The Important Link Between Probiotics and Skin Health

This article is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. If you’re experiencing persistent skin issues, it’s important to consult a healthcare professional. They can help determine the underlying cause of your symptoms and recommend the appropriate treatment.

When we think about skincare, serums, creams, moisturizers, and cleansers often come to mind. However, internal skincare can be just as crucial—if not more so—than the topical products we use.

Internal skincare involves nurturing our skin from within through a balanced diet, proper hydration, stress management, regular exercise, probiotics and skin health. That’s right—staying hydrated and working out isn’t just beneficial for our physique but also for our skin health. Additionally, internal skincare is vital for teens and tweens navigating hormonal changes, helping to maintain healthy skin as they grow.

Mother and teenage daughter - probiotics and skin care — What we put IN our bodies also matters for our skin! Source: Adobe Stock

Improve your skin from within

Beauty starts from within. This is also the case with improving your skin. Rather than focusing just on external creams and serums, we need to get the basics down pat first. The good news about improving your skin internally is that it’s much more affordable than relying heavily on external skincare. As much as we love a good skincare product – and as much as our tweens love browsing the shelves at your favourite beauty store – the search for perfect skin begins at home.

Here are four key factors to consider when improving your skin and to pass on to your tweens and teens.

1. Water Water Water!

Drinking plenty of water is essential for maintaining skin moisture and supporting the skin’s natural barrier. You can make water a little more enjoyable by adding some fresh lemon, lime or cucumber.

2. The Right Nutrients

Nutrients that work wonders for our skin include Vitamin C, Vitamin E, antioxidants, Omega-3 fatty acids, and zinc, which help maintain skin elasticity, hydration, and protection against environmental damage. Look for foods that include these super minerals such as blueberries, nuts, avocado, green tea, leafy green veggies and veggies packed with beta keratin.

FUN FACT: Dark chocolate is also proven to be good for your skin¹. But remember, everything in moderation!

blueberries for healthy skin — Blueberries, rich in antioxidants are so good for our skin! Source: Adobe Stock

3. Exercise, Sleep and Stress Management

I used to believe that sweat leads to poor skin and thus, exercise and healthy skin don’t go together. This is not the case at all and daily exercise is great for skin health by improving circulation, reducing inflammation, and supporting overall well-being.

Sleep and stress management are also vital. Look for ways to relax before bed whether with mindful activities like colouring or meditation.

4. Probiotics

Your digestive health plays a crucial role in skin care too and can positively affect skin appearance. Adding probiotics to your day-to-day is also a great way to improve your skin from within. While it’s well known that probiotics are beneficial bacteria that support gut health, did you know that recent research has also unveiled their remarkable potential for skin health too?

antibiotics-gut-health-yakult-light — A daily probiotic can really help with your skin’s health. Source: Supplied

The Connection between Probiotics and Skin Health

There’s a growing understanding of the gut-skin axis, which suggests that a healthy gut microbiome can positively influence skin health. Here’s how:

1. Helps Improve Acne

Acne is primarily caused by the presence of P. acne bacteria, a potentially harmful bacteria, on the skin. Studies have shown that probiotics play a significant role in managing acne when consumed or applied to the skin². Probiotics help prevent the growth of P. acne and other harmful bacteria that can lead to acne breakouts.

2. Reduces Skin Inflammation

Those red patches on your face? Bye bye. Probiotics also have anti-inflammatory properties and reduce redness and inflammation.

3. A Youthful Glow

So many skincare products promise a youthful glow but did you know you can achieve younger-looking skin from within? Probiotics, in both oral and topical form,³ have been found to have anti-aging properties, promoting a more youthful appearance and can improve skin gloss, retain moisture to reduce dryness and even reduce wrinkle depth.

