Often mentioned when we talk about the immune system, the intestinal flora is a microbiota composed of a multitude of bacteria living in harmony with your body.
These are the latter which allow your digestive system to filter pathogens to avoid indigestion.
They are still the ones who participate in the digestion, strictly speaking, of the food you consume.
And for all the attention given to gut flora in recent years, the operating model of this team of microbes is not unique.
Much less known but just as important, the skin microflora brings together vital functions for the production, maintenance and repair of the layers of your skin. Even more surprising: it seems that its functioning influences your skin senescence.
What are the relationships between the skin microbiome and the aging process? Why is it essential to take care of it and how can you put all the chances on your side to help it in its task?
Skin microbiome: an army of bacteria serving your skin
The skin microbiome generally refers to all the bacteria, fungi and viruses present on the surface of your skin.
While some of them can turn out to be pathogenic, a good portion offer health benefits to your skin, when they respect a certain proportion.
The biodiversity of these microorganisms allows you to benefit mainly from:
- An immune function (by stimulating the phagocytosis of certain pathogens and the production of antibodies), limiting the risk of colonization of the skin by one or more pathogenic bacteria;
- A physiological function (through its contribution to the homeostasis of the skin as well as its healing).
Called “skin biofilms”, the layers of commensal flora (the equivalent of your intestinal bacterial flora but located in the layers of your skin) are organized to function in symbiosis with skin cells. It is in particular thanks to certain fungi (Malassezia furfur and Candida albicans among others) that you can more easily get “new skin” since they feed on the dead cells of your epidermis and your sebum.
Ph and hydration: key factors in skin health
However, from health to illness, there may be only one step. Indeed, to allow this symbiosis to function properly, your skin must respect Ph and hydration conditions favorable to the life of your skin microbiome.
These two parameters are also closely linked.
Skin that is too dry, for example, can lead to overgrowth of the fungus Candida albicans, which opens the way to the development of skin fungal infections. This development will be even more likely to accelerate and persist if your skin is acidic.
This means that, for the good health of your skin, it is vital to:
- You ensure that its Ph is neither too acidic nor too basic (soaps with a neutral Ph, between 5 and 7, are one of the ways to control the acidity level of your skin);
- Make sure she is always sufficiently hydrated.
While skincare products are a good way to help improve the health of your skin on a daily basis, they only address the problem on the surface.
Health of your skin: internal and external factors
Attacked by air pollution, by UV rays, by the acidity level of your shower water, by free radicals from cigarette smoke, your skin is also subject to internal factors. Stress, lack of sleep and malnutrition are the most important.
Thus, an unbalanced diet, too rich in saturated fats for example, will impact your skin by making it more acidic.
A lack of nutrients will also tend to reduce your hydration level.
In this regard, research such as that carried out by Doctor Sunhee Lim ¹ and that conducted by Kunpyo Kim ² is gradually making it possible to understand the links maintained by the Ph couple and the level of hydration of your skin with your epidermal health.
Skin microbiome and aging
Even more surprising, it seems that the aging process and the state of the skin microbiome are closely linked, as suggested by studies carried out respectively by Nakako Shibagaki³ and Zichao Li(4) .
It emerges that not only does age influence the composition of the commensal flora (a conclusion already drawn several decades ago) but also that this relationship is two-way.
Indeed, controlling the state of the skin microbiome would make it possible to predict, to a certain extent, the prospects for changes in the skin in the face of aging.
Furthermore, the nature of this relationship would open, in the more or less near future, the way to targeted microbial therapies aimed at controlling the speed and quality of aging.
However, if it is still difficult to achieve such feats, it is still possible to support the senescence of your skin by:
- Practicing regular physical activity;
- Promoting periods of sleep of sufficient quality and duration;
- Limiting internal and external premature aging factors (cigarette smoke, UV rays from the sun, stress, etc.);
- Respecting as much as possible the principles of good nutrition recommended by your doctor.
