Spicy food is a popular food type among many, but can your favorite hot meal cause breakouts? Today, we’ll be debunking this myth by looking at whether or not spicy food can cause acne. 

This shouldn’t hinder you from enjoying spicy food, though. Even if spicy food can cause acne, as long as you employ a proper skincare routine, your skin will thrive. 

Can Spicy Food Cause Acne?

To get straight to the point, spicy food can cause acne. However, it’s not the spicy food that causes the breakouts. Instead, the side effects felt from eating spicy food are the main things that can cause you to see extra pimples on your skin.

For instance, whenever you eat a hot pepper, you start to sweat. This sweat drips down your face and can cause your pores to start producing oil. This excessive production of oil will then clog up pores and cause acne to form. 

Furthermore, some spicy foods might have acidic lycopenes that can irritate your skin and throw off your body’s pH levels. This, in turn, can lead to breakouts across the face. 

How to Prevent a Breakout from Spicy Food

Luckily, preventing acne from spicy food is easy. In order to prevent a breakout from spicy food, make sure you wash your face after eating. This will help remove any excess oils that were produced.

We also recommend trying out a clay mask or keeping tissues on you. The faster you get that sweat off your face, the better. 

Another thing that you can do is build up your spice tolerance. By doing so, you’ll sweat less whenever you eat spicy foods. We recommend starting with mild chillies like a poblano and working your way up.

Five Foods That Can Also Cause Breakouts

Unfortunately, spicy food isn’t the only thing that can help trigger a skin breakout. There are plenty of other foods that can irritate skin or clog pores. As such, here are the top five foods that can also cause breakouts. 

1. Dairy

Whenever you consume foods that have dairy in them, your body will start to produce more insulin. Whenever your insulin spikes, this can cause skin inflammation which can then lead to more breakouts. 

2. Gluten

Foods that are high in gluten have been linked to more acne. Studies have shown that foods with high glycemic indexes can be troubling for the skin. To put this into perspective, a half-cup of rice is a 17 on the glycemic scale and anything over 20 is considered high.

Therefore, while gluten won’t immediately cause your skin to break out in pimples and zits, eating too many gluten-rich foods can aid the problem. 

3. Sugar

Sugar acts a lot like how dairy does. Whenever you eat sugar, your body’s insulin level spikes. This causes inflammation all across the skin and also increases the production of sebum in your body. This sebum can clog your pores, causing acne to form.

4. Oily Fast Food

It’s generally known that fast food isn’t good for you. It’s oily, contains artificial ingredients, and is typically deep fried in fatty oil. Your skin can become pretty sensitive to fast food since most of it contains high concentrations of saturated fats.

This can cause your body’s hormone levels to fluctuate. Like sugar and dairy, it can also spike insulin levels, causing a breakout. 

We understand that quitting unhealthy foods like hamburgers, ramen, and hot dogs can be tough. However, it’s important to take the first step. We recommend starting by taking soda out of your diet whenever you go out to eat. From here, slowly add new restrictions until you’re used to eating healthier foods, whether it be at home or at a restaurant. 

5. Chocolate

Raw chocolate, such as the cacao, has no links to causing acne. However, when you put in the processed sugar and dairy, your skin can start to experience the wrong effects. As such, it’s important to eat chocolate in moderation.