Probably not…..but it’s complicated.

The controversy:

• Patients for years have noticed pimples after eating chocolate-containing ‘junk foods’
• The original scientific studies done in the 1960’s which ‘proved’ to doctors that chocolate did not cause acne were flawed because both the chocolate bar and the non-chocolate ‘control’ bar had high trans fats and sugar, ingredients which we now know cause acne

In short, doctors don’t yet have a conclusive scientific answer, but it’s looking like the trans fats, sugar and milk, and not the chocolate, causes acne.

Most chocolate-containing foods are full of sugar, trans fats and dairy ingredients. We now know that these ingredients probably cause acne. My recommendation is that if you love chocolate but suffer from acne, try natural chocolate bars with less sugar and higher cacao content before you give up chocolate all together. Look for bars with 60% or higher cacao content and that are made with cocoa butter, not hydrogenated vegetable oil. I’ve found that, for my taste, 72% cacao is the perfect combination of chocolate taste and sweetness. My favorite brand is Endangered Species Chocolate. It’s fairly well priced and widely available where I shop. There are many other brands and it makes a fun experiment to try different types. Others I’ve personally ‘tested’ include Dagoba, Whole Foods Brand, Green & Black, Valrhona, Chocolove, Scharffenberger and a bunch of boutique brands.

Why eat chocolate, other than because it’s a well-loved treat for most of us?

Chocolate contains valuable nutrients that include antioxidant, vitamins and minerals. It also contains natural substances that have slight antidepressant effects and that also help with PMS. Scientific studies have also shown that chocolate may provide some protection against heart disease, high blood pressure and blood clots. Eaten occasionally, and in moderation, I consider the natural chocolate bars a healthy, whole food treat and put it in that tiny top of my Alkaline Mediterranean Food Pyramid that guides my personal dietary goals.

4 key points to choosing chocolate products that MIGHT not aggravate your acne:

1. Don’t chose really sweet products with a lot of sugar.
2. Look for cocoa butter as the fat in the product, not hydrogenated vegetable oil or cow dairy butter.
3. I’d recommend trying to avoid ‘milk chocolate’ because we now know that dairy products can aggravate acne. Also, the cacao content is typically lower in milk chocolate products.
4. Eat small quantities and only occasionally! Remember there’s sugar in sweet chocolate products; sugar is of course a high glycemic food and high glycemic foods worsens acne.

The good news is that the acne and chocolate connection is probably one of those acne myths that’s being debunked as we learn more about what foods actually trigger acne. The key point, however, is to enjoy chocolate in moderation.

I’d love to hear what foods you’ve found trigger your acne? Please send me your stories using the email link at the top of the page or in comments to this blog post.

If You Found This Information Helpful, You May Also Want To Read:

4 Diet Changes That Can Improve Your Acne

Treating Teenage Acne; Dermatologist’s Complete Info To Clear Acne Fast

Reference: Diet and acne, Whitney P. Bowe, MD, J Am Acad Dermatol 2010;63:124-41

Photo Attribution:

On the pages of OTB Skin Care you get a dermatologist’s explanation of your acne treatment options. With over 25 years of dermatology practice, I’ve seen just about every type of teenage acne and at OTB Skin Care I explain how different teen skin types can use nonprescription acne treatments to clear acne fast. I also give you medical information on why your current acne treatment may not be working for you. And… because diet affects your acne, I tell you how to use your diet to help fight acne too.

There’s a lot of acne skin care misinformation on the web, in beauty magazines and in stores. I cut through the hype and tell you what I’ve seen work for the teenage acne patients I treat everyday.

