Your gut, the “forgotten organ,” is finally starting to get some much needed attention. Your gut is the seat for your body’s immune system and is responsible for a number of metabolic functions that support healthy aging.

If you’re over 40, you probably already know (and feel) the importance of a healthy gut internally, but when your gut is in distress, it will throw signs all over your body inside and out, including your skin, hair, and even your hormones.

That Gut Feeling: Something’s Wrong

When gut health is ignored, you may be surprised by some of the consequences. Everything from bowel disorders to hair loss, to allergies, to skin issues can pop up. As we age, these consequences get more severe. Time to get your gut health under control.

The truth is, your gut can influence body processes both “within and distant from the gut”, so while you might be thinking you’re just tired, or have chronic headaches, or just not aging well, it could be that your gut is in a state of distress.

Over time, these signs will get harder to ignore.

6 Surprising Signs of Gut Distress

  1. Hair loss
  2. Skin issues
  3. Allergies
  4. Hormonal Imbalances
  5. System-wide inflammation
  6. Weight gain

If you feel that your intestinal health is way out of hand, of course it’s always best to get the advice of your doctor. Most times, however, gut health can be healed through nutrition.

2 Nutritional Combos That Boost Gut Health

While there is no singular thing that will bring total health to your gut, a good amount of research is pointing to the following combinations:

Combo #1: Probiotics & Fiber

We are starting with the obvious.

In a recent innovative study, “The Gut Microbiota of Healthy Aged Chinese Is Similar to That of the Healthy Young,” researchers further discovered the importance of a healthy microbiome and its link to aging. Some of the participants of this study were as old as 100+ years having similar gut microbiota as healthy individuals in their thirties. This study suggests that maintaining a bacterially diverse microbiome is key to a healthy gut.

An easy and effective way to maintain a healthy balance of good bacteria in the gut is with probiotics and fiber. A probiotic supplement with a variety of species may help seed your gut daily with healthy flora, and, fiber will be critical to providing “food” for the bacteria to feed on. When the formula is right, the healthy flora will multiply hundred-fold. Find yourself a good dietary supplement that contains a variety of probiotics and prebiotics (fiber) and take it daily.

Probiotics not only protect and support proper gut function, but have also been shown to help improve skin quality and even repair the effects of sun damage.

Combo #2: Collagen and Hyaluronic Acid

Studies are showing that collagen and hyaluronic acid is a magical combination for building excellent intestinal health as well. In line with these findings, cultures where people regularly eat high amounts of natural collagen and hyaluronic acid foods are known to live longer, healthier lives despite some chronic bad habits, such as, smoking and overexposure to the sun.

Read: The Hyaluronic Acid Diet

In our Western culture, diets are desperately deficient in both collagen and hyaluronic acid. In fact, the average person gets almost none of their protein intake from collagen protein, and this is problematic for aging. The result is premature aging of the skin, but also a loss of integrity of the intestinal wall and epithelium (fancy word for “intestinal lining”).

Gut Benefits From Collagen and Hyaluronic Acid:

  1. Stimulates and boosts natural collagen synthesis
  2. Provides the raw materials for the body to make natural collagen
  3. Supports proper gut acidity

Supporting the intestinal wall with a diet rich in collagen peptides and hyaluronic acid may also provide the building blocks to resist developing permeable gut (leaky gut).

Read: Collagen vs. Collagen Boosters

Supplementing the diet with marine collagen and hyaluronic acid has never been easier than now. Elavonne’s Amino Collagen C with Hyaluronic Acid provides a perfect balance of these materials and from the most desirable, non-GMO sources.

Users report improved digestion and fewer symptoms of poor gut health after 3 months of consistent use.