The Atlantic

Pizza Doesn't Give You Acne—But What About Sugar?

While fad diets won’t help with your pimples, cutting back on sweets might.
Source: Andreas Stamm / Getty

Among the die-hard skin-care fans on reddit.com’s community SkincareAddiction, there’s a prevailing belief that committing to a dairy-free diet will majorly affect the prevalence of acne. Take the user andbutter, who writes that “giving up dairy was the best thing I’ve done for my skin.” Or the user umidkmybffjill, who claims, “I cut out dairy and switched to almond milk (not soy because I read it can negatively affect skin as well) about 3 years ago and my skin is better than ever!”

Dairy-free is far from the only diet prescribed as a cure-all for problematic skin. An that ridding their diet of sugar helps keep acne and oily skin at bay. Conversely, are convinced that a low-fat diet rich in unrefined carbohydrates such as potatoes almost entirely eliminates acne. A found that 46 of the study’s 49 dermatologic patients believed that diet affects acne, with greasy foods as the No. 1 suspected culprit.

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