October 13, 2023 • 20 mins
What if a simple diet change could drastically improve your skin health? Get ready for an enlightening discussion on the gut-skin axis as we explore the amazing benefits of boosting gastrointestinal and thereby skin butyrate or butyric acid.
The secret to healthier skin might be a pH shift away. We delve into the importance of maintaining an acidic pH for skin health, and how an alkaline pH can lead to skin rashes and dryness. Learn practical strategies to increase intestinal and skin butyrate, such as incorporating fermented foods and prebiotic fibers into your diet. It's time to ditch the skincare products and start focusing on what truly matters - your diet. So, join us on this remarkable journey to achieving healthier, better-looking, and more youthful skin.
For BiotiQuest probiotics including Sugar Shift, go here.
A 15% discount is available for Defiant Health podcast listeners by entering discount code UNDOC15 (case-sensitive) at checkout.*
_________________________________________________________________________________
Get your 15% Paleovalley discount on fermented grass-fed beef sticks, Bone Broth Collagen, low-carb snack bars and other high-quality organic foods here.*
For 12% off every order of grass-fed and pasture-raised meats from Wild Pastures, go here.
*Dr. Davis and his staff are financially compensated for promoting BiotiQuest and Paleovalley products.
Books:
Super Gut: The 4-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
William Davis, MD (00:06):
Those of you familiar with the arguments I
make in my wheat belly booksalready know that banishing all
wheat and grains from your dietyields often extraordinary
improvements in skin health.
I call seborrhea, for instance,the red, rough, itchy rash that
occurs mainly on the face andscalp, the signature rash of
(00:26):
wheat consumption, as it socommonly occurs with its
consumption and so often goesaway completely with its
elimination.
Vitamin D and omega 3 fattyacids that we include also yield
modest skin benefits.
Restoration of the lost microbefrom the gastrointestinal tract
, lactobacillus rhodorii, alsoadds a huge advantage to skin
(00:48):
health and appearance.
But there's another factor thatplays a big role in further
improving skin health (00:52):
the fatty acid butyrate.
So in this episode of DefiantHealth let's talk about how
butyrate, yet another facet of agut skin axis, can be put to
work to obtain even healthier,better looking, more youthful
skin.
Later in the podcast let's talkabout Defiant Health's sponsors
that include Paleov alley, whoprovides fermented grass fed
(01:16):
beef sticks, bone broth, proteinrich in collagen, organic super
greens and low carb super foodbars, and now 100% grass fed and
finished pastured meats.
And Bioti Quest, who providesunique probiotics such as sugar
shift to support healthy bloodsugars and simple slumber to
(01:36):
assist in obtaining healthysleep, probiotics crafted with a
unique property of combiningsynergistic microbes.
So in the opening comments Imentioned how the diet I
advocate alone just the dietalone wheat, grain and sugar
elimination yield magnificenteffects on improving skin.
(01:58):
So many people with seborrheawill get relief from that rash.
Other people with other sortsof skin rashes, like eczema,
even psoriasis or rosacea, manytimes have a reduction in their
rash, sometimes completedisappearance.
So the diet alone plays a bigrole in skin health and I
believe a lot of that effect isfrom the reduction in skin
inflammation and edema.
(02:18):
Then we add some supplementsthat add some modest beneficial
further effects, especiallyomega 3 fatty acids and vitamin
D.
Omega 3 fatty acids tend toincrease skin moisture.
Vitamin D makes you more suntolerant, so it's harder to have
sun damage.
So that those two things alsoimprove skin health.
We replace the gastrointestinalmicrobes lost by nearly all
(02:41):
modern humans, lactobacillusreuteri, because it's very
susceptible to commonantibiotics so most have lost it
.
But reuteri does two things thatbenefit skin health.
One, it provokes the brain torelease oxytocin, the hormone
oxytocin, and oxytocin exertsdramatic effects on skin because
it increases collagenproduction in the dermal layer
(03:05):
just below the surface, theepidermis, in the dermal layer,
and so there's marked increasein dermal collagen.
Even if you spent your lifedamaging your collagen because
you had high blood sugars thatglycated and made your collagen
brittle and disorganized, oreven if you're getting older and
you've lost a lot of collagenand your skin has been thinned,
you can add back collagen, andone of the ways to do that is by
(03:27):
getting lactobacillus rhodoriteand thereby oxytocin to provoke
production of collagen in thedermal layer of skin.
