Is There a Link Between Food and Boils?
Health ConditionsSkin Conditions

Boils and What You Eat: Is There a Connection?

Boils and What You Eat: Is There a Connection?
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Updated on July 31, 2025
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If you've ever had a boil, then you know just how unpleasant these pus-filled bumps can be. Once they develop, they often become larger and more painful over time and are equally unpleasant when they rupture and drain pus. No research has confirmed that you can treat boils with food choices — you’ll need antibiotics for that.

However, the foods you eat may play an indirect role in boil development and prevention, although not enough research has studied any direct action, according to Mary Opfer, RD, CDN, a dietitian and nutritionist in Westchester County, New York. “Although dietary modifications have not been well-researched for the prevention and treatment of boils, it has been found that decreasing refined sugar consumption and avoiding allergenic foods may be worthwhile," Opfer suggests.

The Link Between Food, Boils, Infection, and Diabetes

Boils are usually the result of bacterial infections, most commonly Staphylococcus aureus (staph). However, you might acquire staph infection in several different ways.

For example, diabetes may increase your risk of developing a staph infection and boils. "People with diabetes are more prone to boils and other skin infections, particularly if they are not successfully controlling their blood sugar," says Nadia M. Khan, MD, a doctor of internal medicine at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Illinois.

Up to 8 in 10 people with diabetes will develop a diabetes-linked skin problem in their lifetime, and staph is the most common cause of these.

Part of managing blood sugar in people with diabetes involves making careful food choices.

 This might involve implementing an eating plan that helps you avoid blood sugar spikes by choosing healthy, slow-releasing carbs, fiber-rich foods, and healthy fats. These include:

  • Vegetables
  • Fruits
  • Nuts
  • Whole grains
  • Legumes, including peas and beans
  • Low-fat dairy
  • Fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, like mackerel, salmon, tuna, or sardines
However, diabetes food management isn’t about picking a single food or meal. Instead, you can work with your diabetes care team to develop an overall approach to meal planning, food choices, and portion control that reduces extreme blood glucose spikes over time.

 This might involve:
  • Paying closer attention to food labels to work out the carbs, dietary fiber, serving size, added sugar, and protein serving, fat, sodium, and percentage of the daily value of the nutrients you need

  • Choosing foods that deliver few carbs or whole foods with carbs that also offer great nutritional value, and limiting refined, highly processed foods with added sugar, like sodas or candy

  • Counting carbs using a food tracker to monitor your intake

  • Meal planning to make creating nutritious meals less stressful

Food also plays a direct role in weight management. In turn, weight management can help to improve blood glucose control and reduce the need for drugs that lower glucose, according to American Diabetes Association treatment guidelines.

Alongside food choices, medications and therapies that support blood glucose control appear to reduce the risk of diabetes-linked infections by enhancing the functioning of your immune system.

 Speak to a doctor about your best options for glucose control.

Boils, Diet, and Hidradenitis Suppurativa

Boils can also be an issue for people with hidradenitis suppurativa, a chronic inflammatory skin condition. If you have this condition, you can develop bumps and boils around your hair follicles and sweat glands due to clogging that results from the abnormal overgrowth of skin cells.

Eating a healthy, balanced diet can support weight management, which might help limit the friction that worsens hidradenitis suppurativa. Weight loss may also reduce some hormonal activity related to the condition, meaning that food choice may be an essential step in preventing boils for those with hidradenitis suppurativa.

Research has also identified specific foods that may trigger boils related to hidradenitis suppurativa, including dairy products such as milk and cheese. Eating these foods can increase insulin levels. This, in turn, may mean that you produce too many hormones known as androgens, which can contribute to outbreaks of boils and other hidradenitis suppurativa skin lesions.

Another potentially risky ingredient to avoid if you have hidradenitis suppurativa is brewer's yeast, which food producers commonly use in pizza dough, bread, cakes, and other baked goods. Avoiding these foods can support healing for skin lesions. Limiting foods with added sugars may help reduce insulin levels, potentially easing symptoms of the condition.

