Does chocolate contain yeast?

The short answer is yes.  It doesn’t necessarily have a lot of yeast in it, depending on how it is processes.  It may or may not be enough to be a problem for you.

Also, most chocolate has a lot of sugar in it, which is also bad if you are on a yeast-free and “don’t feed the yeast” diet.

Other ingredients added to some chocolate bars may include additional yeast.

The main culprit is maltose and other similar ingredients. Maltose is a fermented product, usually made from barley. Fermentation in this case involves yeast.

“Surely” you may be thinking to yourself, “chocolate doesn’t have yeast in it!”  Here’s why chocolate has at least some yeast in it.

Here is a list of external links about the yeast allergy and related subjects.

Talking about a bread allergy is not really accurate. Bread is made of a variety of ingredients. If you are "allergic to bread" then you are surely allergic to other foods made up of some of the same ingredients.

Also, consider that bread is made of flour (ignoring the type of flour for now) and realize that by grinding the grain into tiny particles, the food oxidizes, making it rather toxic to your body.

Yeast allergy suffers are forever on the watch for yeast-containing foods to avoid. Many wonder if vinegar is a problem if they are on a yeast-free diet.

There are many types of vinegar. They all have one thing in common: they involve fermentation with yeast. This is bad news if you have a yeast allergy. This is not the whole story on vinegar and yeast so keep reading.

Yeast allergy diet vs. yeast infection diet - are they the same?

Someone asked me this question recently. This is a good question. There are many thousand types of yeast in the world. Only a few affect human health.

Also, a yeast allergy is very different from a yeast infection.

Here is the full question, followed by my answer:

Following a restrictive diet is no fun, especially when faced with the necessary but depressing lists of things you can not eat.

If you are following a yeast-free diet, this article provides a list of foods you can eat.

It is by no means complete, and quite honestly never will be. There are an endless number of prepared foods. This varies country by country and region by region.

I've not been feeling too great lately. Usually, I can trace it back to one of my allergies.

Could it be gluten or wheat? I doubt it because I'm pretty sure I've not been exposed to any gluten-containing foods. I'd have to say, my gluten exposure risk has been pretty low lately. I've kept well away from wheat.

Sake, also known as nihonshu, can best be compared to beer. It is a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice.

If you think you may be allergic to sake, there are two likely possibilities. You may have a rice allergy. Or, you may have a yeast allergy.

If you have a rice allergy, you are likely to notice similar symptoms when you eat cooked or steamed rice, or when eating rice noodles.

Natacha asks:

Hi Doug,

For the last year I have been going back and forwards to my doctors regarding symptoms of constant sneezing, weight loss, no appetite and generally feeling down.

I was tested on two on occasions for celiac, an allergy to wheat which my nan also suffers from. The results both came back negative.

I have since realized I sneeze immediately after drinking beer which can go on for hours and causes me to feel as if I haven't slept in days, even though I get more than 6-7 hours. I then picked up that I was always sneezing after I drank beer and wine, when I drunk it. It was then I was told by a member of my family that it could possibly be the yeast and that is how I came across Yeast Allergy on the site, the problem is the allergy to yeast has bought up a link to again lactose intolerance, which I have explained I was tested for and nothing was found.

My point is I know there something is wrong and I was the one who requested a second test from my doctor as when I looked up lactose intolerance on the internet, most of the symptoms were just like the one's I have now.

I was also tested for iron and folic which were both negative.

I am at my wits end as it is ruining my life. It may sound extreme but at 23 years old I shouldn't be living like this.

I would be so appreciated for any advice that you can give me as I know there is something not right and am sick of being told to just cut out wheat and yeast but if nothing is found in 2 tests that have been for the same reason, then can I be blamed for fighting?

Any advice will be highly appreciated. Many Thanks. Natasha