And that's what leads to areduction in skin wrinkles,
especially fine wrinkles such ascrows, feet and smile lines,
larger wrinkles such as foreheadwrinkles and the nasal labial
fold along the sides of the noseand mouth.
Those take longer becausethere's greater volume of
(03:49):
collagen required.
But L reuteri also has theunique capacity, unlike most
other microbes, to colonize thesmall intestine.
Most bowel microbes colonizethe colon only, but Rhoaderi is
unique in that it colonized theentire length of the small
intestine where it takes upresidence and produces what are
called bacteriocins.
(04:09):
These are natural antibioticseffective against fecal microbes
.
Why do we need a microbe toproduce natural antibiotics
against fecal microbes?
Because at least at least 50%of the US population, because
we've lost so many beneficialspecies such as L reuteri and
other species like Lactobacillusgasseri, Bifidobacteria species
(04:30):
, Fecalobacterium, Akkermansia.
Those beneficial species helpsuppress the over-proliferation
of fecal microbes.
Fecal microbes, that is microbesin your colon, that's the stuff
that you pass out in the toilet.
Well, loss of beneficialmicrobes allows excessive
proliferation of fecal microbes,which then have the capacity to
(04:52):
ascend in the small intestine.
And the small intestine is bydesign very permeable because
that's where you're supposed toabsorb nutrients like amino
acids, fatty acids, vitamins,minerals.
But when fecal microbes invadethe 24 feet of small intestine
they live and die rapidly.
(05:13):
They only live for a few hoursand so trillions of fecal
microbes in the small intestinelive and die and release some of
their toxic components.
One specific toxin is endotoxin, and endotoxin therefore
penetrates the very permeablesmall intestine where it floods
the bloodstream.
And when endotoxin floods thebloodstream it's called
(05:36):
endotoxemia.
So people with endotoxemia frominvasion of the small intestine
with fecal microbes, or alsocalled small intestinal
bacterial overgrowth or SIBO,s-i-b-o.
When that happens, the effectsof bowel microbes in the small
intestine are explored in otherparts of the body Brain, muscle,
heart, coronary arteries,carotid arteries, liver, etc.
(05:59):
So this disruption of themicrobiome has broad
consequences for health.
But one of the consequences isthat it inflames skin, and so
skin will show redness,itchiness and dryness, and so
just restoring lactobacillusrhodorite is a major advantage.
Now we also add back componentsof diet that are lacking.
(06:21):
This many year low-fat dietarydisaster, where we were told to
cut total fat, cut saturated fat, right All those things we did
in the way of low-fat milk andskim milk and low-fat dairy, and
cut the fat off your meat, etc.
That was a big mistake, and oneof the effects is people
(06:44):
abandoned consumption of organmeats, so almost nobody anymore
eats brain or tongue or heart orpancreas or liver or skin or
kidneys, even though yourgreat-grandmother ate organ
meats routinely.
It was common, it was done for99.99% of human existence on
(07:07):
this planet, but we gave it upbecause of the huge blunder
called US Dietary Guidelines.
Cut your fat, cut yoursaturated fat, and so we
compensate for that.
So when you cut organ meats outof your diet, you're going to
be leading a collagen-depleteddiet and a hyaluronic
acid-depleted diet, Becausethose two things are common
(07:28):
components that are abundant inorgan meats.
So if you don't get collagen,your skin ages faster because
you're not replacing collagen.
Your joints, by the way, alsoage faster, as do your arteries.
If you don't eat organ meats,you don't get hyaluronic acid
richest in brain and skin andsome other organs, and that
(07:48):
accelerates skin aging, skindryness, skin thinning, as well
as joint aging, because thelubrication in your joints,
so-called synovial fluid, islargely hyaluronic acid.
The brain, likewise, is mostlyhas a lot of hyaluronic acid.
So we replace those two missingcomponents.
You could go back to eatingorgan meats, but I know most
people I talk to say Yuck, Idon't want to do that, and so we
(08:11):
replace them as supplementsCollagen, peptides, collagen
hydrolysates or hyaluronic acid.
These are pretty much commodityproducts nowadays.
You can get many fine products.
Now that all said, you can gofurther, and one of the things
you can do revolves aroundincreasing the amount of
butyrate or butyric acid in yourskin, in your bowels and in
(08:35):
your skin.
So some things to know thathelp you understand these issues
.
