Warning: Study Shows Common Vitamin Supplement Causes Acne

Warning: Study Shows Common Vitamin Supplement Causes Acne

You may have read stories online of people who got acne after taking vitamin supplements. Dismissing these is easy. They are not very common and, after all, how could a mere vitamin supplement cause acne?

A new study published in the journal Science of Translational Medicine shows vitamin B12 can indeed cause acne.

The B12-acne connection has been a medical curiosity for over half a century. Case reports as far back as the 1960s give examples of acne eruptions following B12 supplementation. However, until now nobody has been able to verify these reports.

How vitamin B12 causes acne

The researchers found that B12 affects the substances P. Acnes bacterium produces as a result of its ‘daily activities’. The bacterium turns amino acid L-glutamate either to vitamin B12 or to porphyrins. If the bacterium produces more B12, it produces fewer porphyrins and vice versa.

vitamin-b12-acne-quote

Vitamin B12 regulates this B12/porphyrin balance. When the bacterium has enough B12 it doesn’t need to make more of it and thus it makes more of porphyrins.

Porphyrins are comedogenic substances that irritate the skin and are known to cause acne. Interestingly, a study from 1986 showed that bacterial-derived porphyrins can cause the kinds of oxidative damage to sebum that triggers acne.

Researchers also showed that feeding P. Acnes bacteria in a petri dish with B12 increased porphyrin production by 39%.

Vitamin B12 supplementation can cause acne even in people not prone to getting it

The researchers of the recently published study showed that B12 can cause acne even in people who normally don’t get acne. In the study, they gave vitamin B12 injections to 10 participants with clear skin. 1 one of them developed acne 1 week after the B12 injection.

10% of people with clear skin got acne after a vitamin B12 injection

When they analyzed the bacteria on this person’s skin, they found out that it resembled bacteria found only on acne-prone skin.

One reason some people get acne while others don’t is the bacteria that reside on the skin. Studies have shown that the bacteria on acne-prone tend to be more aggressive and produce more irritating substances. This study shows that B12 turned benign bacteria into a more hostile variation.

Scientists still don’t have a clear idea why this bacterial transformation only happened in 1 of the 10 people receiving B12 injection. But it does line up with previous reports that B12 triggers acne in some people but not in others.

Dose makes the poison

The participants in this study got a single 1000 mcg injection of B12. The RDA for adults is 2.4 mcg, which makes the injection 416 times the recommended daily intake. It’s highly unlikely people supplementing with RDA level amounts of B12 will get acne. As always, the dose makes the poison.

This study doesn’t mean that vegetarians and vegans should stop supplementing with B12. This is mainly a concern for people who megadose.

That being said, many B12 supplements contain 500 to 1000 mcg and call for 2 to 3 servings per day. So the scenario in the study is not unusual. And taking a supplement with 500 mcg or more every day could easily cause acne.

Is acne a sign of excess vitamin B12?

There’s some evidence that people with acne have higher levels of B12 than those with clear skin.

A 2014 study found that acne patients starting Accutane treatment had 30% higher blood vitamin B12 levels than similar people without acne. On the other hand, another study on Indian women found no difference in B12 levels between acne patients and women without acne.

Older reports have also documented higher levels of B12 in people starting Accutane and subsequent reduction in B12 levels following treatment.

Nobody knows yet why acne patients have higher B12 levels. A possible explanation could be in the gut. Many of the probiotic bacteria produce B12, among other vitamins. Normally humans can’t absorb B12 from the colon, where most of the production takes place. However, bacteria found in the small intestine have also been shown to produce the vitamin. Perhaps overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine (SIBO) could result in higher production and absorption of B12.

So far this is pure speculation, but it’s one possible explanation for the link between gut problems and skin issues.

Conclusion

This new study clearly shows vitamin B12 can cause acne in some people. It causes the bacteria in the skin to produce more irritating substances that cause oxidative damage to sebum and trigger the acne formation process.

In people not prone to acne, excess B12 can turn normally benign bacteria into more aggressive variations and that way lead to acne.

