The Science of Your Skin
Your skin is your body’s largest organ, and just like other parts of your body, it coexists with a bacteria flora that helps your skin carry out its functions and maintain balance. It’s worth noting that your skin is constantly challenged to adapt to changes in external and internal conditions, which is why understanding how probiotics like R’s KOSO can support skin health is so vital to overall well-being. (1)
Bacteria can help stop infections, change the oil profile, increase and decrease acne, and so much more.
Factors such as inflammation, stress, poor gut health, and drastic changes in pH levels can create imbalances in your skin’s microbiome. This imbalance can escalate to conditions like eczema, acne, and rosacea. (5)
The Research on How Probiotics Help the Skin
There is a growing body of evidence that suggests probiotic supplements taken orally or topically may help prevent and treat such conditions. (1) Certain strains of probiotics have even been linked to the skin’s ability to generate ceramides, which are key molecules that keep acne-causing microbes out and trap hydration in the skin. (2)
With regards to your skin’s aging, there are preliminary studies that are hopeful about the connections between probiotic supplements and slowing the skin’s aging process. (3) As you get older, the pH of your skin is slowly rising, which makes it drier in general, thus leading to more likelihood for wrinkles to develop. It also makes for a more ideal environment for “bad bacteria” to proliferate.
Gut flora and the skin
How do the bacteria in your gut affect the microbiome of your skin? Great question!
Studies are suggesting that the body can transport bacteria from the gut to the skin, though more research is needed to understand the mechanisms of how this happens. (4) Additionally, the bacteria in your gut manufacture nutrients like Short Chain Fatty Acids, or SCFAs, that can impact the properties of your skin. (4)
Your gut flora can impact acne conditions in the skin by playing an indirect role in inflammation, stress response, and nutrient uptake efficiency. (4)
All this to say, what happens in your gut is related to what shows up in your skin.
Your Diet and Your Skin
For your skin to glow and shine, optimizing your digestion with probiotics and nutrients that strengthen the gut lining is key. (4)
You can replenish the bacterial profile and quantity in your gut microbiota with probiotic-rich foods and natural supplements like R’s KOSO and other fermented foods. R’s KOSO is also full of prebiotic nutrients that feed your existing gut bacteria.
In addition to this, you should consider building up the integrity of your gut lining to regulate the body’s inflammatory pathways and the transport of nutrients and bacteria through your intestinal walls. Glutamine-rich foods like bone broth and mushrooms are useful for this. R’s KOSO contains over 100 different fermented plants, and that includes mushrooms and seaweeds.
Watch out for refined carbohydrates, oxidized vegetable oils, and foods you are allergic to/intolerant of. These can degrade your gut lining and disrupt your gut microbiome balance. Furthermore, the inflammatory impact of these foods is well documented, so avoiding them is also going to benefit your immune system and overall health status.
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References:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24364369/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352647515000155
- https://jddonline.com/articles/dermatology/S1545961616P0009X
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6678709/
- https://www.healthline.com/health/probiotics-skin-care#The-facts
Author
Keren Chen | CBT Nutritionist
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