The Defiant Health podcast issponsored by Paleov alley makers
of delicious grass-fed beefsteaks, healthy snack bars and
other products.
We are very picky around hereand insist that any product we
(08:55):
consider has no junk ingredientslike carrageenan,
carboxymethylsalos, sucraloseand, of course, no added sugars.
And all Paleo Valley productscontain no gluten nor grains.
In fact, I find Paleov alleyproducts among cleanest in their
category.
One of the habits I urgeeveryone to get into is to
(09:15):
include at least one, if notseveral, servings of fermented
foods per day in theirlifestyles.
Unlike nearly all other beefsteaks available, paleo Valley
grass-fed beef steaks are allnaturally fermented, meaning
they contain probiotic bacterialspecies.
And now Paleov alley isexpanding their Wild Pastures
(09:36):
program that provides 100%grass-fed, grass-finished,
pastured beef and pasturedchicken and pork raised without
herbicides or pesticides.
And they just added wild-caughtseafood caught from the waters
of Bristol Bay, alaska.
Among their other new productsare pasture-raised fermented
pork steaks, chocolate-flavoredgrass-fed bone broth protein and
(09:59):
grass-fed organ complex incapsule form and new essential
electrolytes in powder form toadd to potassium and magnesium
intake, available in orange,lemon and melon flavors.
Listeners to the Defiant Healthpodcast receive a 15% discount
by going to paleovalley.
com/defianthealth.
(10:23):
And for the fall season they'vebrought back the pumpkin spice
superfood bars, and I'd like towelcome Defiant Health's newest
sponsor, BiotiQuest.
I've had numerous conversationswith BiotiQuest founders Martha
Carlin, an academicmicrobiologist, Dr Raul Cano.
They have formulated uniquesynergistic probiotic products
(10:44):
that incorporate what are calledcollaborative or guild effects,
that is, groups of microbesthat collaborate with each other
via specific metabolitespotentially providing
synergistic benefits.
They have designed their sugarshift probiotic to support
healthy blood sugars.
Simple Slumber to support sleep.
Ideal Immunity to support ahealthy immune response.
(11:06):
Heart Centered that supportsseveral aspects of heart health.
And Antibiotic Antidotedesigned to support recovery of
the gastrointestinal microbiomeafter a course of antibiotics.
BiotiQuest probiotics are, Ibelieve, among the most
effective of all probioticchoices for specific health
effects.
(11:26):
Enter the discount code UNDOC15for a 15% discount for Defiant
Health listeners.
It helps to know that healthyskin is acidic, that is, it has
a pH of four to five.
You may recall that neutral pHis 7.0.
(11:47):
So healthy skin should beacidic.
Unhealthy skin in people whohave skin rashes, dryness,
seborrhea, psoriasis, eczema,other forms of skin diseases
they tend to have less acidic oreven alkaline skin pH is a 5.7,
6.1, or even 7.0 higher andthat makes your skin much more
(12:11):
susceptible to invasion byunhealthy microbes and skin
rashes.
So when your skin is no longernormally acidic, a microbe
called Staphylococcus aureus youmay have heard of because it
causes a lot of hospitalinfections Staphylococcus aureus
proliferates and muscles outthe normal, healthy skin
inhabitant, staphylococcusepidermidis.
(12:33):
So when you have that shift, aloss of skin acidity, a rise in
pH, you allow proliferation ofthis unhealthy microbe,
staphylococcus aureus, and itsuppresses the growth of the
healthy microbe Staphylococcusepidermidis.
And now you are settingyourself up for skin dryness,
accelerated aging and even skinrashes.
(12:55):
So we want our skin to beacidic.
The major acidifying factor inskin is butyrate or butyric acid
.
So anything you do thatincreases butyrate production in
the body benefits the skin,reduces the P8 that makes it
more acidic, suppressesexpansion of stathococcus aureus
(13:15):
and inhibits other microbes andthe appearance of skin rashes.
So how do you go aboutincreasing intestinal and
thereby skin butyrate?
Well, the primary strategy toget this done is to be sure that
you include plenty of fermentedfoods in your diet.
If you've been following myconversations, you know that
fermented foods include suchthings as kimchi, kaffirs,
(13:40):
yogurts, but not yogurt boughtin the store.
Yogurt you make yourself,because the stuff sold in the
store one has garbageingredients in it, like sugar
and high fructose corn syrup andemulsifying aids like
carrageenan and xanthan gum.
