Hello readers, here is a comeback post.
So a little while back, I was having quite a breakout on my forehead: though doctors claimed it to be “moderate” it was certainly severe to me.
I believe anyone who has been through never-ending breakouts will understand what I mean. Any form of breakout that doesn’t seem to be going away is really frustrating and is enough to take a toll on anyone.
While treating my breakout topically, I decided to treat it from the inside as well. So I looked up “anti-acne diet”, “foods to avoid for acne”, “what foods trigger acne” blah blah blah and came across supplements that are suggested to get rid of acne.
According to the search results, people who develop acne are usually low in these micronutrients:
– Vitamin A
– Vitamin E
– Zinc
– Omega-3
And if they have some gut issues, they might need some Probiotics to outweigh the bad bacteria in the body too.
After watching tons of Youtube videos — just to be sure that I wasn’t doing anything wrong — I bought the supplements. And after 2 months of taking them, I thought why not share with you guys my verdict on the supplements and talk about which types I’d continue taking and which I’d not.
Before I start I would like to stress that:
THIS POST IS NEVER INTENDED TO GIVE ANYONE ANY MEDICAL ADVICE BUT RATHER, IS STRICTLY CONSTRUCTED BASED ON PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
I AM NOT A NUTRITIONIST, DIETICIAN, PHARMACIST OR DOCTOR.
okay cool, now we can start HAHAHA
1. Vitamin E
How it helps
If you didn’t already know this, Vitamin E is an antioxidant that is thought to repair the radical damage to our skin and improve our body’s healing mechanism.
Why is it important to stop and put a reverse on the radical damage, you ask?
Well, to start with, radical damage is the culprit of skin ageing.
It is damage done by the free radicals naturally found in our body onto our body. Yes, you have heard it right: our body produces the free radicals themselves only to cause damage to itself. Crazy right!
Scientifically speaking, when the oxygen (O2) in our body oxidises, it splits into 2 atoms, each with an unpaired electron that we call free radical.
The free radicals do not wish to stay single — like you — so once they are formed, they eagerly search for a buddy.
What do they do then?
The free radicals kidnap the electrons of our healthy cells, protein, and DNA, and force the electrons to stay with them. This results in our originally stable, healthy cells becoming unstable and worse, damaged.
As the healthy parts of our body are gradually getting attacked by the free radicals, our body generates new cells more slowly and incorrectly. Our skin starts losing elasticity and worse, showing all signs of ageing: wrinkles, fine lines, sagging skin, heavy eye bags, dark spots, and uneven skin tone. There you have it, skin ageing.
The bad news is, our body is constantly getting oxidised since there is no 1 second are we not exposed to the air and the pollutants. But the good news is, we have a way to slow it down and that is — wait for it — by consuming antioxidants (like Vitamin E).
According to livescience.com:
Antioxidants are molecules in cells that prevent free radicals from taking electrons and causing damage.
Antioxidants are able to give an electron to a free radical without becoming destabilised themselves, thus stopping the free radical chain reaction.
Foods like avocados, nuts, and vegetable oils are known to be rich in Vitamin E, so those who are constantly on a low-fat diet — like me — might lack this vitamin.
The product that I bought: Blackmores 250IU d-alpha-tocopherol.
Dosage: Usually one capsule per day but occasionally, will have two.
When to take it: Right after meals. Vitamin E is fat-soluble and best absorbed with food.
Verdict:
Yeah, I think this is a good one and will be my staple. I used to have it—back then for years—but stopped taking it early last year. The reason being I ran out of it and didn’t manage to restock. And back then, my skin looked really healthy with a nice glow.
That being said, I do believe Vitamin E helps. It is not something that will curb your acne right away but rather, a steady supplement to maintain your skin health in the long run.
Blackmores also have 500IU and 1000IU for their Vitamin E but I personally prefer 250IU as I can be more flexible on the dosage.
Some other brands to consider: *this is NOT A SPONSOR POST OKAY. I AM WRITING ALL THESE FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY ACNE HEART*
– Vita Health (affordable)
– Sundown
– Garden of Life (recommended by many but is very pricey, not cool not cool)
– Nature’s Bounty
2. Vitamin A
Yeah many of us know Vitamin A as Retinoid or Retinol (or whatever). While it is commonly used as a topical treatment, many people actually mention taking Vitamin A orally to clear their acne.
How it helps
With a good amount of Vitamin A in our body, we are less likely to get clogged pores which are usually caused by:
- excess sebum production
- the build-up of dead skin cells
That’s because Vitamin A is good for accelerating skin cell turnover (or, skin cell regeneration). It speeds up the process of our skin shedding the dead skin cells and revealing the new and young cells underneath.
