Nature knows best: Harnessing the microbiome in health and beauty

The health and beauty markets are booming with ‘nature knows best’ solutions. From sustainable packaging to organic or naturally derived ingredients, we’re overloaded with green-washed promises. But, the real question is, do we know and understand how nature can support our skin and gut health? And do we understand how to harness that science?

Enter, the era of the microbiome.

So, what is the microbiome?

Looking good and feeling good start in the same place—the microbiome. Your microbiome is made up of trillions of microorganisms including both good and bad bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses. These microbes live inside your gut and on your skin. From birth, your intricate microbiome has helped your body metabolise and digest food, assisted with the absorption of essential nutrients, and supported your immune and nervous system.

The key to a healthy microbiome? It should be balanced and diverse, like any good ecosystem. In fact, our scientific models for studying the microbiome are directly linked to ecology.

Just like the complex workings of a rare ecosystem, your microbiome is entirely unique to you—like a fingerprint—and it requires just the right internal and external conditions to thrive in perfect balance with your body.

Why is it so important in health and beauty?

The microflora of your skin and gut can be influenced by both internal and external factors. Think the food you eat, the medicine you take, the products you use on your skin, where you live in the world, the local temperature, your physical surroundings, and your daily activities. When you come into contact with a pathogen, your microbiome creates protective antimicrobial compounds to guard your microflora.

Your microbiome also comes into contact with various ‘biotics’ that support or feed your microflora—these are called prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics, and they play an integral role in microbiome-focused health and beauty products.

Prebiotics: Types of nutrients and fibre that feed your body’s good bacteria (probiotics).
Prebiotic products are often combined and administered with probiotic products. This is because prebiotics feed probiotics, supporting your good bacteria to thrive as well as keeping your skin’s surface strong and your digestive system healthy.

Probiotics: Foods that contain live microorganisms that support your body’s balanced microflora.
Perhaps the most familiar biotic, probiotics have long been praised for their health-promoting properties. Either ingested or applied to the skin, probiotics reinforce your microbiome’s good bacteria, modulating your immune response and restoring microbial balance.

Postbiotics: The bioactive compounds that probiotics create when they digest and break down prebiotics.
Postbiotics are the combination of metabolites, vitamins, antimicrobial peptides, inactivated cells and their components as well as fermented by-product produced by probiotics. But, their benefits are incredible for both the skin and gut. Encompassing a plethora of benefits, postbiotics products help diversify microflora, reduce inflammation and sustain a healthy, balanced microbiome.

What makes BiomeCentric different?

Inside-out health and beauty is a lifelong pursuit. Your microbiome begins forming when you’re born and fully establishes itself by the time you’re an adult. But, as we know, it never stops changing, fluctuating and evolving with us. That’s why microbiome-specific health and beauty products exist in today’s market. And it’s why so many people are starting to pay attention to—and spend money on—these solutions.

The challenge is, how do you know what really works for your customer? Well, in our laboratory, we study, analyse and craft tailored products based on genomics based insights. Utilising this data on the microbiome and its complex interaction with various skin types, we learn about your target customers’ needs and develop formulations containing specific bioactive ingredients to support their microbiome.

Where many brands achieve quick fixes and results with chemicals (or even with natural ingredients or essential oils), our focus is to address health goals on a deeper level. We let nature do its work: supporting homeostasis and balance, helping the microbiome fight off bad bacteria, and nurturing and sustaining your microflora for optimal health, both now and in the long term.

Discover the difference today

BiomeCentric connects your brand to cutting-edge biotech innovation. We craft market-disrupting products via our ethically and sustainably conscious manufacturing practices. No other Australian contract manufacturer offers the same quality of microbial-based ingredients and manufacturing expertise. Talk to our team for a free consultation or quote today.