Headaches & Acne With Chocolate

Although you may only think of chocolate in the context of candy, the cocoa bean product is known to contain at least 300 chemicals. The chemicals in chocolate can affect the brain, make you feel more alert, raise blood pressure and make you feel more energetic or relaxed. Most chocoholics feel good after eating chocolate, but some people feel it triggers migraines, and others think their acne outbreaks are related to eating chocolate.

Migraine Headaches and Food

There is a definite relationship between migraine headaches, what you eat and when you eat. Some foods trigger headaches, although not all people respond to the same foods in the same way. Skipping meals or eating too little protein and fiber can cause blood sugar swings that trigger headaches, and becoming dehydrated is another potential trigger. Caffeine and phenylethylamine, both found in chocolate, may cause migraines in some people who are sensitive to those chemicals.

Chocolate and Migraines

Some research on chocolate does not support the connection between chocolate and migraines or tension headaches. A study in the December 1997 issue of "Cephalgia” reported that when women with headaches ate chocolate after a period of abstaining from that food, chocolate did not cause any more headaches than the placebo used for comparison. The women normally suffered from migraine, tension and combined tension-migraine headaches, and some of them had previously identified chocolate as a trigger for their headaches.

Sinus Headaches and Chocolate

Sinus headaches occur when the membranes of the hollow air spaces inside the front of the head become swollen or blocked with mucus. If you have headaches and other symptoms of allergies such as itching, sneezing or a runny nose, there may be a connection between your headaches and a substance to which you are allergic. Milk chocolate, as the name implies, contains milk. If you are allergic to milk, it is possible milk chocolate may trigger a headache, even if you can eat other types of chocolate.

Chocolate and Acne

According to dermatologist Cynthia Bailey, chocolate in and of itself does not cause acne, but the trans fats and sugar in chocolate bars have been implicated in acne outbreaks. Research reported in the March 2010 “Skin Therapy Letter” noted that cow’s milk increased the frequency and severity of acne outbreaks, but that connections to other foods were inconclusive. A study in the July 2010 “Journal of the American College of Dermatology” confirmed the association between cow’s milk, high-sugar diets and acne but did not include chocolate as a cause of acne.

Keeping a Food Diary

If you feel there is a connection between your headaches or acne and what you eat, you might try keeping a food diary to see how you react to certain foods. A food diary can be as simple as a notebook in which you jot down exactly what you eat at meals and as snacks. In addition, you make a note of any symptoms that occurred each day. After a period of tracking, you may be able to link certain foods with symptoms such as headaches or acne outbreaks.