The Ultimate Guide To Alcohol And Acne: How To Drink And Still Enjoy Gloriously Clear Skin

If you love drinking alcohol, but also love having clear and radiant skin, then here’s some great news: it’s easily possible to do both.

Make no mistake; alcohol itself IS a poison and a toxin. Drinking copious amounts of beer will give you pimples, even red wine can be a one way ticket to an acne nightmare. When abused, alcohol can completely trash your skin’s vitality and glow…

…but most of the obstacles related to acne can be overcome. We already have the detoxifying systems in place; ancient humans had been stumbling across wild fermenting berries laced with natural ethanol for millions of years before we invented beer. Your task is simply to strengthen those systems.

Likewise, you might have seen newspaper headlines screaming that “a daily drink slashes risk of heart disease”, or “glass of wine a day keeps high blood pressure away”. It’s a very similar story with acne; binge drinking every night will completely destroy your skin, but getting drunk once per week or even drinking small amounts daily can be perfectly healthy if you know the secret nutritional tricks.

 

The main problem – destruction of antioxidant supplies

Firstly, here’s the cycle with which all alcohol unleashes its classic drunken effects. Initially, a portion of the alcohol you drink isn’t digested at all, and is absorbed directly through the stomach wall into the bloodstream. The remainder is absorbed through the small intestine, travelling via a large blood vessel to your liver.

Then stage 1 of metabolization kicks in – an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase breaks the alcohol down into a chemical called acetaldehyde. In stage 2, the acetaldehyde is then broken down into a harmless substance called acetate (found naturally in vinegar) by glutathione and an enzyme called acetaldehyde dehydrogenase.

All alcohol you drink is metabolised in this way, whether it’s a can of Heineken, a glass of red wine or a shot of pear schnapps…

…but what’s important to understand for acne is the massive toxicity of acetaldehyde, the initial by-product. The alcohol itself is important, triggering many of the classic drunken effects. For example:

One – alcohol decreases the function of the brain’s limbic system which controls anxiety and fear (resulting in lowered inhibitions and high confidence).

Two – alcohol messes with your central nervous system and disrupts the communication of brain cells (robbing you of sound judgement)

Three – alcohol decreases the activity of the cerebellum brain region (decreasing your muscle coordination, increasing dizziness, and making the simple task of walking hilariously difficult).

With hangovers, however, it’s a different story. A large portion of the punishing next morning symptoms are triggered by the by-product acetaldehyde, not alcohol itself.

The splitting headache is literally acetaldehyde bombarding your brain cells with inflammation. The stomach upset and vomiting is caused by copious quantities of acetaldehyde, and it’s even acetaldehyde that scars livers cells over the long term. In fact, acetaldehyde is estimated to be 30 times more toxic than alcohol itself, and is classed as a grade 1 carcinogenic (the highest level) by the World Health Organisation.

In short, acetaldehyde is a seriously nasty chemical. It’s vital for your survival to deactivate it as fast as possible…

…and as outlined above, this detoxification process is heavily reliant on glutathione. That’s the single most abundant antioxidant manufactured by the human body itself, an antioxidant which is equally important to vitamin C and vitamin E.

Glutathione is so vital for health that it is dubbed the “master antioxidant”, and it’s vital for acne too. Depleted glutathione is behind many skin-related effects from drinking. There’s fewer antioxidants to defend cells, so they age faster. There’s less antioxidants to defend cells from UV radiation in sunlight, so they inflame faster.

When your antioxidant supplies are depleted, the oil on your face (sebum) is prone to damage, creating an infamously pore-clogging by-product called squalene peroxide. A 2013 study even found that acne prone people had 20% less glutathione in their skin than average.

Boosting glutathione is a top strategy I recommend here, but alcohol does the exact opposite. Binge drinking is one of the fastest ways to deplete your vital homemade antioxidant stocks.

 

Alcohol the vitamin C thief

Next, we have the numerous secondary problems caused by alcohol. Firstly, an ever growing collection of studies shows that alcohol can damage your digestion.

