What is BV?

BV, or bacterial vaginosis, is a common medical issue among women of reproductive age in which an overly high presence of a particular bacteria throws off the balance and health of the vagina. Some of the symptoms of BV include abnormal discharge (of which BV is the most common cause), itching, burning, and irritation, as well as vaginal odor.

Usual BV Treatments

One of the most common treatments for BV are antibiotics, such as metronidazole. While these do tend to be effective, they also cause several side effects. Metronidazole in particular causes an array of side effects, including headache, dizziness, dry mouth or metallic taste in the mouth, nausea, vomiting, and stomach issues such as constipation and diarrhea.

Pro-Fem – A New BV Treatment

A robust double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study has shown that the core ingredients of Pro-Fem, a new probiotic that supports the treatment for BV, is equivalently effective or more effective than antibiotics like metronidazole at treating BV, without the extensive side effects.

The core ingredients of Pro-Fem are the bacterial strains Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 and Lactobacillus reuteri RC-14. These strains are already present in the bacterial environment of a healthy urogenital system. Often, a cause of BV is the absence of these very strains, which allow for the overgrowth of other kinds of bacteria and the offsetting of the vagina’s normal pHand bacterial balance. Pro-Fem, which is a probiotic developed specifically with women’s health in mind, targets BV by restoring the levels of these two strains, and thus restoring vaginal bacterial balance. GR-1 and RC-14 have been researched extensively over the past 20 years within human-participant trials, and are considered the most well-studied probiotic strains in women’s genital health. Thus, GR-1 and RC-14 have a history of being utilized as safe and functional treatments in women’s health.

The Research is Robust

A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study was conducted, consisting of adult women (aged 18 or older) who met the baseline of being diagnosed with BV. The robustness of this kind of study lies in offering the real treatment being studied (the two bacterial strains in Pro-Fem) to some participants, and a placebo, or a treatment that resembles the experimental one, but does not actually contain any of the strains being studied, to others. This study is also randomized, meaning each participant has the same chance of being offered the placebo or the experimental treatment. In a step further, neither participant nor researcher knows who received the placebo and who received the new treatment, ensuring no bias on either side of the experiment. This ensures the study results to be as robust as possible.

The Results

At the end of the trial, a vaginal swab determined that those in the experimental group that received the treatment of Pro-Fem bacterial strains had a significantly higher rate of bacterial health and balance restoration than those in the control (placebo) group. Researchers documented that those in the experimental group had increased levels of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 and Lactobacillus reuteri RC-14, showing that Pro-Fem’s ingredients are effective in treating BV. This study also supports previous thought and scientific literature that suggest probiotics like Pro-Fem are more effective in treating BV than antibiotics like metronidazole, without the unpleasant side effects.

Talk to your doctor today to discuss the possibilities and benefits of Pro-Fem.

Clinical Studies:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16697231/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19295645/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19187507/