Your Diet Affects Your Vaginal Health

Your diet influences almost everything, from your menstrual cycle to your mood, so eating foods that are best for your vaginal health may help you to maintain smooth functioning under your belt. There are plenty of foods that may impact vaginal health, creating conditions like dryness or throwing off your natural pH balance. The effects that diet has on your vaginal health are further motivation to include some of these balanced foods in your diet -- and limit others that do not serve you well. [3, 14, 13]

You might not realize that eating a healthy diet, and choosing specific foods, may even contribute to vaginal health. However, eating a balanced diet does not just support weight loss, increased energy, and better digestion, but can help support vaginal health as well. [5, 11]

Fortunately, just about any food that helps support intestinal health also helps to support a healthy balance of vaginal bacteria, says Jenni Anne Freiman, MD. To boost both gut and vaginal health, Jennie Ann Freiman recommends eating a combination of prebiotic foods, such as garlic, onions, and raw leeks, alongside probiotic foods, such as yogurt, kimchi, pickles, sauerkraut, tempeh, and kombucha. [3]

Eating probiotic-rich foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut, and plain yogurt may help to balance your vaginal pH, by introducing healthy, protective bacteria. Eating fermented foods that contain probiotics, such as yogurt and kombucha, helps boost good bacteria in your vagina and may help prevent infections. [6, 2]

Probiotics are filled with beneficial bacteria that live in your gut, are responsible for mood and weight balance, and maintain immune system health, which keeps your vaginas pH levels stable. Prebiotics are a preferred food of the good gut bacteria, and they help to keep the whole body, including your vagina, healthy and balanced. [10, 5]

There is some evidence that having a healthy number of good bacteria in your body may help protect against vaginal yeast infections. Unfortunately, you cannot get rid of bacteria from your vagina, as they help keep a normal pH level and fight infections. On the one hand, unhealthy diets may cause a pH imbalance and bacteria to live there, but if you follow a diet full of healthful foods, these may contribute to a healthy vagina. [8, 4, 9]

A lot of foods are made up of healthy bacteria, which can balance those pH levels, keeping you from feeling dry, itchy, and smelly. Too much sugar in the diet kills off good, essential bacteria your vaginal environment needs, leading to a pH imbalance, which causes irritation and infections. While this sounds incredible, you have to keep in mind that too much sugar in the diet will harm your vaginals important bacteria, and the imbalance of bacteria will cause soreness, yeast infections, and irritation. Dr. Shirazian added that eating sugar-laden foods changes your vaginas pH, which allows for overgrowth of yeasts and other infections-causing organisms. [10, 12, 4, 0]

Your vagina does a fairly good job at cleaning and protecting itself, but some factors, like sperm, lounging around in damp bikini bottoms, and eating processed foods, can degrade the vaginal pH. Everything from exercise, stress, to sex changes the PH of your vagina, but when your vagina is healthy, it is generally capable of maintaining a PH balance on its own. Diet and your water intake also play a big part in keeping the pH level of your vagina your vagina balanced, minimising smells, and combating infections. Water helps the vagina by keeping tissues moist and helping your body efficiently remove waste. [12, 0, 10, 5]

When the pH in the vagina really does change, your vagina becomes an even better environment for bacteria and other organisms to thrive, leading to yeast infections, and particularly to bacterial vaginosis, a painful infection that also may make you smell south of pleasant. If the balance of your vaginal pH is thrown a bit out of balance, you are bound to feel a bit differently down there, with more volume in the vagina, new odors, and so on. This will also give bacteria the opportunity to flourish and trigger UTIs. Certain foods may throw this delicate balance off, causing your smell and taste to be less than enjoyable down there. Too much of some foods can wreak havoc below the belt, so it is wise to keep these things away from your plate when you can. [0, 4, 7]

While you do not have to completely eliminate these foods, keep an eye on them if you think they might cause problems with your vaginal health. It may be difficult to avoid including fatty foods in meals, consider restricting their intake if you are experiencing repeated yeast infections or other vaginal problems. While we are talking about which foods are good for vaginal health, it is important to also know which foods to avoid, particularly if you are struggling with recurring yeast infections or bacterial vaginosis. To help maintain optimum vaginal health, keep an eye out for these nine surprising foods that can affect your vaginal health, according to experts. [14, 13]

Love them or hate them, omega 3 fats are important for one reason, and they have made the cut for a food that helps with vaginal health, too. These healthy fats provide B vitamins and calcium, which may help to prevent vaginitis, as well as build up a healthy mucosal lining that fights other infections. Healthy fats such as nuts, avocados, and olive oil help to regulate cholesterol and keep estrogen levels balanced, which, in turn, keeps bacteria and vaginal pH levels in check. Preventing infections and maintaining a balanced vaginal pH goes along with keeping estrogen levels in check, so eating a sufficient amount of healthy fats such as almonds, flaxseed, avocado, and olive oil is important for your diet. [10, 12, 6]

Unlike other factors out of your control like genetics and age, making healthier eating habits and avoiding foods that are harmful for a well-balanced vaginal ecosystem is something that you can do on your own and will help to enhance ovulatory function. Read on to find out which foods may help your body keep a better balance in order to combat or prevent specific ailments. When eating a certain type of food, we typically consider what is best for our bodies or our energy levels, but usually do not choose our meals on what they may be doing for our vaginal health. The foods you eat may affect the natural acidic pH, changing how the vaginal area smells (and even tastes).