Sweating, Hyperhidrosis & Food: What's the Connection?

Are you wondering if there could be a connection between your sweating (more or less excessive) and your diet? If some foods make you sweat more than others, both immediately and in the long term after consumption?

Today, I’m addressing this topic of sweating and diet.

As I like to do regularly here, I start with the feedback from someone suffering from hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating). I know that things are often clearer when starting from there.

Based on their testimonial, I researched the subject to determine if their experience could be representative of what we can expect regarding the link between sweating and diet. I delved into scientific publications addressing this topic.

Happy reading! And a big thank you again to Maryse for sharing her experiences here for the second time 🙂.

💬 The comment section is there for you! Feel free to share your experiences, as they can be valuable to others.

♻️ Last update: 3 mars 2024. Disclaimer: no Affiliate Links. Written by Nelly Darbois, physical therapist and scientific writer (see here)

Summary

Testimonial from Maryse about her diet against sweating

Every Sunday, I send out a newsletter on hyperhidrosis in french. A few weeks ago, Maryse (whose full testimonial about her hyperhidrosis you can read here) shared her experience with the dietary changes she had implemented.

And the impact she perceived on her sweating.

Here is her testimony.

“I practice intermittent fasting and a low-carb diet, and for me, it works really well.

Cutting out sugar helps in my case, but when I fast, I feel colder, so I rarely sweat, especially when working, it’s very pleasant not to become all sweaty. It was my doctor who recommended these changes for my hypoglycemia and for the pains.

I’ve been doing this for 3 years now, and I’m doing very well. But I also discovered that by sweating a lot, we lose a lot of minerals and in my case, by cutting carbohydrates, I retain them less, so I add salt to my water, and if I had known that before, I would have had better years without fatigue and weakness symptoms, it makes a whole difference in my life. So that’s my experience.
Maryse

I then asked her for more information, to which she kindly agreed to respond.

Here are my questions and her answers.

What does your diet look like concretely?

My diet is somewhat like the ketogenic diet, except that I’m not strict to less than 20 grams of carbohydrate per day.

Note from Nelly: the ketogenic diet (also called ketogenic diet or keto diet) consists of eating very few carbohydrates. We compensate with more lipids. Initially, it is sometimes proposed in cases of epilepsy resistant to medication. In this article, I will focus on its potential interest in the case of hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating), I will not discuss its known effects and limitations in general.

What do you mean by “low” in carbohydrates? Do you count vegetables?

You can find on the Web “Low carb” which means low in carbohydrates, but I have to compensate by adding a lot of lipids (butter, olive oil, bacon fat, duck fat, and fatty meat) to fuel myself.

Yes, I count vegetables, and I hardly eat starchy foods anymore, if at all, for the past 3 years. Some vegetables have a lot more carbohydrates than others, such as carrots having much more compared to a green pepper.

How do you practice intermittent fasting precisely?

For intermittent fasting, I do 16/8 every day, which means I don’t eat for 16 hours, and during the remaining 8 hours, I only have 2 meals a day with no snacks, but I eat until I’m full. I don’t count calories because with all the fat I eat, it would be huge in calories lol. But I make sure not to have too many carbohydrates, but plenty of proteins.

So, I eat meat, a few vegetables or salad, and a lot of fats for my 2 meals. So I stop eating around 7 p.m. in the evening, and I go until dinner, and sometimes until supper without feeling hungry.

But I also do longer fasts like 24-36 hours, and my longest has been 72 hours only with water and coffee.

Note from Nelly: Personally, I also eat this way most of the time: no food intake between 8 p.m. and 12 p.m., or even between 8 p.m. and 4 p.m. (but I don’t limit my carbohydrate consumption). But I have never noticed any impact on my sweating! (Alas!)

Have you noticed a distinct effect from diet/fasting?

What I’ve noticed, especially after cutting out sugar, especially big sweet desserts, is that I don’t experience blood sugar spikes that used to make me super tired, and I don’t have big hot flashes that made me lose control over my sweating.

