Have a flare-up or inflammation on your skin? It could be due to these foods

We all experience skin flare-ups every now and then, but sometimes it seems to happen out of the blue. Most of us know that medication and skincare products can cause skin inflammation, but do you know that your diet may play a part too?
There are certain foods that can trigger inflammatory response from your immune system leading to redness, swelling and a slight raise in blood pressure.
Find out what these foods are so that you can better pinpoint the reason for your flare-up and at the same time, take note of what you should eat in moderation.
The heat from spicy food may cause some people to flare up more often especially if their skin is already prone to inflammation.
After eating spicy food, it can cause your body temperature to increase and produce sweat, triggering oils to be released in the skin. Bacteria and dirt can then get trapped by those oils and cause your skin to be flamed.
Certain vegetable oils like soy, sunflower and corn contain omega-6 fatty acids. While omega-6 fatty acids can help stimulate skin and hair growth and maintain bone health, too much can cause your metabolism rate to spiral out of control, hence increasing the risk of inflammation.
Try swapping your vegetable oil for other oils like olive and canola, which have both omega 3 and 6 to help balance things out.
Besides containing plenty of sodium, fatty processed meat like frozen hot dogs, bacon and burger patties also have a lot of saturated animal fats that, when not eaten in moderation, can cause inflammation.
No matter the type (sucrose, fructose or even just plain sugar), too much can lead to inflammation. Highly processed sugars may trigger cytokines, which send signals to cells in your body to activate inflammation.
These high-glycemic index (GI) foods tend to increase blood sugar levels quickly, causing inflammation to occur.
The high amount of sodium in processed cheese can cause water retention, resulting in bloating.
For some people, gluten can cause inflammation and trigger allergic reactions.
Know that red flush you get when drinking beer? Yep, that's inflammation occurring right there.
Despite what they say, most store-bought yoghurts tend to be packed with sugar and preservatives to keep it fresh, and this tends to send your body's blood sugar level into hyperdrive.
MSG can be addictive, so make sure you're seasoning your food with fresh herbs and other ingredients to balance out the sodium intake.
Normally found in sugar-free foods, aspartame is in artificial sweetener. Should you be allergic to aspartame, your body will react adversely and sometimes inflammation will occur.
This article was first published in CLEO Singapore.