New Study Founds That Vaginal Probiotics Don’t Do Much for Vaginal Health

In recent years there have been multiple studies that have shown that the use of probiotics to help maintain the good bacteria in the body is essential and can help in multiple conditions. 

Microorganisms inhabit most areas of our bodies. According to some studies these microorganisms can impact pregnancy and other health outcomes. 

Recently, a group of researchers shared their findings during the 38th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE). The team found that the treatment with vaginal probiotic capsules in women with unfavorable vaginal microbiomes didn’t improve vaginal flora. 

No Improvement in Vaginal Microbiota 

For the study, the researchers evaluated if treatment with lactobacilli-loaded vaginal capsules improved an unfavorable vaginal microbiome associated with a lower implantation change before fertility treatment. 

Studies have shown that the vaginal microbiota composition is predictive of in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcome and suggests that dysbiosis in the reproductive tract negatively affects the change of pregnancy through a yet unclear mechanism. 

The researchers performed a randomized, double-blinded, placebo controlled study in which patients microbiome composition was determined using PCR based IS-pro technique, and dividing patients into 3 profiles: low, medium, and high quality. The study included 74 participants with an unfavorable vaginal microbiome that had a low or medium profile, and randomized to get either a vaginal probiotic capsule or a placebo. 

A 10-day treatment with the probiotic capsules containing >108 CFU of Lactobacillus gasseri and >108 CFU Lactobacillus rhamnosus or the placebo. 

The vaginal microbiome improved after intervention in 34.2% of all participants with no significant difference between the two groups (lactobacilli group 28.9%, placebo group 40.0%).

The researchers concluded that administering vaginal lactobacilli probiotics may not improve a suboptimal vaginal microbiome. 

Source:

38th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE). 

https://www.eshre.eu/ESHRE2022/Programme/Searchable#!abstractdetails/0000682980

Image from: 

Photo by danilo.alvesd on Unsplash