However, this is not the end-all-be-all explanation to acne. B12 doesn’t cause acne for everyone; it doesn’t even aggravate acne in everyone prone to getting it. For yet unknown reasons B12 causes or aggravates acne in some people but not in others.

In the end, this is one piece of the puzzle. Another possibility to look into if you haven’t already solved your ‘acne puzzle’.

About Me

Hi, I am Acne Einstein(a.k.a. Seppo Puusa). I'm a bit of a science nerd who is also passionate about health. I enjoy digging through medical journals for acne treatment gems I can share here. You can read more about my journey through acne and how I eventually ended up creating this.

References

53 thoughts on “Warning: Study Shows Common Vitamin Supplement Causes Acne”

  1. Very interesting. And very frustrating. For a vegan (I decided to stop eating dairy to see if my acne improves), it almost universally accepted that B12 supplementation is a must (even people who eat meat can be deficient). I’d hate this to be ‘either/or’ scenario.
    I’ve also read that a blood test of B12 is unreliable because that B12 may not be bio-available and just floats there, so the test may indicate that you have high levels of B12 but it’s not absorbed/used.

    • I don’t think this is an either/or scenario. The paper was a bit technical, but from what I understood P. Acnes bacteria has a pathway that can produce vitamin B12 or porphyrins. This balance seems to be regulated by availability of B12. So if there’s plenty of B12 in the ‘environment’, in this case the skin, the the bacteria will produce more porphyrins. Less environmental B12 there’s available, the more B12 it has to produce.

      In the study the participants got B12 shots instead of taking oral supplements. They were injected with 1000 micrograms, which is not very much. Many supplements contain 600 micrograms; how much of that is absorbed is hard to say. But it seems likely that daily supplementation would increase blood levels more than a single injection.

  2. This post totally resonates with me. My older brother is taking B12 shots because of a B12 deficiency and now he got acne. Me myself I have much worse acne than him and have taken Chlorella & Spirulina in the past. Whilst (as far as I know) both Spirulina & Chlorella have B12 in them they never (seem to have?) bothered my skin. I think the B12 in either or both of them is not ‘active’ as they call it, so that may make a difference… I’m no expert, so I don’t know. A puzzle indeed!

    • Glad to hear you found the post interesting. I’ve also heard that vegan B12 forms aren’t active. Whether they would be able to cause acne, I unfortunately can’t say. As I mentioned in the post, the B12-acne connection has been a medical curiosity for several decades. But until this paper, nobody has bothered to study it properly. Hopefully this paper spurns more research so we’ll get to the bottom of this.

      The good thing is that stopping supplements should, in time, also clear whatever acne they caused.

  3. B12 definitely causes acne for me. I’m a vegetarian and started taking a b12 supplement after hearing that it’s supposed to be good for you. I got the worst break out from it. I stopped taking the supplement and even had to stop taking my multi vitamin because it also had too much b12. Now I take zinc and omega 3, and my skin is clear

    • I’ve seen a lot of discussion regarding the b12 acne connection on a chronic fatigue forum when researching supplementation. People there seem to experience different levels of acne with different name brand manufacturers. Another thing to consider is that only a tiny percentage of oral b12 is actually absorbed. The higher the dose the smaller the percentage absorbed. What I try to do is take relatively small doses of around 50% RDA each but spread out 3 or 4 times per day. I’ve never had acne as a side effect of b12 no matter how I took it though.

  4. I’m not a big fan of RDA’s but I think it is important to note that the daily RDA of B12 is 2.4 mcg. The patients in this study were receiving 1000 mcg of B12 with their shot which is 417 times the RDA or 41,666% of the RDA for B12.

    I don’t want people thinking that a daily vitamin with 2.4 mcg in it would cause these types of reactions.

    • This coming from a person selling anti-acne supplements with B12. That said, I do agree with you and the dose is what makes the poison here. On the other hand, it’s equally important to keep in mind that this is not an unusual scenario. Most B12 supplements contain anywhere from 500 mcg to 2000 mcg and many call for 2 to 3 servings per day.

      So while a multi-vitamin with RDA-level of B12 might not cause acne, dedicated B12 supplements certainly can.