And as I mentioned, most people feel colder while fasting, and that’s the case for me too, so as long as I don’t eat, I stay dry and without taking Ditropan (oxybutynin). So since we can vary the hours of our intermittent fasting as we want, I try to fast when I’m going to work or when I have an outing, and when I exercise while fasting, I sweat almost not at all and have more energy.

What specific effects do you feel it has on you, since you still have to take Ditropan?

As I mentioned earlier, fewer carbohydrates for me are beneficial against sweating, but not miraculous; I still have to continue taking my Ditropan, especially with the warmer weather starting.

Whether it’s diet or fasting, my hyperhidrosis is still there, but I’m able to control it better.

In theory, can we imagine a link between sweating and diet?

In theory, it’s not far-fetched to imagine that diet could impact our sweating. It could increase or decrease it.

Why? Because of at least these mechanisms present in all human beings:

Body temperature:

Digestion and absorption of food can increase heat production in the body, which can lead to an elevation in body temperature and, consequently, an increase in sweating to help regulate temperature. Especially if these foods are heavy to digest!

Stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system:

Some foods and beverages can stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, which is involved in regulating sweating. This can lead to an increase in sweat production. Conversely, dietary restriction (especially fasting) could theoretically decrease or slow down sweat production.

Food composition:

Some nutrients can directly affect sweat production. Hormones: Diet (type and timing) can affect the production of hormones such as insulin, leptin, and adrenaline, which are involved in regulating sweating.

Circadian rhythm:

The time at which we eat can affect our internal biological clock, which is involved in regulating many physiological processes, including sweating.

It is plausible that diet impacts sweating, through various mechanisms.

Sweat-inducing foods: What foods make you sweat and why?

Various foods and beverages can also trigger our natural sweating process. These include:

Spicy foods, such as chili peppers;

Foods and drinks containing acetic acid:

Vinegar, Wine, Beer, Cider, as well as many other foods, as acetic acid is used as a preservative (E260). It can be found, for example, in canned vegetables and fruits, industrial mozzarella, baby food, fermented products, and cereal-based preparations (non-exhaustive list).

Alcohol consumption also increases sweat secretion within 10 minutes after consumption.

Many people with hyperhidrosis describe sweating a lot at night and the day after a heavy drinking session.

Caffeine consumption also increases sweat production.

However, in studies showing a link between caffeine and sweating, people consumed 3 mg/kg. That’s 240 mg of caffeine for an 80 kg person, or 6 espressos. Caffeine is also found in tea, soft drinks, chocolate, some nuts, and certain medications.

The foods that make you sweat are mainly spicy foods, foods containing acetic acid (canned fruits and vegetables, industrial mozzarella, etc.), or caffeine (chocolate, nuts).

Is there food that reduce excessive sweating?

I had a hard time finding reliable information on this topic.

Sometimes, it is mentioned that zinc or magnesium may limit the amount of secreted sweat. The same goes for foods containing these minerals.

However, when I try to trace back to the source of this information, I find conflicting information. English articles mentioning this do not cite their sources.

Furthermore, zinc and magnesium are dietary supplements often tested for different conditions. I think that if they had a significant anti-sweating effect, we would have more factual information available.

Feel free to let me know in the comments if you have a quality source on this subject!

Does a particular diet make you sweat less?

There is no scientific publication specifically addressing the impact of diets on hyperhidrosis.

Ketogenic diet and sweating

However, there are testimonials and public articles on the ketogenic diet (and occasionally other diets) for hyperhidrosis. The diet mentioned by Maryse in her testimonial.

Many testimonials suggest that at the beginning of a ketogenic diet, one sweats more than usual! Both during the day and at night. Then, once the body gets used to it, sweating returns to normal.

In theory, there could be mechanisms by which such a diet could make you sweat less:

–Reducing carbohydrate consumption can lead to a decrease in insulin production, which plays a role in regulating sweating.

–The ketogenic diet is designed to induce a state of ketosis in the body, in which the liver produces ketones from consumed fats, which the body uses as an energy source. Ketosis can affect the regulation of body temperature, which can influence sweating.