In addition, although a health routine that coherently integrates these 4 areas of prevention is ideal, it can be difficult to eat correctly.
To help you, nutricosmetics provides you with food supplements aimed at supporting you, thus helping to provide the conditions for normal nutrition.
Maintaining your skin microbiome
Protecting your epidermis from premature aging factors and helping your skin microbiome by creating the conditions for it to flourish requires nutrition adapted to its needs and still constitutes your best chance of supporting your skin towards normal functioning at any age.
Diet at the heart of your skin health
Diet can become a “handicap” for your skin when it lacks the means to heal, renew itself and maintain physiological functions such as:
- Its production of endogenous collagen (essential for maintaining your skin firmness);
- Its production of hyaluronic acid (necessary for maintaining a good level of hydration).
Modernity and the skin microbiome
In addition, the factors of skin aging and the sources of dysfunction in this regard have continued to increase since the start of the industrial revolution. Stress, lack of sleep, dietary imbalance and lack of physical exercise are more and more often the norm and this sometimes results in dysfunctions very early on for your skin microbiome which struggles to adjust.
Nutricosmetics can contribute to the normal functioning of your commensal flora
Nutricosmetics has developed numerous solutions aimed at contributing to the normal functioning of your skin.
By nourishing your skin from the inside, the food supplements produced from it help to regulate the Ph and hydration levels of your epidermis to remain within accepted standards.
Hyaluronic acid, collagen and antioxidants are the main ingredients.
MyCollagenLift: when nutricosmetics contribute to the normal functioning of your skin
A source of nutrients of 100% natural origin and selected for their ability to enter into synergy, MyCollagenLift is a nutricosmetic signed by MyPUREskin intended to contribute to the normal functioning of your skin.
A food supplement without artificial additives, MyCollagenLift contains active ingredients combined in a cocktail aimed at:
- Provide you with a lot of nutrients that can be useful in your production of endogenous collagen;
- Contribute to a normal level of hydration for your skin;
- Help your skin achieve the protection it should normally have in the face of oxidative stress.
To deliver this bundle of nutrients to your skin and help it stay at a normal hydration level, MyCollagenLift uses:
- Bioavailable marine collagen peptides, more effective than conventional non-hydrolyzed collagen;
- Hyaluronic acid capturing nearly 1000 times its weight in water;
- Ceramides from wheat (gluten-free) contributing to normal hydration;
- Organic silicon that can be used as part of normal production of endogenous collagen by your skin cells.
To contribute to the protection your skin should naturally have against free radicals, MyCollagenLift also brings together:
- Vitamin C, an antioxidant extracted from acerola fruit, which also contributes to the normal functioning of bones, cartilage, skin and its metabolism (which helps reduce fatigue when it is too severe). );
- Vitamin E, also helping to protect your cells from oxidative stress by supporting your natural defenses;
- Grape OPCs, natural polyphenols contributing to the normal functioning of your epidermis' defense mechanisms against oxidative stress;
- Zinc, a trace element supporting your body in its effort to maintain a normal regime for your bones, your hair, your nails, your skin and your nervous system, in addition to its antioxidant properties.
- Melon extract combines with all these ingredients to contribute to the natural protection of your skin against free electrons.
Why not adopt a healthy routine that will help your microbiome function normally in the long term?
To support you in this effort, MyPUREskin offers you a first course of MyCollagenLift over 3 months, the results of which, combined with those of your routine, will be revealed gradually.
- Study relating to the impact of a diet on the level of hydration, the level of sebum production and the Ph level of the skin: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles /PMC6471406/
- Kunpyo Kim's research on the relationship between skin pH and diet: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316331971_A_Study_on_the_Relationship_of_Skin_Surface_pH_with_Nutrient_Intake_or_Dietary_Pattern_in_Healthy_Adults
- Study by Nakako Shibagaki on changes in the skin microbiome as women age: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5585242/
- Zichao Li's research on the effects of the skin microbiome on skin aging: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7649423/