Understanding the Gut-Skin Axis

Both the gut and skin are colonised with distinct microbial communities and operate as crucial organs in the body. Several conditions that primarily affect the gut also manifest in the skin, and the primary cause of several skin conditions has been identified as an underlying gastrointestinal disorder. This demonstration of a bidirectional connection between the gut and skin is known as the gut-skin axis.

A summary of what we know:

• The connection between the gut and the skin is thought to be mediated by the host immune system, however, the underlying mechanisms of how the gut microbiome alters the skin’s immune system, and vice versa, are currently being investigated (De Pessemier et al., 2021)

• Specific diets as well as the consumption of prebiotics or probiotics that are beneficial for the gastrointestinal system have shown the potential to prevent and manage various skin conditions such as acne, atopic dermatitis and psoriasis (De Pessemier et al., 2021)

• The gut-skin axis is not only governed by diet as research has found that skin exposure to UVB, and therefore indirectly to serum vitamin D levels, increased the alpha and beta diversity of the gut microbiome (Bosman et al., 2019)

• Several studies have shown the use of both topical and oral pre and probiotics to be beneficial to the skin’s microbiome and overall health (Gao et al., 2023)

Our progress:

Through work with Dr Whitney Bowe based in NYC, we found synergistic effects on the skin microbiome diversity, when combining topical and oral probiotics. Certain key microbes were found to be altered more significantly when topical and oral probiotics were consumed over a period of 30 days.

References

Bosman ES, Albert AY, Lui H, Dutz JP, Vallance BA. Skin Exposure to Narrow Band Ultraviolet (UVB) Light Modulates the Human Intestinal Microbiome. Front Microbiol. 2019 Oct 24;10:2410. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02410. PMID: 31708890; PMCID: PMC6821880.

De Pessemier B, Grine L, Debaere M, Maes A, Paetzold B, Callewaert C. Gut-Skin Axis: Current Knowledge of the Interrelationship between Microbial Dysbiosis and Skin Conditions. Microorganisms. 2021 Feb 11;9(2):353. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9020353. PMID: 33670115; PMCID: PMC7916842.

Gao T, Wang X, Li Y, Ren F. The Role of Probiotics in Skin Health and Related Gut-Skin Axis: A Review. Nutrients. 2023 Jul 13;15(14):3123. doi: 10.3390/nu15143123. PMID: 37513540; PMCID: PMC10385652.