Monday, November 4, 2024

Women Are Treating Their Vaginal Infections With Garlic

Here’s a headline we bet you never thought you’d read.

Jennifer Gunter, a gynecologist who also writes recurring pieces for the New York Times, tweeted that inserting garlic cloves into your vaginas is a bad idea. Because, sadly, this is a thing that must be said.

RELATED: 10 Bad Habits To Avoid If You Want A Healthy Vagina

The practice of introducing garlic inside vaginas stems from the knowledge that the plant has allicin, a property that’s demonstrated some anti-fungal capabilities when tested in labs. Dr. Gunter explains that even if this chemical had been tested on humans – it hasn’t – people who insert full garlic cloves inside their vaginas aren’t reaping the benefits of allicin. These only appear when the garlic clove is cut or crushed. On a thread of tweets she explains that cloves are in contact with dirt which might introduce even more bacteria to the vagina, an environment that’s notoriously delicate.

RELATED: 5 Things You Should Know About Your Vagina

Vaginas are mysterious creatures, prompting tons of hysteria and ignorance. That doesn’t mean that women should do crazy things to them, like inserting yogurt, lemon juice or oregano to improve smell and get rid of bad things. Yes, people actually have done this.

As a rule of thumb, steer clear from online vaginal remedies, no matter how many reads or views they have. People make up a lot of crap. If something feels off or wrong with your vagina, your best bet is to visit your doctor.

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