The Gut Skin Connection: Clear Skin Starts in the Gut
Clear skin starts in the gut. If you’ve ever experienced a skin condition like acne, eczema, rosacea, dandruff, hives, rashes or psoriasis, chances are you’ve been given a topical treatment, an antibiotic or spironolactone and been sent on your way. And unfortunately for many, these treatments only provide short term relief. This is because the root cause of the acne, eczema or psoriasis is deeper than just skin deep and most often has a major gut component.
Getting long term relief from chronic skin conditions goes beyond topical treatments and requires a total body treatment that starts with the gut. The gut and skin are inextricably connected and the skin is one of the first places inflammation from a gut imbalance can show up. This is referred to as the gut-skin axis and there are three common disruptors to this gut-skin axis that we see driving chronic skin conditions in clients - lets discuss!
Our gut environment houses almost 80% of our immune system, controls our bodies breakdown and absorption of nutrients and is governed by the trillions of microbes that play a major role in the overall health and function of the gut. These three major areas of gut health are also how the gut influences the health of the skin and can drive chronic skin conditions. If a client is experiencing disruptions in their skin such as acne, rashes, hives, eczema or psoriasis our approach is to more deeply assess which of three areas are at play in order to address it directly and watch the skin naturally heal from the inside out.
Three Major Drivers of Gut-Skin Conditions:
Gut imbalances
Inflammation
Low mineral levels
If you’re experiencing a skin condition, there is most likely an imbalance in your gut bacteria!
The gut microbiome is made up of trillions of microbes which include bacteria as well as fungi and even protozoa such as parasites. When the gut environment is healthy and the microbiome is balanced, this ecosystem of organisms aids in the overall health of the gut and skin. These organisms are essential to a balanced immune function, metabolism and establishing optimal digestion and absorption of key nutrients - including the ones needed for optimal skin health but more on that later. However, when the gut microbiome experiences imbalances this can be a major driver in skin conditions such as acne, eczema, psoriasis, dandriff as well as hives and rashes. We see some common types of imbalances in our clients, here are the most common patterns.
Low beneficial bacteria. Our beneficial bacteria are the protective, anti-inflammatory species that must be present in abundance in the gut for healthy skin. The most common pattern we see on stool tests for chronic skin conditions is low beneficial bacteria. Our beneficial bacteria help to balance the immune system, maintain the strong gut barrier and produce anti-inflammatory by-products - when these species are low this can lead to inflammation and a breakdown in the gut barrier that contributes to chronic skin conditions.
Opportunistic Infections. Second most common pattern is the presence of opportunistic infections, or elevations in the bad bacteria. These organisms when found in higher populations in the gut can directly contribute to inflammation and disruption to the gut environment leading to skin conditions. These opportunistic infections are often bacterial such as h.pylori; however, they can also be fungal such as elevated candida.
Imbalances in the gut microbiome can be from things like stress, low quality diet, post-infection or antibiotic use, alcohol or environmental exposures. Our goal is to help our clients understand how and why these dynamics may be occurring, address the specific dynamic through nutrition, lifestyle and short term targeted supplements and help their unique gut environment to heal which at the same time reflects in the skin environment healing alongside.
Gut Inflammation and Clear Skin
Skin conditions are most often inflammatory in nature, so the less systemic inflammation we have, the more likely we are to be able to regulate and maintain healthy skin. The gut plays a major role in regulating inflammation and the immune system - that also means that if there are any imbalances in the gut, it can be a source of chronic inflammation that impacts our skin.
Our gut microbiome comes into play because they produce short chain fatty-acids (SCFA) as a byproduct when breaking down fibers and carbohydrates in foods. These SCFA’s are anti-inflammatory to the gut as a whole and can actually suppress inflammatory conditions. We often see low amounts of beneficial bacteria that in turn lowers the amount of SCFA production. When these by-products are not present in abundance, immune dysregulation and inflammation can occur that can show up in our skin like acne, eczema, dandruff or psoriasis.
Inflammation can also show up on the skin when the gut barrier is broken down also known as leaky gut. Leaky gut is when bigger particles or toxins from the gut get into the bloodstream which can directly lead to inflammation of the skin. Inflammatory compounds from the gut bacteria, such as LPS molecules from opportunistic bacteria, can enter the bloodstream and cause inflammation that can directly impact the skin driving the chronic skin condition. Understanding what is driving the breakdown of the gut barrier and working to rebuild that gut barrier is a major area that contributes to clients clearing these chronic skin conditions. We often see this inflammation elevated on blood and stool tests and we see them alongside clients that are experiencing skin symptoms.
In our practice, partnering the deeper functional testing along side foundational work such as better blood sugar support, improved nutrient intake and rebuilding stress resilience allows us to see clients skin conditions improve in a matter of months. The best part is that in addition to skin clearing, their digestion improves, their energy sores and their mood improves - it's a win-win!
Low Mineral Levels drive Skin Conditions
The gut is responsible for the breakdown and absorption of the key skin nutrients such as minerals, healthy fats and proteins. Some of the key vitamins that are essential to skin health are vitamin C, vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids, as well as key minerals like sodium, magnesium and potassium to maintain skin elasticity and hydration.
In most of our chronic skin clients, we find that a major driver is low mineral levels. Minerals, especially potassium, sodium and magnesium, aid in digestion, stress resilience and energy production as well as clear skin. Low mineral status is actually a major driver of stress and maldigestion in the gut due to its impact on creating low stomach acid. When the stomach isn’t producing enough stomach acid, this can lead to improper breakdown of proteins, minerals and reduce the self-cleaning abilities of the gut that increases the chances for gut imbalances.
Therefore, our first approach with all of our clients is to assess their mineral status and support optimizing minerals first through the diet. This strategy alone can make a major impact on your skin, energy and digestion. This is a major area we guide you through inside of our Nourished Gut Guide (NGG). In our 1:1 practice we actually measure our clients unique mineral status through a hair mineral test (HTMA) that gives us insight into the demand for minerals over the past 3-months so that we can customize minerals needs more deeply.
In our practice symptoms mean a lot to us and they help us to understand what areas and system we need to look more deeply at in that individual to help them eliminate the symptom and heal their body. The goal is always to address the root cause, not bandaid the symptom. If a client is experiencing disruptions in their skin like acne, rashes, eczema, or psoriasis, we do a deep dive on their unique body to understand what root causes are at play by looking deeper through functional testing at the gut, mineral status, blood sugar markers and hormones so we can customize their solution using nutrition, lifestyle and targeted short term supplements. This is because we know your skin is a symptom, understanding what is causing that symptom is the solution and that is what we address.
If you're struggling with chronic skin conditions, book a complimentary 30-minute strategy call where we can help assess your unique needs and get you started on the road to clear skin!