  5. Hello Seppo.
    I have read a lot on your blog, and a lot of scientific studies for a while. Most stuff I think you already know. But maybe I made some mistakes in reading scientific papers. Two brains thinks better than one 🙂 While I am at it, I will thank you for your blog.
    So what do you think?

    If acne and hair loss are controlled by elevated dihydrotestosterone, via conversion from bioavailable testosterone by 5 alpha-reductase. Then some factor(s) most control this increased 5 alpha-reductase activity.
    In women with PCOS scientist has found higher triglycerides and VLDL-cholesterol (1).
    In both males and females with androgenic alopecia, scientists came to same conclusion (and also found lower HDL-C values compared to control)(2)
    In acne patients some scientist found the same thing (3)
    Another study was made to determine the mitochondria structure in acne suffers, and found that compared to control acne suffers experienced overactive mtorc1 from bad food. In the following the scientist gives his explanation how to reverse it:
    “These new insights into Western diet-mediated mTORC1-hyperactivity provide a rational basis for dietary intervention in acne by attenuating mTORC1 signaling by reducing (1) total energy intake, (2) hyperglycemic carbohydrates, (3) insulinotropic dairy proteins and (4) leucine-rich meat and dairy proteins. The necessary dietary changes are opposed to the evolution of industrialized food and fast food distribution of Westernized countries.”(4)

    Could it be the first nail in the coffin if mtorc1 had some interaction with cholesterol?
    Well several scientists has theories that it has (5) (Please be advised this study is in rodens. Other studies i could find concerning cholesterol and mtorc1 has also been done in rodents)

    A lot of other scientists also think acne is caused by western food. (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) But you already know this 🙂

    What do you think about the ‘bad food’>mtorc1>cholesterol>5AR>DHT=acne “pathway”?

    (1)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11318779
    (2)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20814623
    (3)https://jhs.pharm.or.jp/data/53(5)/53_596.pdf
    (4)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3408989/
    (5)https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=nutritiondiss
    (6)Family history, body mass index, selected dietary factors, menstrual history, and risk of moderate to severe acne in adolescents and young adults. Landro et. al.
    (7)Mediterranean diet and familial dysmetabolism as factors influencing the development of acne. Skroza et. al.
    (8)Diet and acne update: Carbohydrates emerge as the main culprit. Mahmood, Bowe
    (9)Leucine and mTORC1/ a complex relationship
    – Kayleigh M. Dodd , Andrew R. Tee
    (10)Oily Skin: An Overview
    – Thais H. Sakuma, Howard I. Maibach
    (11)Beyond weight loss: a review of the therapeutic uses of very-low- carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets
    – A Paoli et al.

    • Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Esney.

      What do you think about the ‘bad food’>mtorc1>cholesterol>5AR>DHT=acne “pathway”?

      I’ve seen a handful of papers mentioning that cholestrol and triglycerides are elevated in acne patients. But to be honest, I haven’t paid much attention to those notions. I’ve always thought they are more of a side effect of other acne causes than the things that really cause acne.

      I could be wrong about this. It’s just that I’ve never seen any of the papers emphasizing the importance of cholestrol or triglycerides in acne. Perhaps they are just a consequence of insulin resistance and oxidative stress that’s common among acne patients.

      I would rather leave this kind of speculation to people much smarter than me. There are so many pathways in the body, with multitudes of interactions between them, that it’s really difficult to speculate such a long chain of causation.

      • Hi Seppo!
        That’s something I’ve never heard about before so thanks for sharing it!
        But I do have some questions. It seems to me you’ve been much more critical in your blog posts before. After all it’s only 10 persons and one of them develops acne… it’s statisitical nonsense to call that 10% significant, isn’t it? I didn’t read the paper but what you write here about it doesn’t sound very neat to me. I’m just curious and ready to be disabused.
        To all vegans (like me) who are going crazy right now: Please read a little about how B12 is absorbed into the body. There is absolutely no need for taking 500 micrograms of it a day unless you are absorption deficient, because only about 1,5 micrograms (+1%)are absorbed per serving. So it’s better to take a verly little amount twice a day rather than eating such a bulk. Please do not stop supplementing B12, fellow vegans, it’s necessary. Just do it cleverly 🙂

        • Great comment, Elinor. Yes, I do agree with you that we can’t make solid conclusions based on n=10 study. That being said, there are 2 reasons I wrote what I wrote.