10 Great Teenager’s Acne Resources at OTB Skin Care from Dermatologist Dr. Cynthia Bailey:

1. My short summary of Acne Treatment Basics
2. My No-Nonsense Acne Treatment Kits containing all the nonprescription medicines available for acne treatment-you can’t find a more complete acne treatment kit anywhere-and I’ve customized the products based on your skin type!
   • For first time acne treatment product users or teens with sensitive skin: OTB SKIN Acne Treatment For Sensitive Skin
   • For teens who know they tolerate acne products and who have tough, oily skin: OTB SKIN Acne Treatment For Tolerant Skin
3. My professional strength Glycolic Acid Facial Treatment kit for teenagers with acne who are allergic to salicylic acid or intolerant to benzoyl peroxide
4. My acne treatment product combination for teens allergic to salicylic acid: The Glycolic Acid Facial Treatment kit plus OTB SKIN Bacteria Killing Lotion with benzoyl peroxide applied after the Glytone Exfoliating Lotion from the Glycolic Acid Kit.
5. My secret weapon (when your acne includes lots of little blackheads with itchy/tender bright red pimples along your hairline and jawline, possibly even red scaly skin along the crease of your nose) is to add Noble Zinc Soap once a day in place of your acne kit soap. This medicated, non-drying, oil-free cleanser kills a yeast germ that causes some types of acne.
6. Retin A often works beautifully for acne that includes blackheads and clogged pores. There are tricks to using Retin A successfully and if your doctor has prescribed Retin A for you, and if you’re having trouble tolerating it, ask them if my Retin A application instructions might be right for you.
7. I explain how you can change your diet to better fight acne.
8. I give you all the ‘tricks of the trade’ for how to unclog your clogged pores just like we skin care professionals do.
9. I outline my professional treatment plan for back and chest acne.
10. Lastly, I give you an actual medical explanation of why your acne treatment may not be working, and the medical conditions to ask your doctor about, in my post on Common Reasons Why Your Acne Treatment Might Not Be Working

My goal is to give you in-depth acne information to understand your teenage acne. All the information at OTB Skincare is written by me, a board-certified dermatologist with over 25 years of experience treating thousands of teens with acne. Discuss my acne information with your parents and take it to your treating doctor. Teenage acne is embarrassing and I want to help you to get your skin cleared up fast. Are there other acne topics you’d like me to write about? Send me your suggestions.

If You Found This Helpful, You May Also Want To Read:

Tanning Addiction; Dermatologist’s Personal Story

Dermatologist’s Simple Tips for Athlete’s Foot Fungus

Chapped Lips: The Remedy Depends On The Cause

Photo: Thanks and much gratitude to Pasotraspaso for the great photo

There are foods that cause acne, and dairy appears to be one of them.

For years, dermatologists have told acne patients that foods did not affect their pimples and blackheads. Well, a recent scientific article in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology has us rethinking that. Among the dietary advice I’m now giving my acne patients (both teenage and adult acne patients) is that they should limit their milk and cow dairy intake.

Interestingly, it’s not just the fat in the milk, nor is it the added hormones. It seems to be the milk itself.

Reasons that might explain milk’s role in acne include (science geek facts):

1. Milk contains substances that your body converts to testosterone (a hormone that affects your pores, causing oil production and acne).
2. Milk stimulates your body to produce a natural chemical called insulin-like growth factor (IGF). This IGF increases your body’s own natural testosterone hormones. It also increases how well these hormones effect your pores, causing more oil production and possibly more pimples and blackheads.

Skim milk products seem to be the worst for acne, though all cow dairy milk products may play a role regardless of whether they’re made from whole milk, low fat milk or skim milk. The authors of this new scientific acne diet study conclude that more research is needed to fully understand what role dairy foods play in causing acne, but for now I think there’s enough information to be concerned.

People avoiding dairy need alternate sources of calcium for bone health. Ask your primary care physician for recommendations. Non-milk sources of calcium include calcium supplements, calcium-fortified foods, green leafy veggies like kale and spinach, other veggies like broccoli, whole grains, nuts, and salmon.

Lastly, the diet studies looking at milk and acne have not looked to see if there is a difference between cow dairy and other sources of dairy products like goat milk. Goat milk is significantly different from cow milk in many ways and it will be interesting to see if this makes a difference to acne; my hunch is that it will.

Diet and acne is a fascinating topic. Patients have known there was a link for years and scientists are just now agreeing. I’d love to know if you’ve seen any effects of dairy foods, or any foods on your acne. Please send me your stories via a comment or using the ‘Contact Dr. Bailey’ link in the left margin of this page.

