What does the condition of your skin have to do with your gut health?
Have you heard of this term the ‘gut-skin connection’? Do you have some inkling that your skin issues and your gut issues may somehow be connected?
I wanted to write this blog post to explain and help you understand this phenomenon and also share with you the stories of a couple of lovely clients I worked with earlier this year.
The gut-skin connection
Let’s start with unpicking what this is. The gut-skin connection refers to the complex relationship between the health of the digestive system and the condition of the skin. The gut and skin are constantly communicating with each other through various pathways such as:
The immune system
Hormones
The gut microbiome
When there is a problem, or an imbalance, in the gut, it can lead to systemic issues that can manifest in the skin – think eczema, acne or rosacea.
What problems in the gut might lead to poor skin condition?
An imbalance of the microbes in your gut (known as dysbiosis). These trillions of bacteria living in your gut play an important role in maintaining immune balance and reducing inflammation. Dysbiosis, or an imbalance in these gut bacteria, can trigger systemic inflammation.
Leaky gut syndrome. This is where the integrity of the lining of the gut becomes compromised, leading to the ‘leaking’ of toxins, undigested food particles and pathogens into the bloodstream. This, in turn, can trigger immune reactions and skin conditions.
Chronic inflammation. When there is inflammation in the gut, there is often inflammation in the skin too. The body will try to expel toxins and deal with inflammation through its largest organ – the skin.
Nutrient absorption. When the gut is compromised, due to any of the above problems, it may struggle to effectively absorb the nutrients needed for healthy skin such as zinc, vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids. Of course, a lack of these nutrients in the diet could also be a cause of skin problems.
If you’ve tried varies creams, lotions and potions to address your skin issues, perhaps it’s time to take a deeper dive and address what’s going on in the gut.
Case studies
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of working with two lovely, very different people, suffering with severe eczema and skin issues. Both had very different diets, very different lives and even different experiences of their skin issues. With both clients, we delved deep and worked on repairing the gut and both saw huge improvements in their skin, and their digestive health as well.
I’d love to share a snippet of their stories with you, to show how different approaches to supporting gut health can be used to address skin issues.
Sue
Photo courtesy of Sue: taken at start of nutritional therapy journey (Feb ‘24)
Sue had struggled with eczema for a really long time, years in fact. She had tried varies creams, potions and therapies to try and resolve it, alongside conventional treatment. When I first saw her, the skin on her arms, legs, back, hands, feet, neck and even face was very red, sore and angry looking. She was fed up. She had some digestive symptoms, but nothing too severe or that would be classed as IBS (as is often the case with eczema or other skin complaints)
I did a deep dive into her medical history and did a thorough health assessment, as well as analysing her food diary. This work highlighted a lot of body systems that were under stress – the gut and the skin of course, but also the nervous system, immune system, endocrine (hormones) and liver.
What did we do?
We started out with a 3-week liver detox. I suspected that a lot of her symptoms were due to the liver being under stress. When the liver isn’t functioning optimally, the body will detoxify through the skin to compensate. The detox involved cutting out some foods and drinks for a period of 3 weeks including dairy, gluten, sugar, caffeine and alcohol. We also added in lots of liver supportive foods at the same time.
Sue started on regular, homemade, bone broth to support the integrity of her gut lining and to soothe and nourish her gut and skin. Bone broth is an incredible food containing essential nutrients beneficial for nourishing and repairing both the lining of the gut and the skin. For example, it contains collagen which helps to strengthen and repair the gut lining as well as promoting skin elasticity and hydration. It also contains amino acids such as glutamine and glycine, both involved in skin and gut lining repair. And a whole host of other compounds beneficial for skin and gut health.
We also addressed her low protein levels. On the outside, it would look as if Sue’s diet was really healthy – full of different plant foods, mostly real whole foods and very nutrient dense. However, on closer inspection, it was clear that she wasn’t getting enough protein in her diet. Protein provides the building blocks of almost everything – including the skin and the lining of the gut. Sue was also experiencing low energy levels, which often occurs when the balance of protein and carbohydrates is out – too many carbs, not enough protein.
