Children’s gut health and the skin connection

Posted: January 2022
Author: Sharlene Bennett |  BHSc, AdvDip Nat, AdvDip Med Herb
 

The gut microbiome starts from newborn and continues its development in those early formative years. The first few years of a child’s life is an important time for building a healthy gut flora. Up to 75% of our diet can help determine our gut microbiome, laying the fundamental foundations for immunity, mood, energy and sleep behaviour and potential for later years.

Setting up a healthy gut and happy microbiome

The gut-brain axis is a two-way conversation between the gut bacteria and neurons, helping determine mood, and impacts our feelings of stress and anxiety. A happy gut often helps mood and anxiety issues by its indirect action on the nervous system.

The vagus nerve acts as a messenger channel for brain neurotransmitters and the gut microbiome. Neurotransmitters, such as serotonin is found within the gut and up to 90% production of serotonin occurs within the gut.

Anxiety in children is commonly seen in existing gut conditions, there is often a connection between the two and treating one often has an effect on the another. Chemical messengers such as our well-known neurotransmitters like serotonin, GABA, adrenaline, noradrenaline or dopamine influence our emotional and physical health.

All the benefits of the postbiotic effect

The fibre in our diet helps us with a natural prebiotic effect, feeding our bacteria, our probiotics act to help us in the moment as we need them. Then the postbiotic effect includes the end metabolite products, such as short chain fatty acids, (SCFAs) butyrate, propionate, and acetate.

 All can act as natural anti-inflammatories for gut health and can help more chronic systemic inflammatory diseases like IBD (Crohn’s and Colitis). The highest levels of SCFAs are found in the proximal colon and are then transported by enterocytes into the bloodstream where they help a range of actions, including gene expression or inflammation.

SCFAs help with a plethora of goodness inside the gut, helping to encourage and change gut integrity, supporting conditions like leaky gut. The role of SCFAs, help provide optimal maintenance of gut and immune homeostasis within the body, offering innate protection for the gut microbiome and supporting the gut mucosal recovery rate.

The gut and skin connection

The gut and the skin are organs that are essential immune and neuro-endocrine players in the body. They share an intimate relationship that is termed the “skin-gut axis” and numerous clinical studies have linked gastrointestinal health to our skin homeostasis. Much like the gut-brain axis the gut-skin axis works as a bi-directional pathway for neuron and cell communication. 

The potential and innate ability of the gut and skin microbiome

The intestinal microbiome works as a primary organ for metabolic and immune benefits to the host. Gut flora contribute to the breakdown of all our food, help nutrient absorption, uptake complex polysaccharides and are vital to the production of vitamin K in the body.

Certain gut microbes can also contribute to intestinal epithelial barrier function with cross-talk potential, providing mucosal immunity and interaction with helper T cells, immunoglobins and additional immune cells. SCFAs, propionate, acetate, and butyrate are thought to play a pivotal role in determining the certain skin microbiomic conditions which then impact on immune defences, weakening or strengthening the body and its immune response.

How to get good gut health

Helping our gut health, most certainly benefits our skin health and much more. Our gut microbiome is believed to communicate with all main organ networks within the body helping to boost our inner gastrointestinal health.

Herbs such as Lemon Balm work not only as a gentle relaxing botanical for nervous system restoration but as a digestive aid, the popular New Zealand native Kawakawa also acts to settle and soothe over anxious tummies as well as supporting skin health. The ultimate tummy soothers, Hoheria and Marshmallow both act as powerful demulcents for coating and soothing sore tummies and on-going gut conditions where systemic inflammation has become the main driver.

The renowned children’s herb Chamomile also helps here, soothing away tight tummies and settling feelings of stress or worry. Helping settle itching and upset with its calming effect on children. There are many options for helping to settle or support a healthy gut-ski axis, herbal botanicals or phytotherapy can help bring about symptomatic relief alongside recovery support for a healthy and happy gut microbiome for better children’s health.