          1) This paper offers very strong ‘mechanistic’ evidence for B12 causing acne. The researchers showed that sufficient B12 supply caused ‘genetic’ changes in P. Acnes bacteria. They took samples before and after supplementation from the participants. They were able to show that after supplementation the bacteria produced far more porphyrin for the 1 person who got acne.

          This is a pretty strong evidence that yes, B12 indeed caused acne. Given that none of the people normally get acne.

          What is the exact percentage who get acne from B12 megadoses, that we can’t say based on this study. But it’s not unreasonable to say that B12 indeed causes acne to people not normally prone to getting it.

          2) I took off my ‘science geek’ hat and put on my marketer hat. Unfortunately describing things with all the caution and disclaimers being 100% scientifically correct makes for a very boring reading. I.e. this could perhaps in some circumstances for some people, when stars align properly, be a problem.

          Science is full of uncertainties, but most people don’t want or have time to consider all that. And even if they do, they forget it the next day.

          So I have to take some liberties to make sure someone actually clicks the headline and reads the article. In this case, I don’t think that the liberties I took are unreasonable. While not 100% scientifically solid, they don’t misrepresent what the study shows.

          You did make a good point about vegans and I updated the post to clarify this is a concern for people who megadose with B12.

          • I agree with Elinor. I does seem from this article that you base your conclusion of a ‘significant connection’ on the reactions of participants’ skin in a study of n=10 alone

          • Not really. As I mentioned in the article, the B12-acne connection has been a medical curiosity for decades. We know it happens. This study shows how it happens. I would agree with you if this thing was based just on this study alone.

  6. Hey seppo
    This is definitely an interesting read. Ive had somewhat clear skin my entire life. I’ve been recently taking spurilina tablets for a year ‘religiously’ and strange enough after 4 months I’ve started to get breakouts, started gradually and then bam! found myself with hideous acne marks everywhere. I’m 44, so I thought it was hormone related. But i was getting acne everywhere, forehead, neck, jawline, chin. I’ve done almost everything quitting dairy, chocolate, sugar, taking zinc supplement and it just wouldn’t go away. I would get cystic pimples especially under jaw, neck area. As soon as I read this article about 2 weeks ago I’ve stopped spurilina and my acne seem to subside and not reoccur. The cystic pimples are dying off too – finally! Perhaps I have a build up of vitamin b12 and need to cut back.
    What ever it maybe I thank you for this article. This could be my next step to a better skin.
    Cross fingers.

    • Thanks for sharing your experience, Jessica. I was under the impression that spirulina and other vegan B12 options “don’t work”. As in, they aren’t converted to active B12 in the body. Your experience would suggest otherwise. Alternatively, perhaps skin bacteria can convert them to active B12.

      I hope this solves your acne riddle!

    • I thought I might write an update with my progress of stopping B12 supplement.
      It’s been 6 weeks now and no acne! Especially the cystic acne under my jaw and neckline, which felt like it wouldn’t go away. All flattened and left with just light brown marks which is also fading.
      Really happy that it has worked for me.

  7. This is an interesting post. I do not have any acne reaction from B12, although I only take a low dose occasionally.

    I have cleared my severe acne, after twenty years, by following a balanced diet with healthy fats, protein and carbs, exercising regularly and avoiding trans fats, too much sugar and unnecessary additives. I had insulin resistance for years but was unaware of this. I also cleared my keratosis pilaris by following this diet. I had severe keratosis pilaris over much of my body, which is rare as it usually only appears on the backs of people’s arms.

    I made the connection through trial and error with my diet that my keratosis pilaris improved only when my insulin resistance was under control. It was great to read on your website the links between acne and KP as I struggled for years trying to fix two separate skin conditions before realizing they both stemmed from my insulin resistance, which contributed to the over-production of skin cells common in KP and acne as well as adversely affecting my hormones.

