How can you help your psoriasis? More than just a skin issue

Do you, or someone you know, struggle with psoriasis? Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune condition that causes red, scaly patches on the skin.¹ It is often treated as just a skin condition, but recent research reveals that the root cause lies much deeper – in your gut!

At Chuckling Goat, we believe in supporting your gut naturally and addressing the root cause rather than masking the symptoms. By boosting your gut health, you can strengthen your immune system and help manage skin conditions like psoriasis from the inside out.

Understanding psoriasis

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease, meaning that your immune system mistakenly attacks your own body’s cells, leading to inflammation and an overproduction of skin cells.² There are many types of psoriasis, but commonly, these accumulations result in red, inflamed, scaly patches (also known as plaques). Psoriasis usually affect the elbows, knees and torso but can also appear on the scalp, lower back, face, palms, and soles.³ Topical treatments like steroid creams can provide temporary relief but don’t address the root cause. Psoriasis isn’t just a skin condition – it’s rooted in the gut.

In up to 30% of cases, psoriasis also causes joint pain and swelling, a condition known as psoriatic arthritis. This is associated with other health issues like cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and other autoimmune diseases like Crohn’s.⁴

Typical symptoms of psoriasis

Red patches of skin covered with thick, silvery, red scales
Dry, cracked skin that may bleed or itch
Itching, burning, or soreness in affected areas
Thickened or pitted nails, sometimes mistaken for a fungal infection
Swollen and stiff joints (in cases of psoriatic arthritis)

These symptoms may come and go in cycles, with flare-ups followed by times of remission.⁵ But how does the immune system go from normal functioning to this overreaction? To understand that, we need to look at the gut.

The gut-immune connection

Your gut microbiome plays a key role in immune regulation, with 70-80% of immune cells residing there.⁶ A healthy balance of good bacteria helps your immune system function properly and protects against inflammation. When your gut microbiome becomes imbalanced – due to poor diet, stress, antibiotics, or other environmental and lifestyle factors – it can result in gut dysbiosis. This allows opportunistic pathogens (“bad bacteria”), to colonise, grow and persist.⁷ Over time, this can compromise gut integrity, leading to increased gut permeability.

When your gut lining weakens, toxins, undigested food particles, and harmful invaders can reach your bloodstream. Your immune system reacts by going into overdrive, leading to systemic inflammation.⁸ This can trigger autoimmune responses like psoriasis, especially for genetically predisposed people. This inflammation essentially confuses the immune system, causing it to mistakenly speed up the production of skin cells. In short, if your gut health is compromised, so is your immune system, and your skin may pay the price.

Risk factors

1. Genetics: Psoriasis tends to run in families, suggesting a genetic predisposition. Several genetic variations have been linked to an increased likelihood of developing psoriasis, including those affecting your immune system function. However, not everyone with these genes gets psoriasis, and some people without these genes do. This suggests that genes alone are not the key factor – environmental or lifestyle triggers play a crucial role in its development!

2. Environmental triggers: Some external factors can worsen psoriasis and trigger a flare-up, especially in those predisposed to the condition. Common triggers include:

Stress
Infections (viral or bacterial)
Skin injuries (cuts, sunburns, insect bites – known as the Koebner effect)
Medications (lithium, beta-blockers and antimalarials)
Weather and temperature changes
Air pollutants and sun exposure
Smoking and alcohol

3. Obesity: Excess body weight increases inflammation, exacerbating psoriasis and especially affecting skin folds.

4. Hormonal changes: Hormonal changes can influence psoriasis, especially in women. Flare-ups may occur during puberty, pregnancy, or menopause when hormone levels fluctuate significantly.

5. Diet and lifestyle factors: Certain foods can worsen inflammation, such as excess consumption of red meat, dairy, and highly processed foods. Conversely, a diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and lean meats, including fatty fish, which are high in omega-3 fatty acids, may help manage symptoms.

While these risk factors can contribute to the development of psoriasis, it’s a complex condition that varies widely among people.⁹¹⁰¹¹¹²

Heal your gut to support your skin

Addressing gut health is key to managing psoriasis and improving your overall wellbeing. Here’s how our Gut Health Protocol can help:

1. Kefir: the probiotic powerhouse

Chuckling Goat Kefir is a live probiotic drink packed with beneficial bacteria that helps restore balance to your gut microbiome. The kefir works to repopulate your gut with probiotics needed to maintain a healthy immune system, reduce inflammation, and heal the gut lining.

2. Complete Prebiotic: feed the good bacteria

To thrive, those good bacteria in your gut need proper nourishment. That’s where our Complete Prebiotic comes in. Made from natural, plant-based ingredients, it provides essential fibres to feed your probiotics, ensuring they can grow and outcompete harmful bacteria. As your probiotics ferment and metabolise these prebiotic fibres, they produce anti-inflammatory postbiotics, including short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Research suggests SCFAs help reduce psoriasis symptoms.¹³

3. Pure Fish Collagen: repair and rebuild

Collagen is essential for maintaining the integrity of your gut lining and skin.¹⁴¹⁵ Pure Fish Collagen helps repair the damaged gut lining, reducing permeability and promoting skin health.

We usually recommend combining our kefir, Complete Prebiotic and Pure Fish Collagen in a Gut Health Smoothie or shake, you can watch a video of it here.

4. Break-Out Range: topical relief for psoriasis-prone skin

While healing your gut, you can take care of your skin externally with our Break-Out skincare range, including soap and lotion. These are formulated with natural, soothing ingredients like goat’s milk and our award-winning kefir that help restore the skin biome,¹⁶¹⁷ and hydrating oils, including oat and coconut oil, which are gentle on sensitive, inflamed skin.¹⁸¹⁹ The tea tree oil and thyme essential oils have anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties.²⁰²¹ They are free from harsh chemicals, perfumes, dyes, phthalates or parabens, making them suitable for skin prone to psoriasis flare-ups. Everyone responds differently to natural essential oils, so we always recommend that you patch test any skincare products on a small area of clear skin first and wait 10 minutes to check for any redness or irritation.

5. Boswellia Serrata tincture: nature’s steroid

Boswellia serrata has been trialled and found effective against skin inflammation, itching, and other symptoms of psoriasis.²² Check out our Boswellia serrata tincture, which is a natural steroid that helps reduce inflammation.

The great thing about these all-natural products is that they work in harmony, giving you comprehensive, inside-out support. They help nourish your gut and skin and calm any irritation. Take the first step towards healthier skin and a healthier you by healing your gut!

If you found this article useful, have a look at a similar article by Saskia, Psoriasis: the root cause and how to manage symptoms and Shann’s article on The real reason that nothing has ever worked to resolve your acne, eczema, psoriasis or rosacea – until now! Find out more in Shann’s book, The Good Skin Solution: Natural Healing for Eczema, Psoriasis, Rosacea and Acne.

Any questions? Contact one of our Nutritional Therapists via live chat, weekdays from 8 am to 8 pm.