Does Dairy Cause Acne? What the Research Shows

Dairy hasn’t been shown to cause acne, but it’s linked to it. Several large reviews of the research found that people who drink more milk are somewhat more likely to have acne, and skim milk shows the link at least as strongly as whole milk. That’s a link, not proof: nearly every study behind it watched people’s habits rather than testing milk directly, and a large genetic study of Danish adults found no connection at all. Yogurt and cheese look weaker and less consistent. So if you break out and drink a lot of milk, it’s a fair thing to look at. It isn’t a reason to fear a slice of cheese, and changing your diet is no substitute for treating the acne itself.

What the big reviews found

Researchers have pooled the studies on this more than once. Two of those pooled analyses, called meta-analyses, carry most of the weight.

The first, from a Danish team at the University of Copenhagen, was published in Nutrients in 2018. It combined 14 studies covering 78,529 children, teenagers and young adults aged 7 to 30. Compared with people who had no dairy, people who had any dairy had odds of acne about a quarter higher. Milk on its own showed a similar link. There was a rough dose pattern too: one glass of milk a day, or two or more, was tied to higher odds than drinking milk less than once a week, while two to six glasses a week didn’t show a clear difference.

The second, from researchers at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, was published in Clinical Nutrition in 2019. It also found that people in the highest dairy and milk groups were more likely to have acne than people in the lowest.

Both reviews point the same way, which counts for something. Neither one is the final word, and the Danish authors said so themselves: they found signs of publication bias (studies with a link are more likely to be published than studies without one), the studies differed a lot from each other, and the link got weaker once the researchers accounted for other factors.

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Skim or whole: does the fat matter?

You’d guess full-fat milk would be the problem. The research leans the other way. In the Tehran review, skim milk had the strongest link to acne of any dairy type it looked at, stronger than milk overall and stronger than low-fat milk. In the Danish review, low-fat and skim milk showed a slightly bigger link than whole milk, though the two weren’t far apart.

So switching to skim won’t get you clear of the question. If milk matters for your skin, the lighter versions don’t look any safer.

Yogurt and cheese are murkier

Here the two reviews disagree. The Tehran team found no significant link between yogurt or cheese and acne. The Danish team found that yogurt was tied to higher odds of acne, and cheese came close but didn’t quite reach statistical significance.

When two careful reviews split like that, the fair reading is that nobody knows yet. Fermented dairy hasn’t been shown to be worse than milk, and it hasn’t been cleared either.

Why milk might matter

The explanation researchers usually offer is hormonal. A 2022 systematic review in JAAD International, the open-access journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, opens by stating that diet, specifically glycemic content and dairy, influences hormones such as insulin, insulin-like growth factor 1 (a growth hormone the body makes) and androgens, and that those hormones affect how acne develops.

That’s a plausible route. It’s still a proposed explanation. The same review concluded that the dairy evidence is mixed and may depend on sex, ethnicity and local eating habits, and that the case is stronger for high-glycemic eating (foods that raise blood sugar quickly), which randomized trials support.

What these studies can’t tell you

Almost everything above is observational. Researchers asked people what they ate and whether they had acne, then looked for patterns. Nobody was randomly assigned to drink milk or skip it. That design can show two things travel together. It can’t show one causes the other.

A few specific weak spots:

• Self-reporting. In the large French study, people rated their own acne in an online questionnaire. Memory and self-judgment aren’t the same as a skin exam.
• Everything else people eat. Milk drinkers may differ from non-drinkers in other ways. The Danish review’s link shrank once other factors were accounted for, which hints at this.
• Age. The biggest review covered people up to 30, with many of them teenagers. Teen acne and adult acne aren’t always the same story.

The adult picture

Two studies looked at grown-ups, and they don’t fully agree.

The French one, published in JAMA Dermatology in 2020, drew on 24,452 adults in the NutriNet-Santé project. Three-quarters were women, and the average age was 57. After adjusting for things like age, smoking and activity, milk had a small link to current acne. So did sugary drinks and fatty, sugary foods, and the link for those was larger than the one for milk.