After the 3-week detox, Sue saw considerable improvements in her energy levels and the condition of her skin. She continued to mostly avoid gluten, dairy, sugar, caffeine and alcohol, although did allow herself a bit more flexibility. She was most surprised by how much of a difference increasing her protein intake made to how she felt and hadn’t realised just how little she was eating before.
Photo courtesy of Sue: Taken after finishing our sessions together (Aug ‘24).
Over the next few months, we continued to work together and Sue’s skin was up and down in that time. We talked it through and came to the conclusion that stress was a big factor so she put in place measures to manage her stress levels. We also worked on introducing fermented foods slowly and gradually to help balance the bacteria in the gut. Because there was also an obvious immune activation with some of the skin flare ups – a clear pattern between certain foods being eaten followed by a severe skin reaction – she also toyed with eliminating high-histamine and histamine spiking foods. This also helped a lot with the skin.
We finished our work together and Sue continues to follow the main principles of her plan, with some wriggle room. Her skin is infinitely better than when we first started, and she has kindly permitted me to show you some before and after photos. Any of you suffering with eczema or other skin conditions will understand just how life changing this has been for her.
George
When I first saw George, he was in a similar situation, but had more gut symptoms and the skin was more up and down – reactive to certain triggers, but it seemed impossible to work out what those triggers were.
In George’s case we were able to do a comprehensive gut analysis through private stool testing. Whilst it’s often evident through symptoms and health history whether there is some level of dysbiosis present, with stool testing you can be really sure what’s going on. In this case we were able to really get to the bottom of the dysbiosis by seeing which friendly bacteria were lower in numbers than is ideal, and which potentially harmful bacteria were present in higher numbers. With this information, I was able to recommend targeted probiotic supplements that would increase the levels of ‘good’ bacteria that were too low. We also used herbal antimicrobials to address the high levels of ‘bad’ bacteria in the gut.
A number of other issues were highlighted in the test, such as the presence of a particular parasite, inflammation and factors that indicated a ‘leaky gut’, immune reactivity, poor digestion and slow transit. All of this allowed us to really get to the root cause of his symptoms and be very targeted in our therapy approach.
With George, we stripped the diet right back to some very basic components, loosely following a low-carb and auto-immune paleo type approach. This included animal proteins and fats, non-starchy vegetables, a few fruits and starchy vegetables and a few nuts and seeds and herbs. I’ll be honest – this was a very basic diet. But George was willing and motivated to do whatever it took to feel better.
He did feel better, though still had a few flare ups that we discussed as they came up and made tweaks to his diet and supplements. Over time, the flare ups became less and less and his skin and digestion were much better.
He now still follows a fairly simple, but nutrient dense diet, with some flexibility as and when life demands. He knows how to manage his diet to keep his skin and gut behaving!
Conclusions
In both these cases, there were no quick fixes, and there was no solution to ‘cure’ the skin condition. Both Sue and George will need to carefully manage their diet, and indeed their stress levels, to keep the skin and the gut in check. But they both have considerably better skin health now and both understand how to reduce flare ups and how to manage any issues that arise. And in both cases, the presenting skin conditions were dealt with through addressing the root cause – the health of the gut!
Key take aways
I have reflected a lot on these cases as I found both of them fascinating and challenging in very different ways, despite presenting with similar symptoms. It has really reinforced the need for personalised nutritional therapy, and reminds me of why no two client plans I write are the same. When it comes to nutrition – no one size fits all.
If you found this article interesting, please let me know in the comments. If you have any questions, drop me a message.
If you’re considering working with me to get your gut or skin sorted out, or any other health issue, book in for a FREE 15-minute discovery call.
“Lucy at The Mind Body Tree has been fantastic in helping me improve my gut health. Her practical approach and advice have made a real difference, and my symptoms have significantly reduced. Highly recommend her services for anyone looking to take control of their gut health”