We don't do that right when wemake it ourselves and we also
use extended or prolongedfermentation to get higher
counts of microbes and we canchoose more interesting microbes
(14:03):
than the microbes ordinarilyused in commercial yogurt, other
fermented foods, vegetables youferment on your kitchen counter
.
This should be easy and almostcost free.
So if you're going to ferment,let's say, cucumbers, you buy
organic cucumbers and be surethey have no coating like a wax
coating.
You put in a jar of waterthat's been filtered or
distilled with non iodized saltand you cover it.
(14:26):
Make sure the veggies staybelow the surface of the water
and you come back in a week ortwo and you've got fermented
vegetables.
For more instruction on how todo this, see my super gut book.
There are recipes.
See my DR Davis infinite healthdot com.
There's some recipes, and myfriend Donna Schwank, who has a
wonderful website calledcultured food health and that
(14:47):
she has lots and lots of recipes.
It's so easy.
You can also buy commerciallyfermented food, but part of
commercial production is to goas fast as possible to produce
your product, because time ismoney, right, the companies, and
so they use a very abbreviatedmost companies, we use a very
abbreviated fermentation.
So what I'll do is, if you buysomething that's been
(15:07):
commercially fermented let's saysauerkraut and make sure it's
fermented, not just pickled inbrine.
So let's say you have afermented sauerkraut or
fermented kimchi, I leave itcovered, of course, on your
kitchen counter for additional48 or more hours, let the
microbes ferment further, andthen you can refrigerate to stop
fermentation.
The reason why fermented foodsare so helpful for skin health
(15:30):
is because the microbes thatferment food these are microbes
like leuconostoc mesenteroides,pediococcus pentasaceous,
pediococcus acidilactici,lactobacillus plantarum.
Don't remember that, right, butthese microbes do not take up
residence in your GI tract, theysimply pass through, takes
about six hours.
If you consume, let's say, somekimchi or sauerkraut or other
(15:52):
fermented veggies, you pass itout in the toilet.
You pass out the microbes inthe toilet in about six hours or
so, or at least they get thecolon within six hours.
But the curious thing aboutthese fermenting microbes is
they produce metabolites,especially lactate and acetate,
and there are species in the GItract, very important species
such as fecalobacterium, whichis the primary producer of
(16:16):
butyrate in your GI tract.
So fermented microbes producelactate and acetate that in turn
feed butyrate, producingmicrobes like fecalobacterium
and some others.
Now you've boosted the level ofbutyrate in the GI tract
dramatically.
Some of that butyrate gets intothe bloodstream and thereby to
the skin, where the butyrate,the butyric acid, acidifies the
(16:40):
skin, discourages stathococcusaureus and increases the
thickness of the epidermis, theouter layer of skin.
You have smoother, healthierskin.
Another thing you can do toincrease skin butyrate is to be
sure you include plenty ofprebiotic fibers and related
compounds like polysaccharide,such as inulin and fructo
(17:02):
oligosaccharides.
So you do this by includingfoods like root vegetables,
asparagus, onions, garlic,jicama, dandelion, greens and
many other foods.
If you want a full list,consult my Super Gut book where
I list the of these prebioticfibers mushrooms, the pectin of
fruit and avocados.
(17:30):
So prebiotic fibers and relatedcompounds feed those microbes
that in turn produce butyrate.
So intestinal butyrate levelsgo up and thereby skin butyrate
levels go up and all thosewonderful effects are amplified.
You can also directly ingestbutyric acid or butyrate, but
that kind of intake is episodic,right?
(17:51):
It's not the continuousproduction that microbes manage.
So taking it orally is not aseffective as having microbes do
it for you and get a continuous,around the clock, 24-hour day
production of butyrate.
But you can get smallquantities of butyrate from
foods like cheese, butter andother full fat dairy and, by the
(18:11):
way, this is another examplethe low fat or skim milk and
other low fat dairy productsAnother example of the
blundering made when we cutdietary fat.
You want the fat because it hasbutyric acid in it.
That benefits intestinal health.
It heals the intestinal lining.
It has metabolic benefits likereduction of blood sugar and
(18:32):
insulin resistance and bettersleep and better dreams and
better skin.
So let's put it all together westart with a diet where we
eliminate all wheat, grains andsugars.
That alone gets you off to avery powerful start to address
better skin health andappearance.
We restore nutrients lacking inmodern life, with omega-3 fatty
acids from fish oil and vitaminD exerting most the benefits.