Additionally, Vitamin A can control the sebum production of our skin so that our skin doesn’t get overly greasy.
It is important to stay as far away as possible from clogged pores as they are the starting stage of acne. When our pores are clogged, we create an optimal environment for bacteria to grow. As bacteria flourish, our pores will get infected thereby leading us to red pimples like papules and pustules.
The product that I bought: Now Foods Vitamin A 10000IU. Vitamin A is sourced from Retinyl Palmitate and Fish Liver Oil.
Dosage: Was taking one capsule a day at first but later switched to taking one capsule every 2-3 days.
When to take it: Right after meals Vitamin A is fat-soluble.
Verdict:
Well, I wouldn’t repurchase this and even these days, I am no longer taking it. It has made my lips really dry and cracked, and even my favourite go-to, swear-by lip balm hasn’t helped. And to get even more specific, I have only taken this supplement for 3 weeks.
3. Zinc
This is one of the things that I believe has helped.
As there is too much I want to talk about Zinc, I have made a post dedicated to it HAHAHA, feel free to check it out.
The product that I bought: Solgar Zinc Picolinate 22mg tablet. I was looking for 30mg – 40mg but Thorne is so expensive that it is out of my league.
Dosage: Usually one tablet per day, sometimes go for two
When to take it: Right before sleep. Zinc is absorbed by the small intestine so it is best to consume with an empty stomach.
Verdict:
Most of my thoughts are already written in the post mentioned above so for this post, “m going to just tell y’all if I would repurchase. The answer is — “Yes!”
4. Milk Thistle, Turmeric, Artichoke
These ingredients are actually all combined into one bottle aka Swisse Ultiboost Liver Detox. Apart from that, I have also been consuming a good amount of Turmeric spices and Curcumin drinks.
The reason I bought this supplement is that I believe when one gets acne out of the blue, something must be wrong from the inside: it can be the build-up of toxins in our body and our skin being the only outlet thus *boom, acne.
How it helps
Milk Thistle supports liver health, and skin health and regulates our blood sugar level; Artichoke is more or less the same; Turmeric is anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial thanks to its component called Curcumin.
Anti-inflammation is the vital key to calming down red, angry, hyperactive acne. Once our body inflammation is well-controlled, not only can we calm down existing angry acne but we are also less prone to breakout.
The product that I bought: Swisse Ultiboost Liver Detox
Dosage: Two tablets per day
When to take it: Right after the meal
Verdict:
Personally, I find this an okay-buy since it nails the ingredients — Turmeric and Milk Thistle — that I am looking for. However, I doubt that I will repurchase it right away once I run out, as I am trying to keep things in moderation (too much might not be good!).
So, I’d probably give myself a break from this supplement for 2 months, then continue taking it again. Or actually, I might just take supplements specifically made with one of the three ingredients.
5. Probiotics
Ladies and gentlemen, here comes the MVP — drumroll, please — Probiotics! Tadaa!!
My god, this is without a doubt my “try it once and never look back“. No words can explain how much I adore this — the guardian of my gut health.
So back in March or April or something, my gut was acting up a bit and my pooping schedule got messed up: when I pooped, it just didn’t feel right (you know, the bowel movement).
Watery stool, very dry and hard stool… pretty sure I got moderate constipation.
How it helps
The condition of our gut health is very much reflected in our skin. If someone has acne, chances are he/she might also have some gut issues.
The root cause of gut issues is often the overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut which results in gut inflammation and a disrupted digestive system. To fix the problem, we need to introduce more good bacteria to our body to fight the bad bacteria which leads us to — Probiotics.
Allegedly, different bacteria strains work for different issues and there are a lot of them! So I’d highly recommend everyone to do his/her research before purchasing any probiotics.
The product that I bought: LifeSpace Broad Spectrum Probiotics 32 Billion CFU. It is affordable and offers the CFU and bacteria strains that I was looking for.
Dosage: One cap per day. According to the instructions, two caps per day is fine too.
When to take it: Best on an empty stomach as we wouldn’t want to waste the good bacteria on digesting some other food in the gut. Take it in the morning or at night.
Thoughts:
As soon as I started taking this, guys, I swear, my digestion got so much BETTER. Most importantly, the result was next-day instant! I still remember how I was so happy about experiencing an improvement that quickly.
So, will I repurchase this?
Guess we know the answer: Yes. Thousand times Yes. In fact, I am already on my second bottle as I am writing this hehe 😀
The bottom line
Okay before I end I just wanna say
taking any of these supplements doesn’t make you immune from ACNE okayyyyy. They are called SUPPLEMENTS and not MEDICINES for a reason. There are many aspects to take care of to have good skin and supplements are just like one of the planets in the Milky Way.
With that, I thank you~~~ It’s a wrap.