This 2014 study found that after acute moderate to high ethanol consumption, there was a significant increase in intestinal permeability. A second study found that in patients with currently inactive inflammatory bowel disease, 1-3 glasses of red wine daily could again increase intestinal permeability.

What does this all mean? You’ll know these terms if you’re a regular reader here; higher intestinal permeability means that your gut lining can no longer control acne nutrient absorption, or even worse, forbid the entry of pro-inflammatory substances which have no place in the bloodstream. The most advanced form of higher intestinal permeability is called leaky gut syndrome. Gluten is a classic cause; alcohol seems to be another.

Secondly, glutathione is not the only antioxidant which alcohol depletes – vitamin C is also called upon to defend liver cells during alcohol detoxification.

This study compared one healthy group to 3 alcohol groups with varying natures of liver damage. While the vitamin C reserves of the 3 alcohol groups varied significantly, they averaged at far lower levels than the healthy group.

This study even found that 91% of 35 alcoholics had a vitamin C deficiency. Vitamin C helps your skin by 1) being another vital antioxidant, 2) accelerating the formation of collagen proteins, 3) suppressing acne-causing stress hormones.

Magnesium is another vital acne mineral, involved with sleep quality and suppressing stress hormones. Yet magnesium can also be suppressed by alcohol. Magnesium is a key ingredient in glutathione, meaning that after acetaldehyde depletes that glutathione, more magnesium must be wasted as your production factories feverishly work away again.

Then there’s the acetaldehyde itself. This is a strongly pro-inflammatory toxin, and if your glutathione levels aren’t sufficient to deactivate acetaldehyde, it will flood your body, and pile onto the inflammation behind acne, exaggerating the fieriness of existing pimples.

Last of all, there’s the bonus problems with individual alcoholic drinks, such as beer’s high carbohydrate content (bad for oily skin), and the sugary excesses of common cocktails. More on specific drinks later…

 

The verdict – how to drink alcohol and have clear skin

To recap, drinking alcohol can trigger the birth of new acne and otherwise damage your skin. The main mechanisms are 1) depleting vital antioxidants and nutrients, 2) disrupting gut health, and 3) increasing bodily inflammation levels.

But does this mean you have to abandon alcohol forever? The answer is – definitely not.

It is completely possible to enjoy alcohol on a regular basis yet still not have the most miniscule of pimples.

Firstly, it’s inevitable that the 3 main problems will happen to some extent, but they’re also simple to defend against. For example, the inflammatory acetaldehyde will only start roaming your bloodstream if your glutathione defenses get depleted, so simply make sure that they don’t, by taking the right minerals and amino acids (guide below).

With vitamin C and magnesium, you can simply increase your intake depending on your exact alcohol intake. For instance, one dead easy strategy would be to bring a massive box of strawberries to the bar with you and leave them on the table, so that when the insane urge to eat random food inevitably kicks in, that’s the first thing in front of you.

Secondly, if you’re like the vast majority of acne patients, you won’t have to be 100% strict anyway.

Look at it from this viewpoint. Vegetable oils = deadly for your skin (due to omega 6s), but also unnecessary and flavourless. Alcohol = a negative overall, but tasty to drink and great fun. If you eliminate the dangerous acne foods which add nothing your life, whether it’s canola oil or tasteless white bread, you’ll easily have room for one or two indulgences, and alcohol can be one of them.

Overall, alcohol is negative when isolated, but not pure evil, so your strategy is simple.

It’s a bad idea to binge drink constantly, as the negative effects will then become overwhelming, but you can still get drunk once per week if you take steps to replenish your glutathione and vitamin C stocks afterwards. Daily drinking of no more than one glass of wine per day, or the equivalent for other drinks, is safe as long as your diet and lifestyle are in excellent shape…

 

How to strengthen your skin’s alcohol defences

…and therefore, your final step is to strengthen your body to minimise the damage. Here’s how you can still experience the joys of alcohol, while keeping your skin as strong as humanly possible:

One – get the 3 most important minerals. These are magnesium, zinc, and selenium, the essential mineral co-factors without which glutathione cannot exist. Correcting your levels will keep your glutathione reserves nicely replenished. Alcohol will still deplete them, but your skin will survive as the starting point of glutathione will be high.

