Benefits of Probiotics for Women
If you’ve ever struggled with stomach pain or digestive issues, you know just how much of a role your gut health plays in your physical and mental wellness. A healthy gut can bring many different benefits to your overall health that may enhance your engagement in daily activities and positively impact your lifestyle.
But how do you maintain your gut health, and what is the best way to improve your gut health if you struggle with digestive or other stomach issues? One of the best answers is probiotics, the good bacteria that can have a powerful influence on men’s and women’s health alike, in a few different ways.
What exactly are probiotics, how can they support your health and wellness, and how do you know if you could benefit from them? Today we will explore probiotics and how they can benefit women’s health.
Read on to learn more about how you can promote a healthy gut and enhance your wellness with probiotics.
What Are Probiotics?
Probiotics are beneficial live microorganisms that you consume — either from fermented foods or from dietary supplements — to help restore the beneficial microorganisms in your microbiome.
Your microbiome is made up of the living organisms — such as bacteria, fungi, and yeasts — inside your body. There are both good and bad microorganisms in your body, and a healthy microbiome requires just the right balance between the two.
When your body's microbiome becomes imbalanced such that you have more bad bacteria than beneficial bacteria, you might experience health problems like digestive issues, illness, or infection.
Many different strains of bacteria classify as probiotics, but most types of probiotics are strains of Lactobacillus (such as Lactobacillus bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus rhamnosus).
You can acquire these bacteria or other probiotic strains by consuming fermented foods or drinks such as yogurt, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, and kombucha. In addition to probiotic foods, there are also probiotic supplements that you can take to improve your gut health.
What Are the Benefits of Probiotics for Women?
Probiotics can help restore balance to your microbiome, which can have many different health benefits, particularly for women. Some potential health benefits include support for digestion, gut health, vaginal health, and immune function.
Let's explore each of these beneficial effects of probiotics more in-depth below.
Can Support Digestion
Probiotics can help your body digest food, particularly foods that your stomach might have more difficulty breaking down. Probiotics can also help your stomach break down fiber, which can help enhance your body’s ability to absorb nutrients (like fatty acids and vitamins) from the foods you eat.
Additionally, these beneficial microorganisms may help relieve some of the discomfort that can come with the occasional digestive system issue.
If you have occasional digestive issues, such as excess gas, bloating, acid reflux, constipation, or diarrhea, a probiotic supplement may help provide relief.
Make sure you choose a supplement with clinically studied strains of probiotics, like the daily digestive gummy Lemme Debloat. Lemme Debloat has two clinically studied probiotic strains, plus a prebiotic, with health benefits including bloating relief, contributing to a healthy gut microbiome, and support for overall digestive health.
Can Support a Healthy Gut
It is normal to have bacteria and other microorganisms present in your gut — in fact, your digestive tract requires a variety of different beneficial microorganisms to help create a healthy environment for your gut to do its job.
However, the balance between good and bad microorganisms can be fragile. When you have a microbiome imbalance, either with low levels of beneficial bacteria or high levels of bad bacteria, you might experience side effects such as excess gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
Probiotics help you maintain a healthy balance of gut bacteria or can help restore the balance if you have low levels of beneficial bacteria. If you take probiotics every day and remain consistent in your routine, you may start to see noticeable changes in your gut health, with relief that can enhance your physical and mental health as a bonus.
Can Support Vaginal Health
Your gut is not the only place in your body where your microbiome lives — you also have a skin microbiome and, believe it or not, a vaginal microbiome!
A well-balanced vaginal microbiome supports vaginal health as well as your overall well-being. Probiotics can help support the levels of good bacteria residing in your vaginal canal and thus can help maintain your overall vaginal health and freshness.
Can Support Immune Function
The benefits of probiotics can also extend to your immune system. Probiotics can support overall immune function when it comes to fighting off foreign invaders.
The healthy gut environment that probiotics help foster also means that your gut wall is not as permeable. A less permeable gut wall can help you stay more protected, because bad microorganisms are less likely to pass through your gut and into your bloodstream.
What Are the Signs That You Could Benefit From a Probiotic?
There are many different signs that you could benefit from a probiotic, like if you are experiencing gastrointestinal issues, such as constipation, abdominal pain, or bloating.
You can also benefit from a probiotic if you are on antibiotics, as antibiotics can cause your levels of beneficial bacteria to decline.
Finally, if you struggle with your mental health or are experiencing chronic stress, this is another sign that you might benefit from a probiotic — added stress can make it more difficult for your body to properly digest foods, and probiotics can help support healthy digestion.
If any of the above factors apply to you, you may be able to benefit from a probiotic to support your gut health. If you are still unsure about whether or not you should start taking probiotics, then discuss this with your healthcare provider for further advice.
The Bottom Line
Probiotics have many benefits for your overall physical and mental health. In addition to restoring your gut microbiome to a beneficial balance for better digestive health, probiotics can also positively impact your vaginal health and immune function.
Probiotics can help support your immune system and keep your gut and body balanced, particularly when it comes to helping maintain vaginal health.
Whether you are thinking about trying probiotics to support digestion, a healthy gut, vaginal health, or immune function, choosing the right sources of probiotics is key.
In addition to sourcing probiotics from healthy fermented foods like yogurt or kefir, you might also want to try a probiotic supplement — make sure you choose one with clinically studied strains of bacteria, like those found in Lemme Debloat!
Sources:
Probiotics and immune health | PMC
Probiotics | American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy | Oxford Academic