(18:55):
Among the supplements we replace.
We restore this lost microbe,lactobacillus rhodii, for its
oxytocin boosting effect.
That increases dermal collagenquite dramatically and also
reduces the endotoxemia ofinvading fecal microbes in your
small intestine, and you therebyget better skin moisture, less
skin roughness and less redness.
(19:16):
We replace the factors lostbecause of the blundering low
fat era.
So we get collagen peptides.
We get hyaluronic acid thatadds to skin health, skin
moisture, skin smoothness,reduction of wrinkles, as well
as joint health and otherbeneficial effects.
And now we add additionalstrategies to increase skin
(19:37):
butyrate and thereby acidify theskin, discouraging the growth
of unhealthy microbes likestaphylococcus aureus.
Put it all together and youhave a dramatic formula for
regaining skin health, skinappearance and more youthful
appearance.
Now, if you learned somethingfrom this episode of Defiant
Health Podcast, I invite you tosubscribe through your favorite
(19:59):
podcast directory.
Post a review, tell yourfriends, because we're trying to
build this movement of selfempowerment and health.
Keep you as free as possible ofthe healthcare system.
Thanks for listening.
Those of you familiar with the arguments I
make in my wheat belly booksalready know that banishing all
wheat and grains from your dietyields often extraordinary
improvements in skin health.
I call seborrhea, for instance,the red, rough, itchy rash that
occurs mainly on the face andscalp, the signature rash of
(00:26):
wheat consumption, as it socommonly occurs with its
consumption and so often goesaway completely with its
elimination.
Vitamin D and omega 3 fattyacids that we include also yield
modest skin benefits.
Restoration of the lost microbefrom the gastrointestinal tract
, lactobacillus rhodorii, alsoadds a huge advantage to skin
(00:48):
health and appearance.
But there's another factor thatplays a big role in further
improving skin health (00:52):
the fatty acid butyrate.
So in this episode of DefiantHealth let's talk about how
butyrate, yet another facet of agut skin axis, can be put to
work to obtain even healthier,better looking, more youthful
skin.
Later in the podcast let's talkabout Defiant Health's sponsors
that include Paleov alley, whoprovides fermented grass fed
(01:16):
beef sticks, bone broth, proteinrich in collagen, organic super
greens and low carb super foodbars, and now 100% grass fed and
finished pastured meats.
And Bioti Quest, who providesunique probiotics such as sugar
shift to support healthy bloodsugars and simple slumber to
(01:36):
assist in obtaining healthysleep, probiotics crafted with a
unique property of combiningsynergistic microbes.
So in the opening comments Imentioned how the diet I
advocate alone just the dietalone wheat, grain and sugar
elimination yield magnificenteffects on improving skin.
(01:58):
So many people with seborrheawill get relief from that rash.
Other people with other sortsof skin rashes, like eczema,
even psoriasis or rosacea, manytimes have a reduction in their
rash, sometimes completedisappearance.
So the diet alone plays a bigrole in skin health and I
believe a lot of that effect isfrom the reduction in skin
inflammation and edema.
(02:18):
Then we add some supplementsthat add some modest beneficial
further effects, especiallyomega 3 fatty acids and vitamin
D.
Omega 3 fatty acids tend toincrease skin moisture.
Vitamin D makes you more suntolerant, so it's harder to have
sun damage.
So that those two things alsoimprove skin health.
We replace the gastrointestinalmicrobes lost by nearly all
(02:41):
modern humans, lactobacillusreuteri, because it's very
susceptible to commonantibiotics so most have lost it
.
But reuteri does two things thatbenefit skin health.
One, it provokes the brain torelease oxytocin, the hormone
oxytocin, and oxytocin exertsdramatic effects on skin because
it increases collagenproduction in the dermal layer
(03:05):
just below the surface, theepidermis, in the dermal layer,
and so there's marked increasein dermal collagen.
Even if you spent your lifedamaging your collagen because
you had high blood sugars thatglycated and made your collagen
brittle and disorganized, oreven if you're getting older and
you've lost a lot of collagenand your skin has been thinned,
you can add back collagen, andone of the ways to do that is by
(03:27):
getting lactobacillus rhodoriteand thereby oxytocin to provoke
production of collagen in thedermal layer of skin.