    In the last year I have also begun to have issues with oxalates, which are in many plant foods. Eating foods with moderate to high levels of oxalates causes cystic acne to form on my skin. I have never had cystic acne before and it was upsetting. I could not think why this was happening as my diet was healthy. I kept a food diary and made a note of when the cysts appeared. I only realized it was the oxalates when I searched for the foods I knew had caused cysts for me: spinach, leeks, soy, cocoa powder, peanuts, almonds, wholewheat flour, brown rice and found that these foods all contain moderate to high amounts of oxalates. By eating low oxalate foods I am able to avoid cysts but many healthy foods are also high in oxalates so it is tricky to eat foods which will support insulin sensitivity whilst avoiding high oxalate foods. For example brown rice, wholewheat flour, nuts, sweet potatoes, potatoes, beans, and many vegetables causes cysts for me whereas the low oxalate alternatives tend to be bad choices when trying to avoid insulin resistance, such as white rice, white flour, and dairy.

    I know this post is a little off topic but I wondered if you have heard of anyone else getting cysts from oxalates? I still do not understand why they have this effect on me.

    Thanks again for providing such an informative and straightforward site on overcoming acne. I’m glad to think that nowadays people no longer have to suffer with acne for years and years as I did and finally have accurate information based on scientific research to help them.

    • Thanks for sharing your experience, Louise.

      This is the first time I hear anyone linking oxalates to acne. I did some research on PubMed and couldn’t find anything that would support or refute this. It does seem that excessive absorption of oxalates increases inflammation, so that’s a possible mechanism. That being said, I know very little about health effects of oxalates, so it’s possible I’m missing something.

  8. i recently started taking biotin (b vitamin) @ 3,000 mcg per day. bad decision. face got oily (while on accutane) and got 1 new deep pimple on my forhead and like 4 deep pimples on my chest.

  9. Hey Seppo,
    I know it is a little bit off topic but have you heard about Carnivor by MuscleMeds? Does it contributes to acne?
    I was taking whey protein but i started to break out so my goal was to find another protein shake.
    Thanks

    • Please see this post about whey protein for more info, it also touched on non-dairy proteins – or at least in the comments I do. In a nutshell, all proteins powders are somewhat acnegenic, but dairy proteins tend to be the worst. Many people report that they get no acne from other protein supplements.

  10. I’d be curious as to the B12 levels. I was very deficient with nerve damage and vision problems and started weekly injections that got me to 1500. I now take orally and have remained in the 900s. I’ve always had acne. It was no better when deficient and no worse when I was high. But I’m curious as to your thoughts on the numbers.

  11. Hi Seppo,

    I had 3 b12 injections after being diagnosed as deficient, however after the 3rd 10,000 mcg injection, within 48 hours I had the worst acne I’ve ever had my life.

    It’s now been 2 months, and I’ve been experiencing a bizarre pattern – so first it was 2.5 weeks of severe acne, then calmed down, then 2 weeks of bad acne, then calm down, and now I’m beginning to enter another period of bad acne (all over my forehead, jawline, cheeks, ugh!)

    I find it extremely depressing, I have stopped eating red meat, seafood, cut back on dairy, drink lots of water & green tea, and continue to take the acne medication I was prescribed prior to this b12 problem (I had very clear skin for a year because of the medication, but now it seems to have no effect post-b12 injection).

    I’m at a complete loss…I’m 27 and find it highly embarrassing and confusing so I will be going back to the doctor and ask to be referred to a dermatologist. I never thought I could react to something so dramatically!

    • Sorry to hear you got such bad results from the injection. I’m not sure there’s much you can do about this now. Try to treat it aggressively with topical acne medications, but other than that, your only option could be to wait it out. Oral antibiotics could also work, since they do reduce the levels of acne-causing bacteria on the skin.

  12. When I was 11 I took some common vitamin supplement with B12 for like a month because I am really skinny so I heard that taking vitamins helps with weight gaining. And my blackheads and some really mild acne showed up and my face was like that for about 2 years and then it got worse because I started eating junk food and coke and chocolate like crazy. I am kinda clear now because of your advice, but my mind is just wondering if I was blessed with beautiful skin and the vitamins ruined everything.