The Danish one took a cleverer route. Instead of trusting people’s food diaries alone, the researchers used a gene that lets adults digest milk as a stand-in for drinking more milk, which sidesteps some of the problems with asking people what they eat. Among 20,416 Danish adults, they found no link between milk and acne, either from people’s reported habits or from the gene.

If you’re in your thirties, that’s the most relevant data, and it doesn’t make a strong case against your morning latte.

If you want to test it on yourself

None of this rules out that dairy bothers your skin in particular. If you suspect it does, you can look at your own pattern without overhauling how you eat.

1. Keep notes for four to six weeks. Jot down roughly how much milk you drink and how your skin looks each day. A phone note is plenty.
2. Write down the other suspects too. Your cycle, sleep, stress, new products, and sugary drinks or sweets, which came up in the French study as well.
3. Look for a pattern, not a single bad day. Breakouts lag behind whatever set them off, so one pimple after one latte tells you nothing.
4. Change one thing at a time if you decide to experiment, and keep your skincare steady while you do, or you won’t know which change did anything.

If you’re thinking about a bigger change to how you eat, talk it over with your doctor or a registered dietitian first, since milk supplies nutrients like calcium and protein. If you use whey protein, our whey vs plant protein comparison covers the skin question too.

What does help acne

Whatever part dairy plays, it isn’t a treatment. These are over-the-counter acne treatments, plus a moisturizer to go with them. Our complete guide to acne-prone skin covers the whole routine.

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PanOxyl Acne Creamy Wash is about $10, though the price changes often. It has 4% benzoyl peroxide in a creamy wash for face and body. The directions are to massage it in for one to two minutes, rinse, and start once a day, building up to two or three times only if your skin handles it. Benzoyl peroxide bleaches fabric, so use a white towel and pillowcase.

PanOxyl Acne Foaming Wash is the 10% version, about $10. It’s the stronger, more drying one. It makes the most sense for the chest and back, where skin is tougher, and the face can stay on the 4%.

CeraVe Acne Control Cleanser has 2% salicylic acid, which works inside the pore, along with niacinamide, ceramides and hyaluronic acid. It’s the better pick if your acne is mostly blackheads and clogged pores rather than red bumps. Use it or one of the PanOxyl washes on your face, not both, since two acne medications at once makes irritation more likely. More options are in our best cleansers for acne-prone skin.

Differin Gel is 0.1% adapalene, a retinoid you can buy without a prescription, at about $13. It goes on once a day in a thin layer over the whole area where you break out, not just on spots. Acne can look worse in the first few weeks, and it may take up to three months to see results. Wear sunscreen while you use it, and if you’re pregnant or trying to be, ask your doctor first.

CeraVe PM Facial Moisturizing Lotion is an oil-free, non-comedogenic lotion with ceramides, niacinamide and hyaluronic acid and no added fragrance, about $15. Acne treatments dry skin out, and a light moisturizer makes them easier to stick with.

If I Were You

If you drink a glass or two of milk a day and break out, keep a few weeks of notes before changing anything, and start a benzoyl peroxide wash at the same time so the breakouts get treated while you watch.

If you switched to skim to be careful, know that skim showed at least as strong a link as whole milk. Drink whichever you like.

If you eat yogurt for your gut, the research on yogurt and acne is split. Watch your own skin rather than giving it up on spec.

If you’re in your thirties and the acne is new, the adult studies don’t point strongly at milk. Don’t stop at diet; a dermatologist can look at the whole picture.

If your acne is deep, painful or leaving marks, don’t spend months experimenting with food. See a board-certified dermatologist.

Bottom line

Milk is linked to acne in the research, skim at least as much as whole, but the link is modest, the studies can’t prove cause, and the genetic study in adults found nothing. Yogurt and cheese are an open question. If you suspect dairy, watch your own pattern for a few weeks, and put most of your effort into a proven acne routine. For acne that won’t settle, a dermatologist will get you further than any food rule. There’s more in our skin care archive.