Best Probiotics For Acne | 5 Item Checklist
You’ve probably heard by now about the skin benefits of taking a probiotic. These good bacteria have a symbiotic relationship with your body. They improve your microbiome, reduce inflammation, and boost your immune system. All of these reasons make them essential for getting rid of acne.
Make sure you have the best probiotics for acne. Check out this 5 item checklist before you buy your next bottle!
What Are Probiotics?
Probiotics are tiny living microorganisms, like bacteria, that live in your intestinal tract and help regulate your immune system. Your body has thousands of naturally occurring probiotics and they are vital for a healthy body. Having imbalances with probiotics has been linked to acne, depression, indigestion, eczema, rosacea, chronic inflammatory conditions, and a lot of other health concerns.
If you eat a balanced diet and don’t do one of the many things that can cause disruptions in your microflora, then you probably don’t need a supplement.
But for the rest of us, we want to know that we’re getting enough probiotics to keep acne away and improve overall health.
The best ways to get probiotics into your life are with food (just watch for sugar!) or supplements.
Common Foods With Probiotics
Kombucha
Sauerkraut
KimChi
Yogurt
Fermented cheese, like gouda
But be careful about fermented foods with added sugar, like Kombucha and KimChi. Sugar is a known trigger for acne and it can end up making it worse.
Aside from sugar, there are other reasons our normal microflora can be disrupted.
Reasons You Need To Take Probiotics
Your microflora can get disrupted for a few reasons.
Taking antibiotics
Eating a lot of fish because it may have heavy metals
Eating or drinking sugary foods
Chronic stress
Drinking alcohol
Using chemical household cleaning products
So replacing the lost microflora is helpful in restoring the body’s balance.
Why Probiotics Can Help Acne
Acne is a chronic inflammatory condition. And the normal flora, or probiotics, in our intestinal tracts communicate with our immune system to help regulate inflammation.
Any disruptions in the microflora of the gut can lead to a breakdown of the skin’s natural barrier. This leads to inflammation and can trigger breakouts.
Probiotics may help to modulate inflammatory responses, starting with the gut by helping your immune system control how it responds. They might also help certain bacteria from sticking to the skin.
Checklist: How To Buy The Best Probiotics
There are so many probiotics on the market that buying a good one can feel impossible. This is an easy to follow probiotic checklist that can help you know what to look for in a probiotic for acne.
1. FDA Approved or NSF Certified
Most probiotics aren’t FDA approved. We did find one (see our recommendation below!) but most aren’t since they’re considered supplements.
The next best thing to FDA approval is a NSF certification. This helps you have some level of confidence that what is on the label is what you’re actually consuming.
Some of the better supplement companies will have a GMP verification. The Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP) certification means that the facility where the products are made is up to food safety and health standards. This lets you know that you’re not buying some cheap knock off stuff from China, which is why we don’t recommend supplements on Amazon, but that’s another article.
2. Has 5-10 Probiotic Strains
Pick a probiotic with 5-10 strains. Some people think that having 40+ different strains is a good idea, but actually certain strains end up canceling each other out and you just don’t know which ones work like that.
So stick with a product that has the most common strains and take a look at CFUs.
Most Common Strains
Lactobacillus
Bifidobacterium
Enterococcus
Lactobacillus paracasei
Bifidobacterium lactis
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus acidophilus
3. Has 20+ Billions of CFUs
CFUs (Colony Forming Units) are the number of alive and active microorganisms in 1 serving of a probiotic supplement.
Most research says that 10-20 billion should be enough. We tend to think that if it’s in the budget, go for more.
It’s hard to say how many bacteria are alive when you take the capsule, so having more is better just in case some of the little guys don’t make it.
4. Microencapsulated or Enteric Coated
A good probiotic for acne is ‘microencapsulated’ or ‘enteric coated.’
This means that it has a special coating on it that will bring the capsule through the harsh acidic environment of your stomach and into the intestine where it will dissolve and release the probiotics. Labels may also say “acid and bile resistant.”
5. Has A Prebiotic
Prebiotics support the probiotic and the more prebiotic you have in your gut the better the probiotic will do in your body.
Prebiotics are basically the food that the probiotics eat in your gut. Pick a supplement with both.
Eating a healthy diet with lots of fiber and certain foods like garlic, onion, leek, asparagus, beet root, legumes, nuts, and fruits, will naturally feed your intestines with prebiotics. These are essential to keeping probiotics happy and thriving.
Best Probiotics for Acne
Probiotic 40 Plus from Diverxin
This is our favorite probiotic. It checks all the boxes, has more than enough CFUs, is GMP certified, and has 9 strains of good bacteria.
It helps reduce the inflammation that causes acne, boosts your immune system, balances your microbiome, and improves your overall health.
Reasons We Like Diverxin For Acne
It checks all the 5 boxes on our checklist.
FDA approved
9 strains
40 Billion CFUs per capsule
Microencapsulated
Has a marine prebiotic
The capsules are easy to swallow and you can get your money back if you don't like them.
Final Thoughts
The best probiotics for acne will help balance your microbiome, reduce inflammation, and boost immunity. Use our 5 item checklist to find the best probiotics We like Diverxin because it checks all the boxes.