Do Protein Shakes Cause Acne?
Joe Fazer describes himself as ‘pretty typical gym lad’, who enjoys the training, chicken & rice and obviously daily protein shakes.
But Joe has been suffering from bad acne breakouts, and as he tries to figure out the cause, he wonders if protein shakes have any affect?
A quick google search shows that consuming too much whey protein does run the risk of causing acne breakouts.
But Joe wasn’t satisfied with an answer from the internet – he wanted to put this to test IRL.
Putting it to the test
Joe got together five of his friends who are also regular gym goers to put his theory to the test.
For the next 30 days, they were going to drink 3 protein shakes a day – a total of 90 shakes over the 30 days. This is more protein than the recommended amount, to test if an overconsumption of whey protein would affect his friend’s skin.
Joe didn’t tell his friends what the experiment was for – all they had to do was drink the shakes for 30 days and report back to Joe.
Results
Hal, one of the friends participating in the experiment, noticed his skin getting a little bit worse for wear a week in – and a couple of the others noticed a few spots popping up on their skin over the 4 weeks.
By the end of the 30 days, 3 out of the 5 boys said they noticed a couple more spots within the 30 days and 2 said they noticed nothing.
Joe showed photos of Ben throughout the 30 days. Ben said he noticed a couple more spots but as Joe flicks through his daily pictures, he commented that it was ‘very, very minute.’
Joe’s final verdict
Do protein shakes cause acne?
‘Yeah, they may cause the odd little pimple here and there but ultimately these big acne breakouts that you may be getting are not down to protein shakes. They will be some other factor that you need to sort. ‘
‘My advice? Keep drinking this stuff.’
My final verdict
Take Home Message
Whey protein works for a lot of people – but it may have negative side effects for those with lactose intolerance, allergens or sensitivities.
There’s plenty of protein products to choose from if whey doesn’t work for your body.
If you want to learn more about swapping to vegan protein sources, read Scott’s story here:
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References:
- Zamil DH, Perez-Sanchez A, Katta R. Acne related to dietary supplements. Dermatol Online J. 2020 Aug 15;26(8):13030/qt9rp7t2p2. PMID: 32941710.
- Aghasi M, Golzarand M, Shab-Bidar S, Aminianfar A, Omidian M, Taheri F. Dairy intake and acne development: A meta-analysis of observational studies. Clin Nutr. 2019 Jun;38(3):1067-1075. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2018.04.015. Epub 2018 May 8. PMID: 29778512.
- Yang J, Yang H, Xu A, He L. A Review of Advancement on Influencing Factors of Acne: An Emphasis on Environment Characteristics. Front Public Health. 2020 Sep 17;8:450. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00450. PMID: 33042936; PMCID: PMC7527424.
