Does Pizza Cause Acne?

School is just around the corner and this has been a popular question in my office this week. My mother always said it did, but does eating pizza really cause acne?

Yes, it does.

Eating simple carbohydrates such as white bread, bagels, and pizza can worsen acne. Simple carbohydrates are high-glycemic foods — they cause spikes in your blood sugar because the food is quickly digested then dumped into your blood stream. The resulting high blood sugar causes hormonal changes and inflammation that then triggers acne.

To tame your acne this school-year, change to a low-glycemic diet. Eat complex carbohydrates that are digested slowly avoiding sugar spikes and hormone changes. Here are three tips for an acne-busting diet:

• Cut out high-glycemic foods such as blended coffee drinks, soft drinks, energy drinks, pasta, pastries, baguettes, watermelon, mangoes and potatoes.
• Choose high fiber veggies such as asparagus, artichokes, bell peppers, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, leafy greens, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and legumes such as black beans, chick peas, pinto beans, lentils and soy beans.  Eat low-glycemic fruits such as apples, berries, grapefruit, pears, plums and oranges.
• Avoid processed flours. Instead eat 100% whole grains such as oats, barley, brown rice, millet, quinoa, wild rice, whole wheat pasta and bulgur.