Ladies beware: Chocolates can give you pimples!

Chocolate may increase inflammation that aggravates acne, a new small-scale study has found. Researchers collected blood samples from participants before and after they ate 48 g of chocolate, each day for four days. The chocolate contained about 30 per cent cocoa. They then exposed the blood cells to bacteria called Propionibacterium acnes, which contribute to acne when they grow inside clogged pores and cause pores to become inflamed, and to Staphylococcus aureus -- another skin bacteria that can aggravates acne. After eating chocolate, the seven participants’ blood cells produced more interleukin-1b, a marker of immune system inflammation, when exposed to Propionibacterium acnes. This suggests chocolate consumption could increase the inflammation that contributes to acne, the researchers said. In addition, eating chocolate increased production of another immune system factor called interleukin 10 after exposure to Staphylococcus aureus, MyHealthNewsDaily reported. Interleukin 10 is thought to lower human bodies’ defences against microorganisms, and thus, higher levels of interleukin 10 could create conditions that allow bacteria to infect pimples, and worsen them, the researchers said. There is some evidence that so-called high glycemic foods, such as white bread, which release sugar very quickly into the bloodstream, may be linked to acne. While there may be a subset of people whose acne is influenced by diet, this is probably not true for everyone.