And that's what leads to areduction in skin wrinkles,
especially fine wrinkles such ascrows, feet and smile lines,
larger wrinkles such as foreheadwrinkles and the nasal labial
fold along the sides of the noseand mouth.
Those take longer becausethere's greater volume of
(03:49):
collagen required.
But L reuteri also has theunique capacity, unlike most
other microbes, to colonize thesmall intestine.
Most bowel microbes colonizethe colon only, but Rhoaderi is
unique in that it colonized theentire length of the small
intestine where it takes upresidence and produces what are
called bacteriocins.
(04:09):
These are natural antibioticseffective against fecal microbes
.
Why do we need a microbe toproduce natural antibiotics
against fecal microbes?
Because at least at least 50%of the US population, because
we've lost so many beneficialspecies such as L reuteri and
other species like Lactobacillusgasseri, Bifidobacteria species
(04:30):
, Fecalobacterium, Akkermansia.
Those beneficial species helpsuppress the over-proliferation
of fecal microbes.
Fecal microbes, that is microbesin your colon, that's the stuff
that you pass out in the toilet.
Well, loss of beneficialmicrobes allows excessive
proliferation of fecal microbes,which then have the capacity to
(04:52):
ascend in the small intestine.
And the small intestine is bydesign very permeable because
that's where you're supposed toabsorb nutrients like amino
acids, fatty acids, vitamins,minerals.
But when fecal microbes invadethe 24 feet of small intestine
they live and die rapidly.
(05:13):
They only live for a few hoursand so trillions of fecal
microbes in the small intestinelive and die and release some of
their toxic components.
One specific toxin is endotoxin, and endotoxin therefore
penetrates the very permeablesmall intestine where it floods
the bloodstream.
And when endotoxin floods thebloodstream it's called
(05:36):
endotoxemia.
So people with endotoxemia frominvasion of the small intestine
with fecal microbes, or alsocalled small intestinal
bacterial overgrowth or SIBO,s-i-b-o.
When that happens, the effectsof bowel microbes in the small
intestine are explored in otherparts of the body Brain, muscle,
heart, coronary arteries,carotid arteries, liver, etc.
(05:59):
So this disruption of themicrobiome has broad
consequences for health.
But one of the consequences isthat it inflames skin, and so
skin will show redness,itchiness and dryness, and so
just restoring lactobacillusrhodorite is a major advantage.
Now we also add back componentsof diet that are lacking.
(06:21):
This many year low-fat dietarydisaster, where we were told to
cut total fat, cut saturated fat, right All those things we did
in the way of low-fat milk andskim milk and low-fat dairy, and
cut the fat off your meat, etc.
That was a big mistake, and oneof the effects is people
(06:44):
abandoned consumption of organmeats, so almost nobody anymore
eats brain or tongue or heart orpancreas or liver or skin or
kidneys, even though yourgreat-grandmother ate organ
meats routinely.
It was common, it was done for99.99% of human existence on
(07:07):
this planet, but we gave it upbecause of the huge blunder
called US Dietary Guidelines.
Cut your fat, cut yoursaturated fat, and so we
compensate for that.
So when you cut organ meats outof your diet, you're going to
be leading a collagen-depleteddiet and a hyaluronic
acid-depleted diet, Becausethose two things are common
(07:28):
components that are abundant inorgan meats.
So if you don't get collagen,your skin ages faster because
you're not replacing collagen.
Your joints, by the way, alsoage faster, as do your arteries.
If you don't eat organ meats,you don't get hyaluronic acid
richest in brain and skin andsome other organs, and that
(07:48):
accelerates skin aging, skindryness, skin thinning, as well
as joint aging, because thelubrication in your joints,
so-called synovial fluid, islargely hyaluronic acid.
The brain, likewise, is mostlyhas a lot of hyaluronic acid.
So we replace those two missingcomponents.
You could go back to eatingorgan meats, but I know most
people I talk to say Yuck, Idon't want to do that, and so we
(08:11):
replace them as supplementsCollagen, peptides, collagen
hydrolysates or hyaluronic acid.
These are pretty much commodityproducts nowadays.
You can get many fine products.
Now that all said, you can gofurther, and one of the things
you can do revolves aroundincreasing the amount of
butyrate or butyric acid in yourskin, in your bowels and in
(08:35):
your skin.
So some things to know thathelp you understand these issues
.
The Defiant Health podcast issponsored by Paleov alley makers
of delicious grass-fed beefsteaks, healthy snack bars and
other products.
