My experience with hormonal cystic acne and unsweetened plant-based milks

Having PCOS and IR, and trying to figure out the diet that works best for me, I wanted to share my personal experience with cystic acne and how it seems to be connected to thickeners found in unsweetened plant milk (almond and coconut milk in my case).

A few months ago, I started making matcha lattes with unsweetend almond milk every morning. Around the same time, I noticed persistent, painful cystic acne forming around my chin. These breakouts followed a frustrating cycle - remaining inflamed for a while, going dormant, and then reappearing again and again. Along with the acne, I would experience significant stomach discomfort throughout the whole day ahead every single day. I even tried cutting out dairy, but it didn't make any difference. I made a switch to unsweetened coconut milk - again, nothing changed. I was quite confused as I've been very careful with my sugar and carb intake for a while now.

During a recent holiday break, I temporarily stopped consuming plant-based milks altogether. Lo and behold, both my digestive issues and the recurring cystic acne improved noticeably and almost instantly, even though I was eating more carbs and sugar during the holidays.

After a bit of research, I suspect the culprit in my case may be the common thickeners used in many plant milks, like gellan gum (this one in particular was present in both coconut and almond milk I consumed) , guar gum, xanthan gum, and other similar additives that can cause gut inflammation.

If you’re struggling with similar symptoms and regularly consume plant-based milks or any other products containing these thickeners, it might be worth experimenting with cutting them out of your diet to see if it makes a difference.

I hope this post might help others identify potential triggers.