You always hear people swear that giving up [insert vice here] changed everything for their skin. Most often, it’s dairy, sugar, or wheat, but lately, the rumors have been centered around coffee. As is the case with most of our favorite vices, rumor has it that your daily caffeine habit could be wreaking havoc on your skin. But is drinking coffee really all that bad? We wish the answer was a simple yes or no, but as it turns out, it’s a little more complicated than that. To find out the truth about our favorite caffeinated beverage, we interviewed dermatologists Gary Goldenberg, MD, and Whitney Bowe, MD. Before you decide to quit coffee cold turkey, keep reading to see what they have to say.
One of the biggest rumors surrounding coffee is that it causes acne, and well, that’s not entirely false. As Goldenberg explains it, the overconsumption of caffeine has been associated with stress, which is associated with acne. So how much coffee is too much? The FDA suggests a maximum of 400 milligrams a day (roughly four or five cups).1 But when it comes to your skin, Bowe suggests limiting yourself to one or two cups a day. Too much of anything can be a bad thing, so when you drink coffee, do so in moderation.
Goldenberg says inorganic milk, white sugar, and syrup can negatively affect your hormones and lead to acne. So, if you regularly take your coffee with sweetener and whatever cream you have on hand, then, yes, your coffee drink could be the source of your breakouts. Pass on the sugar and dairy milk (and yep, that means scale back on your fancy, sugary Starbucks concoction), and opt for an unsweetened nondairy creamer instead.