We are very picky around hereand insist that any product we
(08:55):
consider has no junk ingredientslike carrageenan,
carboxymethylsalos, sucraloseand, of course, no added sugars.
And all Paleo Valley productscontain no gluten nor grains.
In fact, I find Paleov alleyproducts among cleanest in their
category.
One of the habits I urgeeveryone to get into is to
(09:15):
include at least one, if notseveral, servings of fermented
foods per day in theirlifestyles.
Unlike nearly all other beefsteaks available, paleo Valley
grass-fed beef steaks are allnaturally fermented, meaning
they contain probiotic bacterialspecies.
And now Paleov alley isexpanding their Wild Pastures
(09:36):
program that provides 100%grass-fed, grass-finished,
pastured beef and pasturedchicken and pork raised without
herbicides or pesticides.
And they just added wild-caughtseafood caught from the waters
of Bristol Bay, alaska.
Among their other new productsare pasture-raised fermented
pork steaks, chocolate-flavoredgrass-fed bone broth protein and
(09:59):
grass-fed organ complex incapsule form and new essential
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(10:23):
And for the fall season they'vebrought back the pumpkin spice
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I've had numerous conversationswith BiotiQuest founders Martha
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(11:06):
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(11:26):
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Health listeners.
It helps to know that healthyskin is acidic, that is, it has
a pH of four to five.
You may recall that neutral pHis 7.0.
(11:47):
So healthy skin should beacidic.
Unhealthy skin in people whohave skin rashes, dryness,
seborrhea, psoriasis, eczema,other forms of skin diseases
they tend to have less acidic oreven alkaline skin pH is a 5.7,
6.1, or even 7.0 higher andthat makes your skin much more
(12:11):
susceptible to invasion byunhealthy microbes and skin
rashes.
So when your skin is no longernormally acidic, a microbe
called Staphylococcus aureus youmay have heard of because it
causes a lot of hospitalinfections Staphylococcus aureus
proliferates and muscles outthe normal, healthy skin
inhabitant, staphylococcusepidermidis.
(12:33):
So when you have that shift, aloss of skin acidity, a rise in
pH, you allow proliferation ofthis unhealthy microbe,
staphylococcus aureus, and itsuppresses the growth of the
healthy microbe Staphylococcusepidermidis.
And now you are settingyourself up for skin dryness,
accelerated aging and even skinrashes.
(12:55):
So we want our skin to beacidic.
The major acidifying factor inskin is butyrate or butyric acid
.
So anything you do thatincreases butyrate production in
the body benefits the skin,reduces the P8 that makes it
more acidic, suppressesexpansion of stathococcus aureus
(13:15):
and inhibits other microbes andthe appearance of skin rashes.
So how do you go aboutincreasing intestinal and
thereby skin butyrate?
Well, the primary strategy toget this done is to be sure that
you include plenty of fermentedfoods in your diet.
If you've been following myconversations, you know that
fermented foods include suchthings as kimchi, kaffirs,
(13:40):
yogurts, but not yogurt boughtin the store.
Yogurt you make yourself,because the stuff sold in the
store one has garbageingredients in it, like sugar
and high fructose corn syrup andemulsifying aids like
carrageenan and xanthan gum.
We don't do that right when wemake it ourselves and we also
use extended or prolongedfermentation to get higher
counts of microbes and we canchoose more interesting microbes
(14:03):
than the microbes ordinarilyused in commercial yogurt, other
fermented foods, vegetables youferment on your kitchen counter
.
This should be easy and almostcost free.
So if you're going to ferment,let's say, cucumbers, you buy
organic cucumbers and be surethey have no coating like a wax
coating.
You put in a jar of waterthat's been filtered or
distilled with non iodized saltand you cover it.
(14:26):
Make sure the veggies staybelow the surface of the water
and you come back in a week ortwo and you've got fermented
vegetables.
For more instruction on how todo this, see my super gut book.
There are recipes.
See my DR Davis infinite healthdot com.
There's some recipes, and myfriend Donna Schwank, who has a
wonderful website calledcultured food health and that
(14:47):
she has lots and lots of recipes.
It's so easy.
You can also buy commerciallyfermented food, but part of
commercial production is to goas fast as possible to produce
your product, because time ismoney, right, the companies, and
so they use a very abbreviatedmost companies, we use a very
abbreviated fermentation.
So what I'll do is, if you buysomething that's been
(15:07):
commercially fermented let's saysauerkraut and make sure it's
fermented, not just pickled inbrine.
