Turns out, our body is made up of only 50 per cent of human cells and the rest are microscopic colonists that are collectively known as our microbiome. Bacteria takeS up the majority of these microorganisms and so it’s only natural that the best way to take care of the skin is to use skincare ingredients that contain probiotics that can help balance the microbiome.
We spoke with Dr A Young Kim, Amorepacific Senior Researcher to find out more about prebiotics and probiotics, gut health, and how they can all come together to give us better skin.
How are the gut and skin’s health-related?
The skin microbiome is a whole community of organisms that live on the skin. They form a biological barrier and controls the overall health of the skin. Your skin bacteria and skin immune system talk to each other, and they talk to the bacteria in your gut too. Just like your skin, your gut requires probiotics and prebiotics to stimulate the growth of good bacteria, to maintain a balanced gut microbiome.
Restoring the balance of bacteria in your gut can have positive effects on the skin. It controls more than 80 per cent of the body’s immunity and contains over 100 trillion bacteria that have an effect over factors like weight gain to mental well-being. So if you have an unhealthy gut it’s likely it can have a big impact on overall health and the appearance of the skin.
What are prebiotics and probiotics?
Probiotics are good bacteria that help to combat harmful bacteria, increase absorption of nutrients, and digestion to enhance the body’s immune system that will, in turn, reduce infections and inflammation. On the other hand, Prebiotics are a food source for beneficial bacteria’s growth. Both have long been paired hand-in-hand to combat imbalance within the gut microbiome and to promote a healthy digestive system.
What are the benefits of having prebiotics and probiotics in skincare products? Why do we need them?
Skin microbiome, which is so-called the second level of the skin, can lose its balance due to the external environmental factors. The efficacies of the probiotics and prebiotics go beyond easing the digestive system. They are integral to increasing good bacteria and removing bad bacteria within the human body, which will boost skin hydration and reduce wrinkles.
Probiotics are good bacteria beneficial to the body, highly important to the skin microbiome as a total nourisher and skin barrier booster. And prebiotics serves as nutritional fibres that feed and stimulate the growth of good bacterial within the skin microbiome.