Do energy drinks cause acne?

the nerdy bit

Nobody knows for sure, because no study has measured acne in people who regularly drink energy drinks. The closest evidence covers sugary drinks in general: among 24,452 French adults, sugary drinks were associated with 18% higher odds of current acne (Penso et al., 2020). That's an association, not proof of cause.

Odds ratio is a number that compares two groups: an odds ratio of 1.18 means 18% higher odds, 1.0 means no difference, and you'll meet several below. Also, the American Academy of Dermatology's 2024 acne guidelines considered the evidence insufficient for any dietary recommendation (AAD, 2024).

So we checked the four things people blame most (sugar, caffeine, lost sleep and B vitamins) against studies in people. We found no trial that tested energy drinks on skin, so every verdict below rests on related evidence. For other suspects, such as dairy, whey protein and chocolate, see our guide to foods linked to breakouts.

the nerdy bit

Energy drinks are built around caffeine, usually with B vitamins and sugar or sweeteners. A 2022 analysis of 55 bestselling US energy drinks found sugar in about half of them and vitamin B12 in nearly two-thirds (Jagim et al., 2022). Here are the four suspects, strongest case first.

1. Sugar: the strongest suspect

In that 2022 analysis, 53% of the energy drinks contained sugar, averaging 22 grams per serving, and the sweetest listed 63 grams (Jagim et al., 2022). A single 16-ounce can may hold 54 to 62 grams of added sugar (NCCIH), more than the 50-gram Daily Value for a whole day (FDA).

Why would sugar matter for skin? Insulin is the hormone that moves sugar from your blood into your cells. In a crossover trial of 38 young adults, insulin increased within an hour of a large energy drink of 750 or 1,000 mL. A standard score of insulin resistance rose by 4.0 points after the energy drink, compared with 1.0 to 2.8 after the comparison drinks (Basrai et al., 2019).

Sebum is the oil your skin produces, and too much of it can help clog pores. Diet may change how much you make: in a 10-week trial of 32 Korean patients, those assigned to a low-glycemic-load diet showed smaller oil glands in skin samples (Kwon et al., 2012). That trial changed whole diets, not single drinks.

Large surveys in China point the same way. Among 8,226 Chinese students, those getting 100 grams or more of sugar a day from soft drinks had about three times the odds of moderate-to-severe acne. That's an odds ratio of 3.12 (Huang et al., 2019). In 1,299 Shanghai students aged 11 to 16, sugar-sweetened drinks carried an odds ratio of 1.56 (Cai et al., 2026).

Verdict: if your energy drinks contain sugar, sugar is the likeliest culprit. It's the same sugar you'd get from soda, fruit drinks or sweet tea, so swapping one sweet drink for another changes little. Our guide to sugar and acne covers the insulin pathway in more detail.

2. Caffeine: a possible amplifier

Caffeine doesn't look like a cause on its own, but it may make the sugar hit harder. In a study of 71 teenagers, one group drank a 250 mL energy drink containing 27.5 g of sugar and 80 mg of caffeine. The other group drank a soft drink with almost the same sugar (27.2 g) and no caffeine (Naveh et al., 2024).

Forty-five minutes later, insulin was about 50% higher in the energy drink group, at 310.7 against 205.0 pmol/L (Naveh et al., 2024). The study wasn't randomised, so treat it as an early signal rather than proof. Insulin sensitivity is how well your cells respond to insulin; when it drops, your body has to release more insulin to handle the same amount of sugar.

How much caffeine is in a can? Energy drinks generally carry 54 to 328 mg per 16 ounces, and the FDA cites 400 mg a day as an amount not generally associated with negative effects in most adults (FDA). So the strongest 16-ounce cans may cover most of that amount.

Verdict: we found no study linking caffeine by itself to acne. In fact, its likeliest roles are indirect: it may amplify a sugar spike, and it can cost you sleep. If you keep caffeine, plain coffee or tea makes a fairer test.

3. Lost sleep: the hidden suspect

Energy drinks can cost you sleep, and sleep may matter for your skin. In a survey of 53,266 Norwegian students, daily energy drink drinkers slept about 30 minutes less than those who seldom or never had them (Kaldenbach et al., 2024). That works out to 7:06 to 7:10 hours a night, against 7:39.

