*the podcast will be changing to every other week during the COVID-19 outbreak due to my interviewees busy schedules*
Did you know? Your skin has its own microbiome that influences this important organs overall health. While less populous than the gut, the skin microbiota plays an important role in our health. This week we talk about what we currently know about the skin microbiome, the gut-skin axis, and future research with microbiologist Elie Knaizeh.
Nutrition Pearls for The Skin Microbiome
- Your skin is home to a collection of bacteria, viruses, and fungi that works to protect your skin, promote a functioning immune system on the skin
- Certain microbes are involved in maintaining healthy skin, facilitate the absorption of nutrients, add nutrients to the skin, defend the skin against invading microbes
- Certain bacteria produce bacteriocins/anti-microbial peptides to protect the skin and regulate immune function
- Different parts of your skin have different ecosystems – making it hard to figure out key strains and maintaining the balance
- The skin microbiome from person to person is unique and currently there isn’t supportive evidence to cater skin care products to the skin microbiome.
- The the ‘gut-skin axis’ appears to influence skin health and disease by way of bacterial cross talk and the systemic effects of the gut microbiota on the body
- Taking care of your gut microbiota may positively influence your skin microbiota by way of the bacterial metabolites, and your gut microbiota’s systemic effects. For example, diets with high glycemic load (‘Western diets’) increase IGF-1 signalling, and have been identified contributors to P. acnes (C. acnes) – the bacteria implicated in acne
Elie Knaizeh is a microbiologist with a speciality in antimicrobial resistance who became skincare obsessed. He decided to use his training in scientific investigation to explain the science behind skincare and the skin, in a fun and approachable manner on his Instagram @skinsciencezaddy. His goal is to empower people to make informed decisions about their skin health.
In this episode we discuss:
- How a microbiologist became interested in skin health
- What is the skin microbiome?
- How does the skin microbiome influence our skin health
- Probiotics, prebiotics & postbiotics in skin care
- Variance in the regions of our skin (interpersonal and intrapersonal differences)
- Skin care products catered to taking care of our skin microbes – helpful or hype?
- What is the gut-skin axis?
- Internal probiotics and skin health
- His #1 tip for taking care of the skin
You can follow Elie @skinsciencezaddy on Instagram!
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