–This diet can lead to weight loss due to calorie restriction and changes in consumed macronutrients. Weight loss can affect sweating, as a reduction in body mass can decrease the need to produce sweat to regulate body temperature.

There are testimonials from people who describe sweating (a bit) less since they consume according to this ketogenic diet. Others say it does nothing for their sweating. And others say it worsens it! (Source: reddit, see end of article)

Gluten-free diet and sweating

There is almost no information and testimonials about the gluten-free diet and sweating.

It is also more difficult to imagine by what specific mechanisms the gluten-free diet could influence sweating.

Mediterranean diet and sweating

The Mediterranean diet is one of the most studied dietary regimens. It is also suspected to have a positive impact on health in general compared to other diets.

It is difficult to imagine an explanatory mechanism of the direct impact of the Mediterranean diet on sweating.

Can fasting make you sweat less?

There is no scientific publication investigating the link between fasting (intermittent or not) and hyperhidrosis.

Fasting, whether intermittent or not, can theoretically have an impact on sweating due to its effects on the body’s physiology. Here are some possible (theoretical!) mechanisms.

Dehydration.

During fasting, it is possible that we do not drink as much water as usual, which can lead to dehydration.

Dehydration can lead to a decrease in sweat production as the body tries to conserve water. Caloric restriction. We limit the number of calories consumed. This caloric restriction can reduce sweat production as the body tries to conserve energy. If caloric restriction is prolonged, it can reduce the body’s ability to regulate body temperature, which can also influence sweating.

Increased fat oxidation.

During fasting, the body enters a state of ketosis, where it burns fats for energy. This increase in fat oxidation can release toxins stored in fats, which can influence our thermoregulation and therefore our sweating.

This remains very theoretical! Empirically, we really have no information on the impact of fasting. And especially, how it should be precisely practiced to hope for a significant impact on hyperhidrosis.

And gustatory hyperhidrosis?

Gustatory hyperhidrosis is a particular form of hyperhidrosis: “crises” of excessive sweating occur only during (or just after) a meal. Lasting for a few minutes or tens of minutes.

Most often, it happens only when certain foods are consumed, such as spicy foods or those containing vinegar. But sometimes, it can happen regardless of the food consumed.

In cases of gustatory hyperhidrosis, sweating is localized only in the head area: face, scalp, neck.

If only certain foods trigger episodes of gustatory hyperhidrosis, avoiding them in the diet may prevent excessive sweating. Otherwise, the same treatments are proposed as in the case of primary hyperhidrosis.

Conclusion: Sweating & Diet

I’ve tried to thoroughly investigate all possible avenues regarding the potential impact of diet on sweating.

It is likely that modifying one’s diet in a certain way may help limit hyperhidrosis to some extent.

However, I see several problems with this:

We don’t know exactly what is more likely to work;
Removing all products containing acetic acid or drastically restricting carbohydrate intake requires a lot of effort and change, for uncertain results;
It needs to be tested over a sufficiently long period to hope for effectiveness (I would say at least a few weeks, or even months);
A diet can lead to negative side effects: dehydration, malnutrition, unwanted weight loss, weight loss followed by a rebound effect (regaining lost weight plus extra pounds), etc.

Personally, I’ve never wanted to change my diet to see the effect on sweating.

My way of eating has also changed over time for various reasons: current diet without meat or fish at home, gluten-free diet for several months ten years ago, intermittent fasting practice for several years, cessation of coffee consumption for several months… And yet, I have never noticed any impact on my hyperhidrosis.

Of course, I’m not trying to generalize my case to everyone.

I completely understand that some people may want to test the impact of a dietary change.

If you do this, I encourage you to try one thing at a time (for example, removing one food, or fasting, etc.). Because if you change several things at once in your habits, it will be harder to say which one is most likely to be responsible for the improvement in your hyperhidrosis.

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Do you have any comments or questions? Your comments are welcome 🙂 !

Sweating, Hyperhidrosis & Food: What’s the Connection?