chocolates cause acne, as this condition is caused by multifaceted factors,” said study author Dr. Pravit Asawanonda, professor and chair of dermatology at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.

Unless you’re doing dark chocolate.

“Our study suggests that dark chocolate ‘exacerbates’ acne in terms of lesion counts.

“The study did not answer whether chocolate can cause acne in those who are not acne-prone.

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