You may already be familiar with the gut-brain axis, the biochemical signaling that takes place between the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system.
Research has shown that this nextwork, influenced by the health of the gut microbiome, can have far-reaching effects, from cognitive decline to depression and autoimmune conditions.
But the gut is the center of the body in more ways than one. For women, it may also influence the health of a more personal area…
«SPONSORED»
The brain-gut-vagina axis
Researchers have explored the connection between the gut and vagina and found that when a woman’s gut microbiome is out of balance, they get more recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), vaginal infections and vaginal dryness.
Researchers have also discovered something interesting; there’s actually a brain-gut-vagina feedback loop that can affect women’s health concerns.
When someone is anxious, depressed or under stress, it will feed back into the gut and cause issues with leaky gut, aggravating the vaginal microbiome imbalance. These conditions also raise cortisol levels, which can increase the risk of yeast infections.
In an interview with Integrative Practitioner, Dr. Betsy Greenleaf, a urogynecologist specializing in pelvic medicine, says 80% of women will have a pelvic health problem at some point in their lives.
“We need to look more at these connections to really help women flourish,” Greenleaf says. “Just throwing antibiotics and slimy creams at them is not going to work; we need to be addressing the whole mind-body-spirit connection along with this trifecta of the brain-gut-vagina.”
Diet plays a central role in the health of the gut microbiome, and thus the health of the vaginal microbiome. The chief cause of women’s UTIs, for example, is E. coli, and a lot of meat, especially chicken, is highly contaminated with E. coli.
Eating that meat raises the level of E. coli in the woman’s gut. Even if it doesn’t make them immediately sick, it can throw their microbiome out of whack, priming it for infection.
«SPONSORED»
Keeping your vagina healthy
To keep the vagina and urinary tract healthy, Greenleaf advises her patients to eat only foods that walk, grow, fly or swim. That means ditching most highly processed foods. “Doritos and Twinkies don’t grow on trees,” she says.
Plus, it’s important to avoid added sugars, since sugar feeds the yeast and other harmful bacteria in the vagina.
Greenleaf also suggests quality sleep, plenty of water, and a serving of fermented food every day. Fermented foods like yogurt are a great way to give the gut the probiotics it needs.
If you have trouble getting enough of these foods, a good-quality probiotic supplement is your best bet. However, you’ll need to know which probiotics can enhance your gut health in a way that helps ease your vaginal symptoms.
Past research shows that you can get nasty infections like bacterial vaginosis when your vaginal microbiome doesn’t produce enough Lactobacillus bacteria species. One study found that taking probiotics containing Lactobacillus strains could improve treatment and reduce relapses for women prone to these infections.
However, probiotics alone won’t keep the vaginal microbiome balanced. According to Greenleaf, the tissue must be supported.
“Naturally, when we’re younger, we have estrogen that causes active growth of the vaginal tissue, which will slough off and contains glycogen, which feeds the healthy bacteria,” she told Integrative Practitioner. “Healthy vaginal tissue keeps everything balanced, but stress, antibiotics, and hormones can throw it off.”
For those postmenopausal women who may continue to have problems despite promoting a healthy microbiome, it may be necessary to use topical hormones or regenerative therapy to restore the health of the vaginal tissue. Some regenerative therapies cited by Greenleaf include vaginal red-light therapy, laser therapy, platelet-rich plasma therapy, and carboxy therapy, which uses a carbon dioxide gel to attract oxygen into the tissue.
“The vaginal tissue needs to be thick and healthy so it can continue to feed healthy bacteria like Lactobacillus,” she says. “So, supporting the brain-gut-vagina axis is going to include a combination of probiotics and products that support the vaginal tissue.”
Sources:
Q&A: The Brain-Gut-Vagina Axis and How It Impacts Women’s Health — Integrative Practitioner
Read full article here