For more on foods and acne see my other posts on the subject:

4 Diet Changes That Can Improve Your Acne; Dermatologist’s Advice

Why Carbs In Your Diet Can Give You Acne

For my recommendations on acne skin care:

How To Treat Acne Now And Prevent ‘Back To School’ Pimples

How To Unclog Your Clogged Pores

Back And Chest Acne; Will They Ruin Your Summer

My Acne Treatment Kits

My Acne Kit For People Allergic To The Usual Acne Products

My Simple Acne Tips & Advice

Reference: Reference: Whitney P. Bowe, MD et. al. Diet and Acne, J of the Am Acad Dermatol 2010;63:124-41

Photos: Much thanks and gratitude to Kyle May and Steve Arnold

You can predict that your acne will get worse after the first month of being back in school.  Start treating your acne now before school starts and keep your skin as acne free as possible throughout the school year.

In my dermatology practice, my teen and college aged patients come rushing in after school starts because their acne is getting bad again. Typically, acne clears up nicely during the summer when people are outdoors and under less stress, but a month after school starts- whammo- they start getting pimples and blackheads again.  Using acne treatment products now, before acne gets worse, will help keep skin clear. This means using products that treat the acne causing germ p. acnes, and that help to to prevent clogged pores.  The result: fewer pimples and blackheads once school starts.

I developed a complete acne treatment system to clear acne fast.  As a dermatologist, I know that the best acne treatment includes the right balance of treatment medicines, exfoliators and oil controllers; too much and skin gets irritated, not enough and acne doesn’t go away.

To maximize results, I’ve figured out just how much treatment most people’s skin can tolerate. I’ve treated thousands of acne patients over my 25 years practicing dermatology and I developed my acne treatment system to treat my patients with acne and give them quick and sustained control of their skin.

My OTB SKIN Acne Treatment Kits have everything needed to clear acne fast. There are two levels: one for sensitive skin or first time acne treatment, and one for tolerant skin.  My kits come with my complete instructions and treatment advice.  When combined with a Facial Buf Puf Sponge or a Clarisonic brush (Clarisonic Pro is available by calling my office) I’ve found them to be the absolute best acne treatment available-including better than most all prescription skin care products.

My OTB SKIN acne treatment systems contain:

• foaming cleansers that go deep into pores to deliver glycolic acid and salicylic acid to help cleanse and prevent clogged pores,
• oil controlling skin wipes that contain powerful oil removing ingredients and that also deliver the pore cleaning ingredients salicylic acid and glycolic acid,
• medicine that kills the acne causing bacteria p. acnes- medicated benzoyl peroxide, which has been shown in scientific studies to be more effective than topical prescription antibiotics.

Again, because my acne treatment system is so strong, I’ve created 2 levels: one for people with sensitive skin or who have never used strong levels of the active ingredients before and so who need to test their skin’s tolerance.  The second is for tolerant skin.  I recommend using the cleanser with a Facial Buf Puf or the Clarisonic Pro to add physical exfoliation and help the medicines penetrate even deeper into the skin where they’re needed.  OTB Skin Acne Treatment Kit and a Facial Buf Puf or Clarisonic Pro is, in my 25 years of experience as a dermatologist, the best topical acne treatment system and get’s the best results.

Purchase the OTB Skin Acne Treatment Kit for Sensitive Skin or OTB Skin Acne Treatment Kit for Tolerant Skin.

Start your acne treatment now, before school starts and have clearer skin throughout the school year.

If you found this acne information helpful, you may also want to read:

How To Unclog Your Clogged Pores

Back And Chest Acne; Will They Ruin Your Summer?

4 Diet Changes That Can Improve Your Acne; Dermatologist’s Advice

Photo: foundphotoslj flickr

News flash: refined carbs are linked to acne!

Scientists have found that people who eat lots of highly refined carbs are more likely to get acne.  Our modern western diet is loaded with highly refined carbs: cookies, chips, white bread, crackers, cereals, donuts, candy bars, pasta, pizza etc.  This means acne should be common, and it is.

