Episode 42 of The Living Life Well Show: The Gut Skin Connection
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Living Life Well Show, the intersection of God's Word, today's science, and healthy living with common sense application, all based on the truth of the Word of God. I'm your host, Dr. Jon Skelton. Now let's get straight to the truth.
All right. Welcome back to living life. While the show today, I wanted to discuss. The gut skin connection. If you will. With that being said, let's go ahead and. Dive right in. So eczema or atopic dermatitis as it's known. Is a very common condition.
We see it typically in younger kids a lot of times. But we also see it in adults too, and it can be extremely severe. With this. It tends to [00:01:00] primarily affect. Kind of our joints that bend typically at the elbows or behind the knees. But we really we'll see it everywhere and it can be on the face.
It can be throughout the entire body and it is really difficult to deal with. People generally treat it with steroids, treat it with. All sorts of things. And so. A topic dermatitis or eczema is also associated with a lot of other conditions. Primarily we've really associated it with asthma in the past.
And we see a strong association. And I've spoken in previous episodes about how asthma and eczema are really kind of a quote. Baby auto-immune diseases, if you will, or a sign of an overactive immune system.
Well, as we know. Auto immune disease can come in lots of different varieties [00:02:00] manifest itself in joint pains. A lot of times, skin rashes. Chronic debilitating pain. In general. And there are also auto-immune diseases that are associated with the gut as well. And so we really want to take a look at what is this kind of connection that we're seeing there.
There was a recent study that is out of England that really looked at over three and a half million. People that have a topic dermatitis. As well as about. 16 plus million people without a topic dermatitis. And looked at association with different disease. As states. So the findings are from a UK study that was published in nature communications. Just this month.
And so what they did was they took data from primary care [00:03:00] physicians from visits and diagnosis data. And compared that, that little over three and a half million with that 16 million. And then any associated disease states are where outcomes and really what they found is those people that had a atopic dermatitis as a diagnosis. I also had a lot of other potential for diagnoses as well. And so in looking at that, what they found was that a lot of those people would be also diagnosed with a food allergy.
They would also have allergic conjunctivitis as well as allergic rhinitis or asthma, and then even eosinophilic esophogitis creeps in as well. But when they went and looked at it even a little bit further, it was also associated with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Molluscum contagiosum alopecia areata or [00:04:00] losing your hair.
Crohn's disease, a quote, dermatophyte infection. Urticaria. As well as herpes simplex was associated with this as well. The risks that they saw were also associated with cigarette smoking. Now. Once they went and looked at the Absolute dose response and the severity of your, a topic. Dermatitis or your eczema. It was more severe and those that had irritable bowel syndrome. Reflux a blood clotting disorders, esophagitis.
Okay. COPD, obesity, peripheral, neuropathies, gastritis. And duodenitis so. The vast majority of those. Our GI associated. Right. Well, What we know is that the gut really is the gateway [00:05:00] to health . And so what we know is that the vast majority of the immune system is in the gut. So when we are looking at potentially doing allergy testing, because we're having. Dermatologic manifestations.
Really what we need to look at is the guy, the chief driver that I believe that's behind the atopic dermatitis is not a food allergy. Is not one specific infection. But his really leaky gut. We see gastritis. We see duodenitis if you will we see irritable bowel syndrome all associated with different gut disease states being at H pylori B dysbiosis. Both of which really lead to leaky gut. Over time when they persist in untreated states.
And so. [00:06:00] Really fixing leaky gut. Is going to be the key before you ever go to any sort of allergy testing for food. It's interesting to me that as I treat patients. Treat their gut. Their asthma. Goes away as we fix the leaky gut, they can now smell again. Patients that have had chronic sinus infections for years and years well, you know, have their typical twice a year sinus infection or frequently have seasonal allergies or hay fever. All of this really goes away when we treat the gut. They stop using their Flonase.
They stop using their Zyrtec. There Singulair there. Benadryl or a Alegra D and so. This can really all be alleviated many [00:07:00] times by really looking at the gut and N really looking at it. In a detailed fashion. So doing things like a stool culture, doing a breath test for H pylori. Is not going to be enough.
You really need that GI map to give you that. That full intestinal health situation. Because if you have leaky gut and by leaky gut, really the way we kind of look at that is with one of the tests called zonulin. That are associated with leaky gut when zonulin is elevated, that indicates that you are not digesting fully prior to absorbing. Whatever food substance it is into your body.