So let's say you have afermented sauerkraut or
fermented kimchi, I leave itcovered, of course, on your
kitchen counter for additional48 or more hours, let the
microbes ferment further, andthen you can refrigerate to stop
fermentation.
The reason why fermented foodsare so helpful for skin health
(15:30):
is because the microbes thatferment food these are microbes
like leuconostoc mesenteroides,pediococcus pentasaceous,
pediococcus acidilactici,lactobacillus plantarum.
Don't remember that, right, butthese microbes do not take up
residence in your GI tract, theysimply pass through, takes
about six hours.
If you consume, let's say, somekimchi or sauerkraut or other
(15:52):
fermented veggies, you pass itout in the toilet.
You pass out the microbes inthe toilet in about six hours or
so, or at least they get thecolon within six hours.
But the curious thing aboutthese fermenting microbes is
they produce metabolites,especially lactate and acetate,
and there are species in the GItract, very important species
such as fecalobacterium, whichis the primary producer of
(16:16):
butyrate in your GI tract.
So fermented microbes producelactate and acetate that in turn
feed butyrate, producingmicrobes like fecalobacterium
and some others.
Now you've boosted the level ofbutyrate in the GI tract
dramatically.
Some of that butyrate gets intothe bloodstream and thereby to
the skin, where the butyrate,the butyric acid, acidifies the
(16:40):
skin, discourages stathococcusaureus and increases the
thickness of the epidermis, theouter layer of skin.
You have smoother, healthierskin.
Another thing you can do toincrease skin butyrate is to be
sure you include plenty ofprebiotic fibers and related
compounds like polysaccharide,such as inulin and fructo
(17:02):
oligosaccharides.
So you do this by includingfoods like root vegetables,
asparagus, onions, garlic,jicama, dandelion, greens and
many other foods.
If you want a full list,consult my Super Gut book where
I list the of these prebioticfibers mushrooms, the pectin of
fruit and avocados.
(17:30):
So prebiotic fibers and relatedcompounds feed those microbes
that in turn produce butyrate.
So intestinal butyrate levelsgo up and thereby skin butyrate
levels go up and all thosewonderful effects are amplified.
You can also directly ingestbutyric acid or butyrate, but
that kind of intake is episodic,right?
(17:51):
It's not the continuousproduction that microbes manage.
So taking it orally is not aseffective as having microbes do
it for you and get a continuous,around the clock, 24-hour day
production of butyrate.
But you can get smallquantities of butyrate from
foods like cheese, butter andother full fat dairy and, by the
(18:11):
way, this is another examplethe low fat or skim milk and
other low fat dairy productsAnother example of the
blundering made when we cutdietary fat.
You want the fat because it hasbutyric acid in it.
That benefits intestinal health.
It heals the intestinal lining.
It has metabolic benefits likereduction of blood sugar and
(18:32):
insulin resistance and bettersleep and better dreams and
better skin.
So let's put it all together westart with a diet where we
eliminate all wheat, grains andsugars.
That alone gets you off to avery powerful start to address
better skin health andappearance.
We restore nutrients lacking inmodern life, with omega-3 fatty
acids from fish oil and vitaminD exerting most the benefits.
(18:55):
Among the supplements we replace.
We restore this lost microbe,lactobacillus rhodii, for its
oxytocin boosting effect.
That increases dermal collagenquite dramatically and also
reduces the endotoxemia ofinvading fecal microbes in your
small intestine, and you therebyget better skin moisture, less
skin roughness and less redness.
(19:16):
We replace the factors lostbecause of the blundering low
fat era.
So we get collagen peptides.
We get hyaluronic acid thatadds to skin health, skin
moisture, skin smoothness,reduction of wrinkles, as well
as joint health and otherbeneficial effects.
And now we add additionalstrategies to increase skin
(19:37):
butyrate and thereby acidify theskin, discouraging the growth
of unhealthy microbes likestaphylococcus aureus.
Put it all together and youhave a dramatic formula for
regaining skin health, skinappearance and more youthful
appearance.
Now, if you learned somethingfrom this episode of Defiant
Health Podcast, I invite you tosubscribe through your favorite
(19:59):
podcast directory.
Post a review, tell yourfriends, because we're trying to
build this movement of selfempowerment and health.
Keep you as free as possible ofthe healthcare system.
Thanks for listening.
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