Final Up to date on April 27, 2026 by Giorgia Guazzarotti
Does cashew trigger zits? I noticed this query in a Fb group final week and actually, it stopped me mid-scroll. As a result of my first thought was, “wait, cashews? Actually? We’re including cashews to the listing of issues which can be apparently destroying our pores and skin now?” As a result of right here’s the factor. Cashews have at all times been a type of meals that will get a corridor move. Zinc, magnesium, wholesome fat, vitamin E – they’re actually in each “eat this for glowing pores and skin” article ever written. They’re the flowery nut.
The one you select of the blended bag first. So the concept they is likely to be inflicting zits breakouts feels a bit backwards, like being instructed your multivitamin is the issue. However lots of people with acne-prone pores and skin swear there’s a connection. And I get it. When your pores and skin is doing one thing you hate, you need solutions. So let’s really get into it, as a result of the reality is extra fascinating than a easy sure or no, and by the tip of this you’ll know precisely the place cashews sit in the entire diet-and-acne dialog.
What Causes Zits?
Earlier than we put cashews on trial, it helps to grasp what zits really is, as a result of many of the food regimen recommendation floating round on-line skips this half completely and simply tells you to chop issues out with out explaining why. Zits occurs when your hair follicles get blocked. Your sebaceous glands (mainly your pores and skin’s built-in oil glands) produce sebum, which is simply your pores and skin’s pure oil. Nothing improper with that, your pores and skin wants it. The issue begins when sebum mixes with lifeless pores and skin cells, will get caught inside a follicle, and creates the proper heat little atmosphere for dangerous micro organism to go completely feral in there. That micro organism is named Cutibacterium acnes, and when your immune system clocks what’s taking place, it sends within the irritation troops. Therefore the purple, offended spot in your chin the day earlier than one thing essential.
Now the rationale food regimen issues is that sebum manufacturing isn’t random. It’s pushed largely by your hormone ranges – particularly androgens, that are the hormones that inform your oil glands to supply extra. And sure meals mess with these hormones in methods which can be really fairly nicely documented at this level. The 2 greatest culprits the analysis retains coming again to? Dairy merchandise and excessive glycaemic meals.
Cow’s milk (together with skimmed milk, which by some means manages to be worse than full fats in some research) incorporates hormones that set off one thing known as IGF-1, which stands for insulin-like progress issue. IGF-1 mainly tells your sebaceous glands to enter overdrive. Excessive glycaemic meals (like white bread, white rice, fruit juice, sweet bars, something with excessive sugar content material) trigger a fast blood sugar spike, which shoots your insulin ranges up, which additionally raises IGF-1. Similar vacation spot, totally different route. This is the reason somebody who drinks lots of cow’s milk or lives on quick meals and white rice may discover their pores and skin getting considerably worse, and why switching to one thing like almond milk or complete grains and candy potatoes can typically make a real distinction. Preserve that in thoughts as we speak about cashews.
Associated: How To Deal with Grownup Zits
Is There A Connection Between Cashew And Zits?
Right here’s the trustworthy reply: there are zero scientific trials particularly cashew nuts and zits. None. So anybody who tells you with whole certainty that cashews trigger zits is making it up somewhat bit, and so is anybody who says they’re fully within the clear. What we will do (and what makes extra sense anyway) is have a look at what’s really inside a cashew and see how that strains up with what we all know in regards to the causes of zits.
Excellent news first. Cashews have a extremely low glycaemic index, someplace round 22 to 25. That’s low. Meaning consuming them doesn’t trigger the blood sugar spike that sends your insulin ranges by way of the roof and kicks off that complete hormonal chain response. So the principle dietary pathway to zits? Cashews aren’t utilizing it. They’re additionally a strong supply of zinc, which is genuinely helpful for acne-prone pores and skin (zinc helps regulate oil manufacturing, has anti-inflammatory properties, and helps the pores and skin’s means to heal). There’s precise analysis linking low zinc ranges to extra extreme zits. Cashews additionally comprise vitamin E, selenium, magnesium – all issues that help wholesome pores and skin somewhat than work towards it. Up to now, so good. However right here’s the place it will get a bit extra difficult.
Do The Omega-6 In Cashews Trigger Zits?
Cashews comprise omega-6 fatty acids. And there’s a rising physique of analysis suggesting that the stability between omega-6 and omega-3 in your food regimen performs a major function in zits. An enormous research revealed within the British Journal of Dermatology in 2025 (and this one used genetic knowledge from almost half 1,000,000 individuals, so it’s not a small pattern) discovered {that a} larger ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 was related to a meaningfully elevated danger of zits, whereas larger omega-3 ranges had been protecting.
Now, cashews aren’t the worst omega-6 offender by a protracted stretch. Vegetable oils, fried quick meals, protein bars, most processed snacks – these are much more vital sources. However cashews do have extra omega-6 than omega-3, and in case your general food regimen is already skewed closely in that path – which most individuals’s diets are, as a result of fashionable consuming has gone fully off stability on this – then including lots of cashews on prime of the whole lot else might theoretically push issues within the improper path. Just a bit. The difficulty is the entire image, not the cashews particularly.
And actually, in case you’re snacking on cashews which can be coated in salt, roasted in vegetable oil, or (God forbid!) coated in sugar or chocolate, you’re including variables that don’t have anything to do with the cashew itself. Plain, dry-roasted cashews in smart parts are a totally totally different factor to the salted, oily, caramelised sort you get at Christmas.
Do Nuts Trigger Zits?
Folks throw nuts into one class and that’s probably not truthful as a result of they’re fairly totally different from one another:
- Peanuts (which aren’t even really nuts, they’re legumes, however no matter) comprise compounds that may behave like androgens within the physique, which is a extra direct zits connection.
- Brazil nuts are extraordinarily excessive in selenium, which is nice in small quantities however lots of people eat too many pondering extra is best and it’s not.
- Walnuts are genuinely excessive in omega-3 and have strong anti-inflammatory properties, so that they’re most likely essentially the most skin-friendly choice in case you’re actively coping with zits flare-ups.
Cashews sit comfortably in the midst of all this. Not your best option in case you’re actually attempting to optimise the whole lot, but in addition nowhere close to the extent of, say, a whey protein shake or a glass of cow’s milk with regards to triggering zits.
The Backside Line
Cashews aren’t inflicting your zits. In case your pores and skin is breaking out and also you’ve been consuming cashews, the cashews are nearly actually not the principle occasion. Have a look at the remainder of your food regimen first – are you consuming lots of dairy merchandise, excessive sugar meals, quick meals, white bread, consuming fruit juice or alcoholic drinks commonly? These are the issues the analysis really factors to. That mentioned, in case you’ve genuinely eradicated the whole lot else and you continue to suspect cashews are a private set off (which is feasible, as a result of pores and skin is annoyingly particular person), then reduce them out for six weeks and see what occurs. Reintroduce them slowly. Preserve notes. That’s the one method to know for certain. However please don’t quit your cashews primarily based on a vibe. They’re one of many higher snacks on the market in your pores and skin, and the science, akin to it’s, principally backs that up.
