Final Up to date on April 27, 2026 by Giorgia Guazzarotti
Does cashew trigger pimples? I noticed this query in a Fb group final week and truthfully, 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 might 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 perhaps inflicting pimples breakouts feels a bit backwards, like being informed 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 attention-grabbing 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 Pimples?
Earlier than we put cashews on trial, it helps to know what pimples really is, as a result of many of the eating regimen recommendation floating round on-line skips this half fully and simply tells you to chop issues out with out explaining why. Pimples 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 surroundings for dangerous micro organism to go completely feral in there. That micro organism is known as Cutibacterium acnes, and when your immune system clocks what’s taking place, it sends within the irritation troops. Therefore the pink, indignant spot in your chin the day earlier than one thing essential.
Now the explanation eating 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 might be really fairly properly documented at this level. The 2 largest culprits the analysis retains coming again to? Dairy merchandise and excessive glycaemic meals.
Cow’s milk (together with skimmed milk, which someway manages to be worse than full fats in some research) comprises 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 quite a lot 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 generally make a real distinction. Hold that in thoughts as we discuss cashews.
Associated: How To Deal with Grownup Pimples
Is There A Connection Between Cashew And Pimples?
Right here’s the trustworthy reply: there are zero scientific trials particularly taking a look at cashew nuts and pimples. None. So anybody who tells you with complete certainty that cashews trigger pimples is making it up just a little bit, and so is anybody who says they’re utterly 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 traces up with what we all know in regards to the causes of pimples.
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 means of the roof and kicks off that complete hormonal chain response. So the principle dietary pathway to pimples? Cashews aren’t utilizing it. They’re additionally a stable 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 potential to heal). There’s precise analysis linking low zinc ranges to extra extreme pimples. Cashews additionally include vitamin E, selenium, magnesium – all issues that help wholesome pores and skin slightly than work in opposition to it. To date, so good. However right here’s the place it will get a bit extra sophisticated.
Do The Omega-6 In Cashews Trigger Pimples?
Cashews include omega-6 fatty acids. And there’s a rising physique of analysis suggesting that the steadiness between omega-6 and omega-3 in your eating regimen performs a major function in pimples. A giant research printed within the British Journal of Dermatology in 2025 (and this one used genetic information from almost half one million individuals, so it’s not a small pattern) discovered {that a} increased ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 was related to a meaningfully elevated threat of pimples, whereas increased omega-3 ranges have been protecting.
Now, cashews aren’t the worst omega-6 offender by an extended stretch. Vegetable oils, fried quick meals, protein bars, most processed snacks – these are way more important sources. However cashews do have extra omega-6 than omega-3, and in case your general eating regimen is already skewed closely in that route – which most individuals’s diets are, as a result of trendy consuming has gone utterly off steadiness on this – then including quite a lot of cashews on prime of every thing else might theoretically push issues within the improper route. Just a bit. The difficulty is the entire image, not the cashews particularly.
And truthfully, should you’re snacking on cashews which might 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 wise parts are a totally totally different factor to the salted, oily, caramelised form you get at Christmas.
Do Nuts Trigger Pimples?
Folks throw nuts into one class and that’s not likely 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) include compounds that may behave like androgens within the physique, which is a extra direct pimples 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 stable anti-inflammatory properties, in order that they’re most likely essentially the most skin-friendly choice should you’re actively coping with pimples flare-ups.
Cashews sit comfortably in the midst of all this. Not your best option should you’re actually attempting to optimise every thing, but additionally nowhere close to the extent of, say, a whey protein shake or a glass of cow’s milk in the case of triggering pimples.
The Backside Line
Cashews usually are not inflicting your pimples. In case your pores and skin is breaking out and also you’ve been consuming cashews, the cashews are virtually definitely not the principle occasion. Have a look at the remainder of your eating regimen first – are you consuming quite a lot of dairy merchandise, excessive sugar meals, quick meals, white bread, ingesting fruit juice or alcoholic drinks recurrently? These are the issues the analysis really factors to. That mentioned, should you’ve genuinely eradicated every thing 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. Hold notes. That’s the one solution to know for positive. However please don’t quit your cashews based mostly on a vibe. They’re one of many higher snacks on the market in your pores and skin, and the science, similar to it’s, largely backs that up.