    • Glad to hear you are doing better now. I’m sure the vitamin supplements played a part, but you also seem to say that eating junk food made things worse. So it stands to reason it’s not all because of the vitamins.

  13. This is so true. I went from perfect skin six years ago to having cystic acne. It took me years to figure out what the problem was. I’m still battling. I suggest not taking mega doses of b-12. I’ve also heard b-6 can be a culprit. I’m surprised how little is known about b-12 and acne.

    • Reading the papers, I get the feeling this is a curiosity in the scientific community. But nobody has taken it seriously enough to get to the bottom of it. The paper I talked about in this post is a big step to that direction. I recall reading something along the lines that B6 might also trigger acne, but I have no realiable information about it.

  14. How long would it take to get the vitamin B12 out of your system? I was taking a 5000mcg supplement and 800mcg in a multivitamin just to add healthly vitamins to my diet. I took for about a month and have had the worst breakouts; hundreds of tiny ones to lots of medium ones every day. I stopped taking it after searching causes and the only major change was stress and the vitamins. I came across the B12 info amd stopped right away. I have not been taking it since June 6th; so it has been almost 2 weeks. I am still waking up to small groups of white breakouts each morning and they also seem to develop during the day and are more by evening.

    How long does it take to get out of ones system?
    Is there anything that helps (omega 3’s for example?) Or should I just drink lots of water to flush out of my system?
    Can taking a hot bath make it worse or better to bring blood flow?

    Thank you so much for any help!

    • Sorry, but I don’t know the answer to most of your questions. The best thing to do in your situation would be to start an aggressive antimicrobial topical treatment. B12 causes acne because it turns normal skin bacteria into a more aggressive variation. If you kill the bacteria on the skin, then B12 shouldn’t be such a big problem. I would suggest benzoyl peroxide and topical antibiotics. Niacinamide (vitamin B3) delivered topically could also help.

    • Sorry but I have no insights into supplement brands. All I can say is that I get most of my supplements from NOW Foods and have been more or less happy with them. That one seems to deliver a decent dose of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

      I doubt that either aloe vera or omega-3 supplements help your skin much. If you were dealing with a systemic problem, then they might help. But you are dealing with a problem that’s localized on the skin, and that’s where you need to treat it at. That’s why I suggested an aggressive topical antibacterial regimen with some vitamin B3 (topically) thrown in.

  15. About seven months after I started a pesco vegan diet, my large pores became tiny and my face stopped being oily! It was a miracle! Which didn’t last.. Now, a year later, I visited my doctor 11 days ago and showed him my B12 levels. I had 229. Normal is between 225 – 1000pg/ml, and less than 162pg/ml is considered to be a deficiency. He told me that we need more than 350 so he gave me B12 supplements for two months and also antihistamines for 15 days because of an allergy. Three days ago, my face started being oily again, with small white pimples. Today I took the 11th 1000mg B12 pill, and after reading this, I guess it has nothing to do with the antihistamines, but with B12 vitamins.

    I am so disapointed; I thought my skin cleared because I stopped eating eggs, dairy and meat. But seven months after I quit all these, B12 was just in low levels, that’s why I noticed a change. Now I’m afraid I have to eat meat again in order to avoid supplements, which I do not like, and that means my skin will always be oily with huge pores… Great! Also I am using topically adaferin cream mixed with another cosmetic cream, which helps a lot with my cysts but not so much with my oily skin.. I’m so confused! What should I use on my face now? Any ideas?

    • I would recommend using anti-bacterial topicals to keep the bacteria under control. B12 by itself doesn’t harm your skin. If you can keep the bacteria under control, then higher B12 levels likely cause fewer problems. I would try tea tree oil and vitamin B3, and maybe some benzoyl peroxide if the other 2 aren’t enough.

