the B. spot

Good morning B spot!

What do you think of when you hear lactobacillus acidophilus?   No, it’s not an STD although “Betty” is one of its primary residences.  It’s a naturally occurring beneficial bacteria found in the small intestine and other places.  What about saccharomyces boulardii?  It’s a yeast- a good yeast- first discovered in mangosteen and lychee fruit!  The bacteria and yeast that I just mentioned are a couple of commonly used probiotics.  What are they used in you may ask (as if you didn’t already know)?  Well they are taken orally either in foods like yogurt or supplements to treat intestinal disorders and other not-so-beauty related issues dealing with the intestines (I don’t really have to take it there do I?  You get what I’m saying, right?). 

So there have been many studies done and probiotics are showing promise in helping to keep our  insides on track.  But now these things are cropping up in skin care and the question is- what will it do for your skin?  SK1N Probiotics decided to take the plunge and created an entire skin care program based on probiotics to help reduce irritation and give your skin back it’s youthful glow.  It’s an all natural line that attempts to “cure” the root of your skin care issue instead of putting a band aid on the symptoms.

Science Behind It:

Bifida ferment lysate is an easy to use probiotic that has both in vitro (in a dish) and in vivo (human) studies that show its effectiveness in stabilizing our  immune system, making our skin more stress resistant (who couldn’t use that), providing nutrients to our skin, and protecting our skin against environmental aggressors. 

When our cells are stressed and under any duress they send out signals called Interleukins (IL); they are an integral part of our immune system.  There are many types of interleukins- about 35- such as IL1, IL2, IL6, IL12…the type of stress determines which IL will be signaled.  Think of it as an emergency network; when we dial 911 (in the US) the dispatcher will contact the police if we were robbed, the fire department in case of a fire, the ambulance if someone is hurt- whatever the situation the dispatcher will signal the appropriate person to the emergency.  The IL’s behave in the same manner, once they experience stress they signal the appropriate IL- allowing the cells to say “hey, we have an emergency sunburn over here- call out IL10 to the scene to take control!”  Now what often happens is these little IL’s can get overzealous and take their job too seriously and instead of triggering a small inflammation response its overachieving and turns on too much inflammation which ends up damaging the skin in the long run. 

Probiotics by their very nature are chock full of vitamins and other nutrients (they are milk derived) and can supply the skin with nutrients (think of how a mother’s breast milk nourishes her baby).

I hope that was useful!

Best,

Ni’Kita