The gut and skin
Information provided by one of our talented team of experts – Anjali Mahto.
Like your gut, your skin hosts many different microbial residents, including bacteria, fungi and other microbial communities – it is known as your skin microbiome/microbiota.
When the composition of this ecosystem changes, it can manifest in conditions, like atopic dermatitis (aka eczema). In fact, research has shown associations between rosacea and SIBO, and IBS and the risk of developing inflammatory skin conditions.
So, what has this got to do with your gut microbes?
Changes to and activity of your gut microbes can impact your microbiome. We aren’t there yet but soon scientists might discover how to manage conditions by looking at the gut.
That being said, an area of research that is rapidly growing, is how do the gut and skin communicate with each other? Below are some proposed mechanisms by which the gut and skin are understood to interact:
Gut microbiome changes: may directly affect or induce changes in our skin microbiome (or resident microbes in the skin)
Microbial imbalance: (read more on dysbiosis here), within the gut may cause the production of various molecules that can access the circulation and accumulate in sites around the body, such as the skin, unfortunately having a negative impact.
Interested in finding out more?
Read more on how gut imbalances & a disturbed gut barrier can impact your skin on our app. You can download it for free below.
