Short answer: While there is no concrete evidence linking energy drinks with skin problems, it has been observed that excessive consumption of sugary drinks can contribute to acne and some other related skin issues.
With the rising popularity of energy drinks, the concern for the adverse effects of consuming them has also been raised. Energy drinks are caffeinated beverages that sharpen your attention and improve your performance. A single energy drink can is loaded with nutrients that can make you more active and vibrant.
Caffeine is the major ingredient of energy drinks. It is responsible for increased alertness and boosting energy levels. However, caffeine and sugar can be the cause of some complications you face after energy drink consumption.
Energy drinks were introduced to elevate your energy level and increase mental and physical alertness. With time, other nutrients were added to benefit human health.
Moreover, rumors regarding energy drinks are also spreading among people, such as the interesting story of energy drinks making you a powerful and macho man and another story that energy drinks lead you to osteoarthritis or cause weakness. However, these stories have no scientific evidence.
In this article, you’ll learn and find out about the credibility of all these rumors as I answer the question of energy drinks leading to breakouts in depth.
What Factors Worsen Acne Outbreaks?
Acne is a skin disorder in which sebum or skin oil and dead cells clog the follicles of your hair. It leads to pimples, whiteheads, and blackheads. Teenagers are prone to be most affected, but still, breakouts can be a nightmare for people of all age groups.
Although numerous acne treatment options are available, acne can sometimes be stubborn. The pimples and bumps take a long time to heal, and as one starts to fade, another appears.
The signs of acne differ depending on the skin severity, such as blackheads, whiteheads, red spots, or pimples. Acne usually appears on the face, forehead, and back of the human body. However, acne can also be a sign of a prolonged medical condition that needs to be treated immediately.
A long list of factors can affect or worsen your acne outbreaks. However, below are some of the common factors that can worsen it:
- Diet
- Hormones
- Stress
- Medications
Let’s go through them as we’ve learned the general causes of acne severity.
| Factors | Effect |
| Diet | According to research, eating certain foods, such as carbohydrate-rich diets like bread, bagels, and chips, might aggravate acne. So, people with skin problems should try to reduce foods that worsen their acne outbreaks and try to consume skin-healthy foods and beverages. |
| Hormones | Certain puberty hormones like Androgens may cause the skin to produce more sebum, leading to acne outbreaks. This particular hormone affects both males and females in their puberty period. |
| Stress | Stress causes acne by drying out the skin, raising the production of oil, and elevating stress hormone levels, all of which age the skin. |
| Medication | According to Mayoclinic, drugs containing testosterone, lithium, and corticosteroids may worsen your acne outbreaks by harming your skin. |
Can Energy Drinks Cause Skin Problems?
The answer to the above-asked question is twofold. If you use sugar-free energy drinks, your skin will experience no side effects by consuming the beverage. The second one is if you consume energy drinks with excessive sugar, it may cause skin problems.
There is a lack of scientific evidence to prove that caffeine in energy drinks can cause outbreaks. However, caffeine can worsen existing acne because it increases stress response, further affecting your hormones and leading to outbreaks.
On the other side, sugar as an ingredient in energy drinks leads to acne outbreaks. Therefore, people with skin acne should try to avoid beverages with added sugar.
When your blood sugar levels rise, your entire body becomes inflamed. These elevations also cause your body to produce more sebum, an oily material that coats your skin. Both inflammation and excessive sebum can cause acne.
Moreover, some energy drinks include antioxidants in their ingredients formula. They can be beneficial for the skin because antioxidants help the skin cells to repair and reduce the inflammation caused by pimples or acne outbreaks.
Acne can cause skin scarring or emotional discomfort, depending on how severe and painful it is. The sooner you begin therapy, the fewer chances of complications will be there. So it is better to check out with a dermatologist who can help reduce the severity of skin acne.
Can High Levels of Caffeine Cause Acne?
Caffeine is a stimulant that helps stimulate the nervous system and brain. It can improve the response time and sharpen the attention level of your body. Caffeine promotes a high level of performance by producing a sense of wakefulness and activeness in the body.
People worldwide use caffeine to start their day in the morning as a remedy for activating their minds. The usage of coffee has become a culture for many generations because of its benefits.
Although there is no evidence of caffeine causing acne, there are some cases where caffeine can worsen the existing condition of the skin. Such as caffeine can increase the excretion of stress hormones like cortisol, and that caffeine can affect your skin by disrupting your sleep.
Cortisol is a hormone released in stress, and it is also released when we consume high levels of caffeine. Stress is generally not the cause of skin acne, but it can worsen it. Too much release of cortisol in the human body increases the oil or sebum level in our body and thus leading to more acne outbreaks.
I have added a video to guide you about the relationship between caffeine and acne:
Therefore, no one should take more than 400mg of caffeine as per the recommendation of the FDA. If you consume high-caffeinated energy drinks regularly, they can be harmful to the skin as well as body metabolism.
What Foods Trigger Acne?
Acne is a widespread skin problem that affects almost 10% of the global population. You may have observed that it abruptly affects your skin. Whenever you eat a certain food, a pimple pops out after some time.
People worldwide are facing the problem of skin acne and the link between food and acne had been a topic of discussion among researchers for quite a long time. According to recent studies, a lot of factors can trigger acne outbreaks and food is one of them.
The following foods can trigger skin acne:
- Sugar
- Dairy Products
- Fast Food
- Chocolate
- Greasy Food
- Whey Protein Powder
- Refined Grains
- Foods Rich In Omega-6 Fats
These food items increase the oil level and inflammation in our body resulting in outbreaks. Another thing to consider is that any person affected by a skin outbreak should observe and avoid the foods they are sensitive to.
How Can We Reduce Pimples?
Pimples are generally the reaction to some bacteria or the ability of the skin to produce more and more oil. The sebum production in our body is regulated by hormones, but when they fail to do so, skin acne appears on the different parts of the body.
Pimples not only change the appearance of the skin, but they can be painful too. So to avoid these unhealthy outbreaks, you should take care of your diet and be ready to take action when a pimple pops up.
Following are some tips to manage and reduce pimples on your body:
- Wash the face twice daily
- Avoid harsh scrubbing
- Avoid popping or picking at pimples
- Apply topical treatments
- Avoid foods that link to acne
- Wear sunscreen when going outdoors
- Refrain from skincare products that contain oil
- Reduce stress
- Take antibiotics with the doctor’s recommendation
Following the above tips, you’ll likely face fewer skin problems. However, see a dermatologist if nothing works and the problem persists.
Final Thoughts
Many people use energy drinks to increase their energy level and improve their performance in several activities. However, it may have some adverse effects on your body or skin, such as acne, but one thing to remember is that only some ingredients in energy drinks can cause it, not the whole product.
Skin acne is a rising concern for almost 10% of the population, and this number is increasing day by day. Research has proven that acne is a combined effect of a lot of factors.
You should take care of your skin as much as possible and try several skincare tips. If nothing works out, then you must check out with a specialist to prevent the problem from aggravating.