4. Skin Barrier Integrity

Our skin is the first contact for all sorts of external threats – dust, dirt and harmful microbes, for example. Probiotics are known to amplify and activate skin barrier proteins, thus restoring and strengthening the skin’s natural defence and mechanism.⁴

Your Daily Dose of Probiotics

One of the easiest ways to lift your skin game is through a probiotic drink. And no one does probiotic drinks as good as Yakult. We’ve highlighted Yakult and Yakult Light before for their gut-healing benefits, and consuming them as a healthy probiotic drink can also be great for supporting healthy skin.

Yakult Probiotics for Healthy Skin — Source: Supplied

If you’ve never tried Yakult before, let us share a bit about it. Yakult is a probiotic fermented milk drink that contains a very high concentration of the unique bacterium Lacticaseibacillus paracasei Shirota strain (LcS). It’s the only product in the world to contain this unique probiotic bacteria.

A Surprise Discovery

Back in the 1950s, Yakult used to come in glass bottles, and the women working in the factory cleaning them ended up with super soft, beautiful hands from handling the probiotic extracts! Using these same extracts from carefully fermented lactic acid bacteria, Yakult Japan went on to create the Shirota Essence, which moisturises, protects, and keeps your skin healthy.

While we usually think of Yakult as a tasty beverage, it’s pretty cool to know that Yakult Japan also has a cosmetic research department that shows how probiotics can work wonders for your skin! Unfortunately, the skincare is not available for sale in Australia.

Yakult Skincare Range — Source: Supplied

FUN FACT: The LcS in Yakult is scientifically proven to survive the journey through the gastric juices to reach the small intestine alive, to alter and improve digestive balance and intestinal health, which in turn, works wonders for our skin too.

Yakult and Yakult LIGHT - Probiotics and Skin — Source: Mum Central

Simple Steps to Better Skin Care

Skin care is complex and one of the reasons is because there are so many different skin-related concerns. For some, it’s dry skin. For others, it’s oily skin. Some struggle with acne while others have problems with rosacea. It’s complex and annoying and made even more frustrating when the products you’ve just spent a fortune on don’t seem to be doing much.

If you are looking to improve your skin, try taking a step back.

Start simple.
Good foods.
Great sleep.
Some exercise.
Heaps of water.
A daily probiotic.

The next time you’re in the grocery store, head to the refrigerated section and grab a package of Yakult. Give it a go for 2-3 weeks and see how it impacts your family’s gut and skin health.

digestive health — Grab your Yakult from the fridge section of the supermarket. Source: Supplied

And remember to pass this info on to your tweens and teens too. Sure, buying all the latest products is exciting for them but internal skincare can be a more child-friendly way to promote skin health and other benefits to overall health. After all, internal beauty prompts external beauty and healthy skin starts from within.

More than one way to serve

Yakult comes in these adorable little bottles that you can easily drink in a sip or two, are great on their own or in smoothies and are perfect for school lunch boxes too. Each 65ml bottle contains 6.5 billion of these highly acid-resistant bacteria, exclusive to Yakult. We have heaps of awesome recipes using Yakult and Yakult LIGHT if you’d like to get creative:

no-bake cheesecake cups using Yakult — Get creative in the way you serve your probiotics! Source: Mum Central

FUN FACT: While the Yakult Original and Yakult LIGHT we have here in Australia are intended for consumption, Yakult Japan has a cosmetic research department and skincare range. Both the Yakult drink and skin care range use the lactic acid bacteria fermentation extract that protects the gut mucosa and the skin. If the skincare range ever comes to Australia, we will be sure to let you know!

Behind the Scenes of Yakult

If you are after something a bit different to do with the kids, then consider booking a FREE Yakult Factory Tour in Dandenong, Victoria, where Yakult is made. Take a look at our recent tour review – so much fun!

Probiotics a Staple in Japanese Primary Schools

Recently we travelled to Japan and discovered how Yakult is also a staple in the Japanese schooling system. Take a look at what we discovered and see why Japanese school lunches are transforming the relationships kids have with food.