Probiotics: Why Women Need To Put Their Microbiome Health Front And Center!

As a woman, you are constantly wearing multiple hats. Whether it’s juggling parenting duties and work deadlines, packing lunches and looking after family members, churning out top-notch presentations and mentoring a team, or running an immaculate home, for most women, every day is filled with some madness and a million things to do. And let’s not forget, you also have to make it all seem completely effortless! But then, after a point, something’s got to give.

Poor immunity or failing health is often a telltale sign that you aren’t looking after yourself as well as you should. And even when you do manage to squeeze in a little time to watch your health, chances are you focus on things like cardiac health, blood sugar levels, or reproductive health. In the middle of all this, a tiny world known as your microbiome is unlikely to be on your radar. In fact, every other organ and system, including your skin and nails, probably gets more attention than this microscopic ecosystem that thrives within you.

What many women don’t realize is that the trillions of bacterial and yeast cells that make up your microbiome could be a game changer as far as your health and wellbeing go. It could even help you go the extra mile. So, if you haven’t ever given much thought to your microbiota, it’s time to turn things around!

The Little Things That Count: Your Microbiome Is Key To Your Health

So what is your microbiota? Simply put, it is an ecosystem of billions of microorganisms – some good and some bad – that live in your body in places like your gut, your skin, and even your mouth. And while it’s easy to write it off as something that only impacts digestive health, your microbiome balance is closely tied to your overall health. The right mix of microorganisms in your microbiota can have a ripple effect on everything from your reproductive health to immune system function, nutrition, and even your cognition and mood! Depending on the kind of microorganisms you have in this complex miniature world, you may find yourself stronger and healthier overall or more prone to infections and disease.

Your Microbiota Evolves With You

Your microbiota isn’t just very different from the next woman but is probably starkly different from what it was a decade or two ago. Just as a woman’s body and systems evolve and change with time, so too does the microbiota. Factors like your diet and nutrition, environment, lifestyle, stress levels, exercise regimen, weight, age, and medications you take all have a say. Even your mother’s microbiome plays a role in what your own is like since a baby gets its first microorganisms like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium before and during birth.¹ Major life changes like puberty, pregnancy, childbirth, or menopause cause shifts in your microbiota, too.²

If you are looking to give your body that boosts and help it perform at its best, you need to make sure this micro-universe within your body is as diverse and “good” as it can be. And that’s precisely why probiotics can be your ally. They may, in fact, be the smartest choice you could make for your body!

Women’s Health Issues: Probiotics Could Be The Key

Probiotics don’t just improve the diversity of your microbiota but could be a deal breaker as far as your health is concerned. This effect is even more compelling if you are a woman. From vaginal and yeast infections to those headaches that debilitate you at the worst of times, many health niggles can be set right with probiotics. Here’s a closer look at how they can help you:

• Improve urogenital health: Healthy women have an abundance of Lactobacilli bacteria in their body. If their levels dip, you are more prone to both urinary and vaginal infections. Taking probiotics can help lower the risk of such infections by modulating your immune system, reducing the number of pathogens that make their way in from the rectum, and inhibiting their growth.³ Research shows that probiotics can help prevent recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) and yeast infections like yeast vaginitis.^{4 5} Bacterial vaginosis, a common genital problem women battle everywhere, could also be avoided with probiotics.⁶
• Ward off migraines and headaches: Patients with gastrointestinal disorders tend to be more vulnerable to headaches and even migraines. Taking probiotics could help reduce both the frequency and severity of migraines.⁷ It can strengthen your gut health, reduce its permeability, and cut inflammation. This, in turn, can help brain function.
• Reduce the risk of pregnancy-related complications: If you are pregnant, probiotics have other benefits to offer. Research shows that they could help avoid or cut the risk of certain pregnancy-related complications like gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, and inflammation.⁸
• Ease digestive problems like IBS: Probiotics are also known to help regulate bowel function and improve digestive health.⁹ By introducing more “good” bacteria, you can alter your gut’s microbiota composition, ease symptoms of intestinal disorders like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and even prevent chances of infectious diarrhea.¹⁰
• Reduce risk of allergic conditions: Taking probiotics might even help prevent some allergic conditions in women. As one study showed, a group of pregnant women taking probiotics had a lower incidence of atopic dermatitis than those who did not.¹¹

Make Probiotics Work For You!

So now we know that a healthy microbiome, with an abundance of good bacteria, can help keep you healthy and fight illnesses that you often face as a woman. But what you should also know is that what goes into your body can tilt the balance for or against you. Just as you’d eat high fiber foods and omega 3-rich foods for your heart health, having the right probiotic foods in your diet and as supplements can make all the difference to your microbiome health.

Probiotic foods like yogurt or fermented foods like sauerkraut and miso offer one route to increase the numbers of the good bacteria in your body. But while these foods are well worth having, you might encounter a few challenges. For one, you need to be fairly disciplined about your diet, ensuring you eat plenty of such foods every day and in very specific quantities. It may be hard to keep track of the good bacteria intake as there’s no guarantee that a food will have a fixed amount of probiotics. You may not even know which strains you are getting. So what option does that leave you with?

To really power up your body, fight pathogens, and reel in the good bacteria, what you need is a top-notch probiotic supplement like Culturelle® Women’s Healthy Balance. Put together with precision and care and backed by extensive research, the probiotic blend offered by industry leader Culturelle® can be any woman’s best friend. After all, this finely balanced formula combines five strains of Lactobacillus, including the heavily researched and much lauded Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG®) strain. The result? A powerful combination that works not just for your feminine health but your digestive and immune function and overall wellness as well.

With the probiotic offering from Culturelle®, you are assured of 15 billion active cultures per serving to amp up your body’s defenses. The specially designed packaging delivers on its promise of giving you these live bacteria in the amounts mentioned, without losing any to heat, light, air, or moisture. With good bacteria on the rise, the pathogens get crowded out, leaving your microbiome a lot healthier. Women who’ve grappled with health issues for years have found respite after they’ve included this probiotic formulation in their routine.

Culturelle® Women’s Healthy Balance is also safe for pregnant women. In fact, it can make your body stronger, warding off infections and boosting immune health, when you have a baby on board. In essence, what Culturelle® offers is a one-stop solution to multiple health problems and protection for your whole body – just the way you’d like things.

Your body sportingly bears the brunt of all that you set out to do every day. What better way to return the favor than with a hassle-free addition that can do it a world of good. So go on, take that probiotic every day and see it work wonders for your health!