You are not getting it down to those smallest particles that God intended. Before it enters into your cells and into your. [00:08:00] Bloodstream and then as circulated throughout your body, when something. Is larger than expected. That creates a, an allergic or immune response, if you will. Which. Can set off all these symptoms of allergic reactions or eczema or allergic rhinitis, even allergic conjunctivitis. Urticaria. That we talked about. All of all these sayings as, as well as asthma. As well as exacerbating Underlying issues with a possible gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, ulcerative colitis.
And Crohn's. All of those are going to be associated with immune response. Typically immune response is coming from the gut. And so we need to really evaluate the gut fully before we ever move on to food, [00:09:00] sensitivity testing and those things. And so. Many times environmental exposures may still cause some reaction.
However, when you clean up the gut, those environmental things that you react to be it pollen and be it ragweed. Be it. Mold be it Cedar. Typically that response is going to be much less once we really heal the gut. So in and really review, what we want to do is we want to be thorough with our gut testing.
And so being thorough means getting a GI map, adding on that zonulin to that GI map to really determine. A do I have infection, which is the GM. App's going to tell you, it's going to tell you your intestinal health markers is going to tell you how. Responsive your gastrointestinal track is through secretary IGA through anti-gliadin how your digestive enzymes are [00:10:00] coming through the To create the elastase.
What the bacteria that are in your gut are doing the beta glucuronidase your level of blood in your stool. And so you're going to get all those, but if you don't have that zonulin piece, You're not going to know whether you are really digesting fully prior to absorption taking place. And we want to digest fully before we ever absorb.
And so. Adding that zonulin piece on is going to be important. So if this is something that you've struggled with, if you are having seasonal allergies or been diagnosed with allergic rhinitis or eczema or asthma, Or any of those other gastrointestinal conditions, specifically irritable bowel syndrome.
We see that so often now. Usually that's due to leaky gut. Well, how can you help heal leaky gut? Well, number one is get off of all [00:11:00] process forms of food. You want to eat a whole foods, diet, primarily plant based. But you want to make sure that they are whole foods, so. You're going to be shopping in that produce section primarily, or the frozen vegetable or frozen fruit aisle. With no sugar added. Those things are going to be important to look for. And so you're going to start there.
That's going to be your basis, then you're going to add good. Proteins, those things that have been out in the wild preferably if not in the wild things that have been raised in the pasture and roaming free, not in feed lots, not. In cramped little cages. And things that are eating a what God intended eating the grass of the field rooting you know, down in the soil for , pork and even chicken.
So you want to make sure that you're eating good quality products as much as possible. And allowing [00:12:00] yourself to have plenty of time to heal the gut and make sure that you're supporting your gut biome with good healthy foods. , fermented foods yogurts looking at sauerkraut fermented vegetables. All those things are going to be important.
And then if you need a probiotic, adding that probiotic in as well. So. So really your skin health runs through your gut. And so taking control of that, starting with getting a good GI map, determining if leaky gut is a possibility for you is always the first step. And it's my first step that I recommend for all of my clients. Prior to ever doing any food sensitivity testing.
And the reason is because if you do a food sensitivity testing, I can't tell you how many times that I've had clients with leaky gut. They've spent this money on food sensitivity testing, and they come back and they're like, I can't eat [00:13:00] anything. I'm allergic to virtually everything. And once we heal that gut. All those allergies and sensitivities. Really seem to go away. And it's because we have created that, that layer of defense that God intended for us to have so that we aren't having those molecules come into us in a size that are then recognized as foreign by our immune system.
So this episode was not meant to be all inclusive of all the potential causes for a topic dermatitis or eczema or. Or even all of the associated disease states. That's not to say that. The gut is the sole source, but it does appear to be the most common scores. Of. The gateway to eczema and all the other potential associations. With those other conditions that we've mentioned.
I hope this has been beneficial [00:14:00] and I hope you have a great rest of your week. Thanks. And God bless.
That's it for this episode of the Living Life Well Show. If you like what you've heard and want to learn more, or want to know how to put this into practice for yourself, go to livelifewellclinic.com. Until next time, this is Dr. Jon Skelton saying, go out and live the truth so you can live life well. The preceding is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It is not meant to be used to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. The information contained in this show does not substitute the need for a qualified medical professional, nor is it meant to provide medical advice or services.
If you feel information presented in this show may apply to you, we recommend you seek out the help of a qualified medical professional who can evaluate and treat your specific [00:15:00] concerns.