  16. This is very interesting to me because I have pretty bad ongoing acne and I got my B12 levels tested with a blood test a while ago and the results showed that they were higher than what was considered within normal range. My doctor said it was because I have a genetic mutation that prevents B12 from being transported properly into my cells and causes excess amounts of it to be in my blood. I don’t really know what to think of this but right now I am continuing to take a multivitamin with B12 in it, while also taking Lithium Orotate to help transport the B12 into my cells, and I will be getting another blood test soon to see if there is any difference in my levels. I am hoping that my B12 will be lower next time. But now I am just wondering if I should discontinue the supplementation of it altogether to see if my acne improves…

    • I don’t think anyone can answer that question. I would stop the supplement for a while to see if it helps. Multivitamins are more or less useless anyway.

  17. Hi Seppo,

    What’s on your current supplement regimen? What supplements have you found effective that you currently take?

    • This varies from person to person. People whose acne is linked to gut issues have to take different supplements from those whose acne is linked to hormones. I personally take zinc, HCL (stomach acid) and Iberogast (a digestion helper) to help with gut issues. The only supplement I would recommend to most people with acne is zinc.

  18. Thank you for this imp. information. I have 2 questions..

    1) What was the dose of vit. B12 in the study with 10 participants ?

    2) If gut is already producing excess vit. B12 then taking probiotics a good idea Or one should check vit. B12 blood level before taking pro biotics ?

    • 1) They got 1000 mcg by injection.
      2) That point was highly speculative. Nobody knows whether taking probiotics has any effect on B12 production in the gut.

  19. Hi, how are you?

    I just saw your book on Amazon.in
    Its price is over 11 k but on Amazon.com its available at $24.95 (1675 in Indian currency)

    Why there is so much difference ?

    • I doubt you can buy the book from Amazon anymore. I used to sell it at Amazon but stopped several years ago, since it’s not financially feasible. There are companies that re-list products at Amazon, but I doubt you can buy it anymore. I’m not selling it to anyone anymore. Plus, the book is out of date now and I transferred everything over to the membership section of my website.

  20. I’ve loved reading this. I’ve had break outs for a long time now and no matter what I do they don’t go anyway. I did bodybuilding for a while and know I was taking a Ton of b vitamins . Along with branch chain amnios everyday. Not to mention all the b12 and 6 in sugar free energy drinks that I love. I’ve pulled dairy and protein shakes. This has been the last thing I could think of. So no more bass or prework out or any other b vitamins. Wish me luck!

  21. Hey Seppo,

    I recently ordered the exposed skincare through your affiliate link – thanks for all the info you put out!

    Do you have a guide on how best to use each product? I got the expanded edition.

    Thank you,

    Steve

    • Hi Steve!

      Just follow their instructions. As long as none of the products irritate your skin, it doesn’t really matter how you use them.

  22. My nutritionist had told me about this (once I’m vegan for about 2 years, now I need to supplement vitamin B12) but, as I’m acne-prone, she told me I have to be careful with the dose and start with a very few amount to test the reaction on my skin.

  23. I began supplementing with b12 about a month ago but I stopped last week after realising that it was the reason behind my horrible acne breakout.
    I have had clear skin since I was 12 (23 now), people have even commented on it and then one day I wook up with my face covered in red angfy zits. At first I thought it wasmy make up so I quit using it, but then last week I realised it was the b12 causing it.
    It’s been a week and the acne is not disappearing,I don know what to do, I scar easily really easily and I just want my normal skin back. Does anyone have any advise on how to treat it?

  24. This is the second time I have gotten acne from B-12 shots. The first time I had three B-12 shots given by my Derm (skinny shot is what as referenced ) with a couple days after the third shot I went from clear skin to cysts. I had cysts right below my ear, fore head, eyebrows which were a size off an eraser.
    My Derm was quick to say she had never seen such a side effect and told me it was water soluble. Spend some time researching a even called researcher at UCLA who published a paper regarding high level of B-12 leading to p acne.

    Two year later , I tried again and same thing happen right after the third shot. Acne on my cheeks, below my eye.. they don’t normally form a white head.

    Off to putting a probiotic spray of my skin and antibiotic cream to hopefully get my skin clear in a couple of weeks. I will never take another B-12 shot again

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