Your gut probiotic isn't a bladder probiotic

"Just take a probiotic." I hear this a lot, usually from someone holding a jar that cost 39 kroner and promises everything from glowing skin to a better mood.

Here's the thing. "Probiotic" is not one thing. It's thousands of different bacterial strains, and they behave as differently as dogs and cats. A strain chosen for your gut is not automatically going to do anything for your vagina or bladder.

A healthy vaginal flora is usually dominated by Lactobacillus species. They keep the environment slightly acidic, which makes life hard for the bacteria behind UTIs. Specific strains like L. rhamnosus and L. reuteri have been studied for supporting that flora. Random gut blends mostly haven't.

So when a product says "10 billion CFU!" in huge letters, the better question is: which ones, and where are they supposed to end up?

Stomach acid is brutal. It's designed to kill bacteria. Many probiotics in a basic capsule simply don't survive the trip. That's why we use delayed-release capsules, which are built to pass the stomach before opening.

Numbers on a jar are easy. Getting live bacteria to the right place is the hard part.