It’s high glycemic index foods that are linked to acne. Highly refined carbs have a high glycemic index. Cut down on high glycemic foods and your acne should improve. To understand this, you need to know:

• what the ‘glycemic index’ is,
• how the glycemic index differs from carbohydrates,
• what effect high glycemic foods have on your body’s insulin levels and why that matters (yes this is a lot of science, but it’s important for understanding the carb/acne connection).

In simple terms, the glycemic index measures a foods ability to quickly increase your blood sugar, which in turn tells your body to make insulin:

• Foods with a higher glycemic index number increase your blood sugar faster than foods with the same amount of carbohydrates but a lower glycemic index number.
• Refined carbohydrate foods have a higher glycemic index number than complex/non-refined carbohydrate foods and raise your blood sugar faster (because you digest them faster).  For example, white flour bread raises your blood sugar faster than whole grain bread, the same is true for white rice versus brown rice.  Fruit juice raises your blood sugar faster than a piece of fruit.
• When your blood sugar rises fast your body responds by producing a lot of insulin, which lowers your blood sugar by sending the sugar into your cells for storage.  It’s this high blood sugar/ high insulin situation that’s linked to acne!

When your body has to produce tons of insulin because you ate tons of refined carbs (white flour, sugary foods etc.) then complex things happen with your hormones-including hormones that affect your pores. These hormones are your androgens, (like testosterone), and ‘insulin-like growth factor’. They cause your pores to make blackheads and secrete more oil.  They even change what’s in your skin oil, making it more ‘pimple forming’.  Basically, eating refined carbs causes your hormones to go crazy, your pores go crazy and you get zits.

Frankly, it’s an amazing example of how complex the body is.  Who but a scientist could unravel the connection between you eating a douhnut, increasing testosterone and a growth factor, the end result of which is your skin forming blackheads and pimples.

The bottom line: modern teens, and many adults, eat a lot of highly refined/ high glycemic load carbs -and this causes acne.

The solution: eat foods with a lower glycemic index value:

• Eat complex carbs like whole grains (whole wheat flour instead of white, brown rice instead of white etc.)
• Choose sweets with honey or agave, which have lower glycemic index values than refined white sugar
• Grab a piece of refreshing fresh fruit, instead of fruit juice and sugary fruit drinks
• Drink water or sparkling mineral water instead of sugary soft drinks
• Fill up on veggies-all day and all that you want, because they have really low glycemic index values
• Eat moderate amounts of healthy protein including fish, lean meats, tofu, eggs and some dairy

Good guidelines include my Alkaline Mediterranean Diet.

To help you convert to a lower glycemic diet, there are web sites that list the glycemic values of foods. For a more step-by-step guide you could use The South Beach Diet, which is easy to follow.  I’ve done The South Beach Diet before, and I found it balanced and healthy, so long as I ate a lot of veggies when I was on it. It’s a classic example of a low glycemic diet and the book is an easy read.  Lastly, there are apps for your smart phone that give you the glycemic value of foods.

If you’ve been eating a ‘normal’ American diet, then starting to eat more veggies, fruit, lean protein and whole grains will probably help your acne. The added bonus is that these are great foods for your overall health and I’ll bet you feel great too!

So, which snack food should you chose:

OR

Please note that scientists are just beginning to understand the connection between high glycemic foods and acne.   I expect we’ll be getting even more recommendations in the coming years.

Reference: Whitney P. Bowe, MD et. al. Diet and Acne, J of the Am Acad Dermatol 2010;63:124-41

If you found this information helpful, you may want to read:

4 Diet Changes That Can Improve Your Acne; Dermatologist’s Advice

Common Reasons Why Your Acne Treatment Might Not Be Working; new ideas to treat your acne from a dermatologist

Back And Chest Acne; Will They Ruin Your Summer

Natural Skin Health: Dermatologist’s Diet Recommendations for Healthy Skin

Photo Attributions:

Qfamily Greencolander s58