Selenium can be obtained from meat, fish and eggs, but the full RDI of magnesium is very difficult to obtain. I supplement with magnesium glycinate, and here’s a pure and trustworthy brand: Pure Encapsulations Magnesium Glycinate (amazon link). Zinc is also wise to supplement with, and I definitely recommend magnesium. See this article for more information on all three minerals.

Two – get vitamin C. If alcohol depletes your precious vitamin C, then the logical solution is to boost your intake. Taking a daily pill is wise in any case, but on the day of drink, you could pop an extra 500mg, before moving onto the night’s festivities with a shield slowly diffusing through your bloodstream.

Luckily, vitamin C is one of the easiest nutrients to obtain through clean food. Broccoli, spinach, strawberries, classic white potatoes, lettuce, raspberries, oranges, pineapple, bell peppers, and more are all great sources. If you want a convenient pill, then this Garden of Life Raw Vitamin C (amazon link) is naturally derived, and contains a massive 500mg per pill.

Three – get glycine. Glycine and cysteine are the two amino acids which all glutathione molecules require to be produced. However, glycine tends to be more overlooked by the average KFC-visiting, hamburger scoffing human being of the 21st century. That’s why I’d recommend taking this Great Lakes Pasture Raised Gelatin (amazon link). Gelatin is nothing but the connective parts of animals ground down into a convenient and easy to eat jelly. It has numerous other benefits for acne too (full article here). Among normal sources of protein, the richest source of glycine is free range eggs.

Four – drink the right type of alcohol. Keep reading for a full guide.

Five – get more vitamin E. Vitamin E is not as strongly involved with alcohol detoxification as vitamin C, but by increasing your intake, you can relieve the pressure on both vitamin C and glutathione, as they will have less duties to perform elsewhere in the body. One of the ultimate supplements is this Garden of Life Raw Vitamin E (amazon link).

Nine – eat more antioxidants. The endless minor antioxidants found in nature can also relive glutathione, whether it’s polyphenols, resveratrol, lambertianin C, rutin or quercetin. Eat the classic antioxidant foods like berries, green vegetables, herbs, spices, coffee and very dark chocolate (it’s true, chocolate can be beneficial for acne).

Ten – take the secret weapon, NAC. NAC is a tool found in the cupboards of friendly neighbourhood doctors all over the western world. Why? Because NAC is the first line compound in the treatment of alcohol poisoning, as its ability to rapidly spike glutathione has no equal.

NAC consists largely of cysteine, the second essential amino acid for glutathione production. Most of us eat plenty of cysteine through meat, eggs and dairy, but NAC is excellent for rapidly increasing levels. It’s also used in emergency rooms to replenish the liver’s glutathione following a painkiller overdose.

In fact, one study found that daily supplementation with NAC reduced total acne counts by 50% after 8 weeks. NAC is not an essential co-factor like the three minerals above, but it’s a fantastic secret weapon. Swallow one pill immediately after your final drink of the night for best results. The best product is this pure and powerful Thorne Research N-Acetylcysteine (amazon link).

Fixing the 3 minerals is essential, but you don’t have to follow all the steps above. Follow your own instincts, and monitor how your skin reacts to alcohol. You alone are the expert on your own acne and skin.

 

How to pick the greatest beverage for acne

Finally, there’s the question of individual alcoholic drinks. Your choice can make a big difference; different beverages can contain either hidden acne villains, or bonus nutrients that mitigate the damage:

White wine – widely considered to be less nutritious than red wine, and the research backs this up; red wine contains 5-10 times more phenolic antioxidants than the average white. The famous supplement company cash cow resveratrol is barely present…

…but white wine still contains a decent serving of antioxidants, just like its father the green grape. At 3-5 grams per glass, the carbohydrate count is much lower than beer.

Red wine – the still undefeated heavyweight champion of alcohol drinks. The media hype is for once real, as red wine contains a variety of phenolic antioxidants, and most famously the phytoalexin resveratrol.