Treatments that can help manage the condition include using topical cleansers, applying warm compresses or ice packs to the affected area, taking anti-inflammatory medications, wearing loose-fitting clothing to minimize rubbing, and maintaining a healthy weight to reduce friction in areas prone to lumps from the condition.

Boils and Food Allergies

Food allergies may trigger skin issues that increase the risk of boils in some people.

Staph may be more likely to cause boils in people with eczema than those without.

 Conditions like eczema weaken the skin barrier, meaning that staph can enter and cause boils more easily than in those with fully intact skin barriers.

An allergy to a specific food can be a trigger for eczema in some people.

 Food is a more common eczema trigger in young children, for example, as a reaction to eggs or cow’s milk.

If you’re aware of your child’s food-based eczema triggers, avoiding them may help reduce the risk of secondary infections, such as staph, and the resulting symptoms, including boils. Eczema triggers, including certain foods, can lead to increased itchiness and scratching, which can result in cracks and sores that increase the risk of infection.

Other signs of a food allergy reaction on the skin can last for minutes or hours and might include:

  • Hives
  • Swollen eyelids or lips
  • Lumps in the top layer of the skin, possibly surrounded by a red ring
  • Itchy or burning sensations

Consult a doctor about long-term allergy desensitization and eczema management if you have concerns about developing boils in relation to food allergies.

The Takeaway

  • Food doesn’t have a direct relationship with boils, but food choices may interact with several chronic conditions that are linked to the development of boils.
  • Managing blood glucose can help reduce the risk of boils if you have diabetes, and food choices play a crucial role in your glucose management approach, alongside medications.
  • People with hidradenitis suppurativa may benefit from weight management to reduce friction in skin folds and from avoiding certain trigger foods to promote healing and reduce flares.
  • Some food allergens may trigger eczema flares in children. Eczema may weaken the skin barrier and increase the risk of staph infections, which can subsequently lead to boils.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Mayo Clinic Staff. Boils and Carbuncles. Mayo Clinic. September 18, 2021.
  2. Zhou K et al. Diabetes Mellitus and Infection. Endotext. June 30, 2024.
  3. Food and Blood Glucose. American Diabetes Association.
  4. Mayo Clinic Staff. Diabetes Diet: Create Your Healthy-Eating Plan. Mayo Clinic. June 11, 2024.
  5. How to Eat Healthy. American Diabetes Association.
  6. Reading Food Labels. American Diabetes Association.
  7. Understanding Carbs. American Diabetes Association.
  8. American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee. 8. Obesity and Weight Management for the Prevention and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes: Standards of Care in Diabetes–2024. Diabetes Care. January 2024.
  9. Hidradenitis Suppurativa. Cleveland Clinic. December 20, 2022.
  10. Hidradenitis Suppurativa and Diet: What's Recommended? Mayo Clinic. July 10, 2024.
  11. Hidradenitis Suppurativa. Cleveland Clinic. December 20, 2022.
  12. Overview: Boils and Carbuncles. InformedHealth.org. November 22, 2022.
  13. Skin Infections and Eczema. National Eczema Society.
  14. Eczema. American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology. June 28, 2023.
  15. Mayo Clinic Staff. Atopic Dermatitis (Eczema). Mayo Clinic. May 15, 2024.
  16. Allergy and Eczema. National Eczema Society.
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Natalia Johnsen, MD

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Member of American College of Lifestyle Medicine

Natalia Johnsen, MD, practices internal medicine and lifestyle medicine. She works as an internist for the Vancouver Clinic in Vancouver, Washington.

Johnsen trained and worked as ob-gyn in Russia before coming to the United States in 2000. Subsequently, she interned in internal medicine at the University of Nevada and completed her residency at a Stanford-affiliated program in Santa Clara, California. After that she worked as a general internist for two years before to switching to full-time hospital work.

Johnsen has always been fascinated by the effects that lifestyle can have on physical and mental health, and she fell in love with the concept of lifestyle medicine as a specialty after seeing patients struggle with issues that could have been prevented had they known more about a healthy lifestyle. To make an impact on her patients through lifestyle interventions, she launched her own lifestyle medicine clinic, Vivalso Health and Longevity.

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