The skin-gut axis is just one of the many examples of commonly cited body axes that have seen an emerging amount of research and attention over the past decade. To illustrate the existence of this axis, just think about all of the times that you’ve eaten foods that result in breakouts. Both the skin and the gut are large organs with crucial roles in immune response and neurological relationships. Therefore, it’s important to understand the seemingly intimate relationship between the two, and how this can inform your wellness practices.

1. Your skin is your body’s largest organ for a reason.

It’s no secret that the skin, nails, and hair can be extremely telling; whether you’re internally sick, feeling nervous, or healthy as can be, your skin, nails, and hair will reveal this all externally. While this can be somewhat of a nuisance at times, this can also be a really great way to gauge aspects of health throughout the rest of your body. For example, brittle nails are often a telltale sign of vitamin deficiencies, and hives are often a telltale sign of an allergic reaction occurring somewhere in the body. By witnessing and taking note of certain abnormalities of the skin, you can often detect signs of internal deficiencies and imbalances.

2. Your gut is an ecosystem.

Read the above, and read it again. Your gut is a jungle full of all kinds of acids, nutrients, organs, and microbes, or bacteria. Due to the nature of digestion and gut function, whatever you put into your stomach, either comes out the other end or is broken down and sent elsewhere through the body. If you’ve ever heard of “leaky gut”, you may know that your intestinal linings can even have the ability to leak microbes out of the gut’s walls and manifest in symptoms of inflammation throughout the body. Therefore, it’s important to keep microbial diversity in mind as it relates to your general diet, as the rest of your body’s microbial composition is less distant from your gut than you think. 

3. Your skin and gut are always in conversation.

Speaking of distance, it may be intuitive to think that the skin and gut are completely unrelated, but the truth is, they’re always talking to each other. While there is a ton of literature out there that implies all kinds of directions in regards to your diet’s immediate effects on skin, there is one thing that scientists know for sure: the skin and gut wall linings are both extremely permeable, and therefore require a little extra care and attention. 

Ultimately, we always find it important to reiterate that your body is your own decision, and we actually encourage you to indulge in all the things that make you feel good. We feel that it’s also important to include a gentle reminder that our bodies can often be our very own multiverse, and therefore empowering yourself with knowledge is optimal. To learn more about common skin and gut conditions, feel free to satisfy your knowledge cravings by heading over to our Multidex and browsing through our current medically-reviewed health index.