Women and girls have specific needs and opportunities to optimize their health and well-being
Feminine Health
Less well-known but just as important as the intestinal microbiota.
THE VAGINAL MICROBIOTA
At every phase of life, women and girls have specific needs and opportunities to optimize their health and well-being. Periods, contraception, pregnancy, menopause, vagina and vulva health. Bacterial vaginosis is the most common gynecological condition affecting women of childbearing age, affecting between 23% and 29% of women worldwide(1). It is characterized by dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiota, an imbalance of micro-organisms in the vaginal flora.
Less well known, the vaginal microbiota is however increasingly studied. Composed mainly of lactic acid bacteria which line the vaginal walls and create a protective film, the vaginal microbiota plays an important role in our health. And for good reason. There are many urogenital disorders caused by an imbalance in the vaginal microbiota. Prevention strategies based on the use of probiotic supplementation (vaginal route or oral route) are recommended.
A woman’s lifetime risk of urinary tract infection is 60% and once she has one urinary tract infection, the risk of recurrence is 30% to 50% per year(3).
More than 250 species of bacteria have already been detected by genomic sequencing in health vaginal environment(2).
Lactobacillus species such as Lactobacillus crispatus, Lactobacillus iners, Lactobacillus jensenii and Lactobacillus gasseri are usually prevalent in women in reproductive age(4, 5). These species are able to produce several antimicrobial compounds (e.g. hydrogen peroxide, lactic acid) and to compete against pathogens for adhesion sites in the vaginal epithelium(6, 7), protecting from different diseases, including recurrent urinary infections, bacterial vaginosis, and vaginal candidiasis.
To improve Vaginal Health, tht recommends the strains presented in the probiotic formula Prolactys® Feminine Care.
- (1) Peebles K,Velloza J, Balkus JE, et al. High Global Burden and Costs of Bacterial Vaginosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sex Transm Dis. 2019 May;46(5):304- 311.
- (2) Martin, D. H. The microbiota of the vagina and its infuence on women’s health and disease. Am. J. Med. Sci. 343, 2–9 (2012).
- (3) Foxman B, Barlow R, D’Arcy H, et al. Urinary tract infection: self-reported incidence and associated costs. Ann Epidemiol 2000;10:509–515.
- (4) Anahtar, M. N., Gootenberg, D. B., Mitchell, C. M. & Kwon, D. S. Cervicovaginal Microbiota and Reproductive Health: Te Virtue of Simplicity. Cell. Host Microbe. 23, 159–168 (2018).
- (5) Ravel, J. et al. Vaginal microbiome of reproductive-age women. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 108, 4680–4687 (2011).
- (6) Borges, S., Silva, J. & Teixeira, P. The role of lactobacilli and probiotics in maintaining vaginal health. Arch. Gynecol. Obstet. 289, 479–489 (2014).
- (7) Tempera, G. et al. Topical kanamycin: an efective therapeutic option in aerobic vaginitis. J. Chemother. 18, 409–414 (2006)