Men who had them daily were roughly twice as likely to sleep under 6 hours a night, a risk ratio of 2.07 (Kaldenbach et al., 2024). Timing matters as well, because caffeine lingers: in a home study, 400 mg of caffeine taken 6 hours before bed still disrupted sleep compared with a placebo (Drake et al., 2013).

Does poor sleep show up on your skin? Among 819 Chinese college students, poor sleep, stress and sugary drinks (odds ratio 1.56) were each associated with acne (Chen et al., 2026). About a fifth (20.67%) of stress's link to acne ran through worse sleep, and the same survey also flagged a spicy diet (odds ratio 1.74). Verdict: plausible, but indirect.

4. B vitamins: a rare trigger at high doses

In the 2022 analysis, 64% of energy drinks listed vitamin B12, at an average of 1,151% of the Daily Value per serving (Jagim et al., 2022). That can sound alarming, because several clinical studies have reported that B12 supplements trigger acne in a subset of people (Kang et al., 2015).

However, the study behind the best-known explanation is small. Ten people with clear skin received a 1 mg injection of B12, and one of them developed acne a week later (Kang et al., 2015). An injection also bypasses your gut, and no study has tested B12 from drinks. Verdict: unlikely to matter for most people, though possible for a few.

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Side by side, only sugar has large studies in people behind it, such as a French survey of 24,452 adults (Penso et al., 2020). Even those cover sugary drinks in general; everything else relies on small trials or indirect links.

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Probably, if sugar is your trigger, because they drop the suspect with the most evidence. They're common, too: 76% of 75 bestselling energy drinks and shots contained at least one artificial sweetener, most often sucralose (Jagim et al., 2023). That said, they keep the caffeine, so the sleep problem stays.

What about the sweeteners themselves? We found no study that measured skin in people drinking sweeteners or sugar-free energy drinks, so a sugar-free can isn't proven safe for your skin. It simply lacks the ingredient with the strongest evidence against it.

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It may simply be too soon, since dietary changes take several weeks to show up on skin. In the best-known diet trial, 43 young men spent 12 weeks on either a low-glycemic-load diet or a standard one. Lesion counts fell by 23.5 on the low-glycemic-load diet and by 12.0 on the standard diet (Smith et al., 2007). If you stopped a few weeks ago, you're still early in that window.

Glycemic load is a measure of how much a normal serving of food raises your blood sugar. A sugary energy drink scores high on it, and so do soda and sweetened tea, for example. Our low-glycemic eating guide explains how to lower it across your whole day.

Next, check what replaced the energy drinks. In the Chinese student survey, drinking sweetened tea drinks seven or more times a week was associated with 2.5 times the odds of moderate-to-severe acne (Huang et al., 2019). Sugar from any beverage counts, so plain water, unsweetened coffee or tea keeps the experiment fair.

The energy drink may have been a symptom of a hard week, not the cause. Before exams, 39% of 226 medical students said they drank more caffeine or energy drinks, 81% slept badly and 13% said skin problems such as acne got worse (Rizvi et al., 2010). In 22 university students, acne worsened at exam time and tracked stress closely (correlation 0.61), even allowing for changes in sleep and diet (Chiu et al., 2003).

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For some people, hormonal timing may explain more than the energy drinks do. In a survey of 400 women, 177 (44%) said their acne flared before their period (Stoll et al., 2001). In a later survey of adult women, 56% of those with period-linked acne said it got worse in the week before their period (Geller et al., 2014).

So if your breakouts land in the same week each month, log your energy drinks, sleep and cycle day for three cycles. Three cycles is roughly the 12 weeks that the best-known diet trial ran (Smith et al., 2007). Do you reach for more energy drinks on tired days before your period? If so, the timing alone can make a can look guilty. Our hormonal acne diet guide covers the cycle side.

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We gave energy drinks a human-evidence grade of Too little, because no study in people has measured acne against them, and sugary-drink surveys don't separate them from soda. The mechanism grade is Supported, because two studies measured higher insulin after people drank them, in 38 adults and 71 teenagers (Basrai et al., 2019; Naveh et al., 2024).

Individuals differ, so treat these grades as a starting point rather than a verdict on your own skin. If you want foods with stronger support behind them, our clear skin food guide grades each one the same way, on studies in people.