What are the Health Benefits of Probiotics?
The Secret to Healthier Skin..
You may have heard of the term “probiotics” before, especially when referring to your gut. Probiotics are living bacteria that reside in your digestive system and are helpful for gut health. You may think of bacteria as being harmful to your health, but there are millions of bacteria living in our body, some of which are actually beneficial to you. This is why you may have seen probiotic drinks such as kombucha or yoghurt, in which the probiotics featured help the healthy bacteria in your gut, leading to better digestion and overall gut health. There are also probiotics in foods such as kimchi or sauerkraut! Including probiotics in your diet can help to balance the good and bad bacteria in your body.
So when you hear the term “probiotics”, it is basically referring to the bacteria living in your body that are good for you. These probiotics are added to drinks to aid gut bacteria, and are also added to skincare products to help the bacteria that reside on your skin. If you read our last blog about the skin microbiome, you’ll know all about these bacteria which help your skin health while also helping your immune system to function properly and preventing harmful bacteria from entering the body.
Probiotics in Skincare
While probiotic foods/drinks are a relatively long-standing trend, adding probiotics to skincare is a relatively recent phenomenon.
Probiotic skincare was first introduced around 2010, and since then there has been an increase in the number of skincare brands producing probiotic skincare products, though it is still relatively new to the market.
Probiotics work to support and improve the skin’s natural biome, which in turn helps to strengthen the skin’s barrier and reduce irritation and sensitivity. Many skincare products nowadays are harsh on the skin and tend to weaken the skin’s microbiome rather than strengthen it, and the goal with biome skincare is to work with the skin’s microbiome to allow it to function optimally and promote healthy, radiant skin.
Just like how including probiotic drinks or probiotic foods (such as kombucha or kimchi) can help to improve your gut health, giving some attention to the microbiome of your skin can allow your skin to be at optimal health and improve its natural state, strengthening the skin barrier and giving your skin a healthy glow. Who doesn’t want that?
Have you heard about probiotics in skincare? Let us know what your first impressions of probiotics were!