Not only is resveratrol a potent antioxidant in its own right, it also boosts production of your body’s own antioxidants, specifically superoxide dismutase. Exquisite, high priced red wines have the highest antioxidant counts, but even basic table red had an ORAC score of 3873 per 100 grams, compared to 5034 in cabernet. That compares excellently to strawberries at 4300.

Like white wine, the carb count in red is only 3-5 grams. The only hidden dangers are pesticide and mycotoxin contamination, but beer also has that problem. Levels are relatively low, so by boosting your glutathione defences, you should automatically ward them off anyway. My judgement is that organic wine probably isn’t worth it unless you’re so rich that you use 5 dollar bills to keep your fireplace warm.

Hard cider – stuck in limbo; proper ciders can be an excellent source of antioxidants, like the apples they’re derived from. The 2000-year old fermentation process can produce some healthy substances associated with improved digestion.

However, ciders also contain approximately 15 grams of carbohydrates per can, which will quickly add up to a pore-clogging nightmare. Stick to one per drinking session, unless you’re an exercise fanatic who expends carbohydrates regularly. Note: read this article for the full story on carbs and oily skin.

Whisky, brandy, cognac – the kings of spirits, thanks to their slow ageing in wood barrels. The compounds in the wood gradually dissolve into the clear spirit and imbue the liquid with a variety of antioxidants over time. Some cognac stays in the barrel for up to 70 years.

The sub-variety bourbon whisky is particularly rich in antioxidants (study). In fact, whisky actually contains more ellagic acid (a famous antioxidant that supplement companies are furiously attempting to capitalise on) than red wine. Other antioxidants in whisky include gallic acid and lyoniresinol.

Vodka, gin, clear rum – the lowly spirits. No carbohydrates, so no clogged pores, but no nutrition nor antioxidants whatsoever, as you can tell by their clear colour. Pretty much neutral, and useful only if you’re swilling alcohol with the sole purpose of getting drunk.

Beer – the main thing acne-clearing enthusiasts fear about beer is its content of gluten, as almost all beer contains starch derived from barley. However, one analysis of fifty beers concluded that 35 contained between 1 and 200 ppm of gluten, while 15 contained less than 1 ppm. The average wheat bread contains approximately 75,000 ppm. The gluten in beer is only a problem for the severely sensitive.

What’s more, beers have a surprisingly decent antioxidant count. Beer even held its own against white wine (but not red) in one study. However, beer isn’t perfect; they often contain far too many carbohydrates. The main differentiation factor is the richness of the beer; light beer contain just 3-5 carbs, while regular and dark/stout/microbrew beers contain up to 15 and 25 carbs respectively. The latter could turn your skin into an oil slick, so either drink heavier beers irregularly, or stay loyal to lighter beers instead. Full article here.

Sugary cocktails – the name says it all, no matter how many nutritious fruits the bartender shoves in, the sugar content is way too high. Reserve for a treat, no matter how amazing they taste.

All the rest – the world of alcoholic drinks is so wide that one will always escape our attention. We can’t offer advice on every drink from every alpine Après ski bar or Tijuana side street, but by definition, if you’re having some rare and exotic alcoholic beverage, it won’t be a regular part of your diet. Therefore, this is one case where you can relax your acne firewall.

 

Conclusion

Your alcohol strategy could not be simpler: 1) strengthen your body’s antioxidant reserves using nutrition, 2) pick one of the healthier beverages, 3) drink alcohol for taste or drunken antics, whichever you choose, and 4) sit back and laugh as your skin is strong enough to withstand it.

Again, you should eliminate the boring sources of acne (vegetable oils, microwaveable ready meals, bread) so that you have plenty of capacity to maintain the pleasurable, e.g. alcohol.

Alcohol is certainly a negative for acne overall, there’s no doubt about that. Nevertheless, with a few dead-easy alterations, going out and getting smashed once per week, or simply enjoying wine, is easily within your reach. Alcohol is one pleasure you don’t have to abandon forever.

NEXT: the ultimate diet for clearing acne permanently

 

 

Thanks for reading!