Gut Health & Your Skin: How They’re Connected

The Gut–Skin Connection

You might not think about your gut when you look in the mirror—but your digestive system plays a big role in how your skin looks and feels.

The gut and skin are both barrier organs, meaning they protect your body from the outside world. When the gut barrier becomes imbalanced—due to factors like stress, processed foods, antibiotics, or lack of sleep—it can trigger low-grade inflammation throughout the body. That inflammation often shows up on the skin as redness, flares, or dryness.

This relationship is known as the gut–skin axis, and growing research shows that improving gut balance can lead to calmer, clearer skin.

How Gut Health Affects Common Skin Conditions

When the gut is out of balance, it can disrupt the immune system and make chronic skin conditions harder to control. In fact, nearly 70% of your immune system resides in your gut, meaning that what happens there has a direct impact on inflammation throughout your body—including your skin.

For people with eczema, research shows that changes in the gut microbiome—particularly a decrease in beneficial bacteria like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium—can alter how the body regulates inflammation. This imbalance may increase the release of histamines and inflammatory cytokines, leading to more itching, dryness, and sensitivity.

In psoriasis, chronic inflammation in the gut can activate the same immune pathways involved in skin flares, including the IL-17 and IL-23 signaling pathways. When the gut barrier becomes “leaky,” inflammatory molecules can enter the bloodstream, amplifying immune overactivity in the skin. Supporting gut health helps calm this cycle of inflammation and restore immune balance—often resulting in fewer flares, smoother skin, and improved overall well-being.

How to Support a Healthy Gut (and Healthier Skin)

There’s no single “gut-friendly” diet for everyone—but there are steps that can help your skin and digestion work together:

• Eat a variety of whole foods. Fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fermented foods (like yogurt, kefir, kimchi, or sauerkraut) help nourish healthy gut bacteria.
  
• Limit ultra-processed foods and added sugars. These can disrupt your gut microbiome and trigger inflammation.
  
• Stay hydrated. Water supports healthy digestion and skin barrier function.
  
• Manage stress. The gut is highly sensitive to emotional stress, which can also worsen flares. Practices like meditation, journaling, or light exercise help restore balance.
  
• Get enough sleep. Quality rest allows both your gut and skin to repair and renew.
  

The Zest Approach: Whole-Body Skin Health

At Zest, we treat skin conditions as more than surface-level issues. We recognize that lasting control often starts from the inside out. Your care plan may include nutrition guidance, stress support, and behavioral strategies alongside medical treatment to help your skin thrive naturally.

Our goal is to help you understand the why behind your flares—and to build a care plan that restores balance to both your skin and your overall health.