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Top 5 Probiotics for Women Over 40 [2024 Edition]

In this guide, you’ll find the common reasons women over 40 use probiotics and the most popular and effective options in the market right now.

3 Reasons Why Women Over 40 Use Probiotics

Our vagina contains an ecosystem of bacteria, both good and bad.

Now, our bodies naturally support a delicate balance between the bacteria in the vagina, which is crucial for maintaining intimate health.

Unfortunately, this balance can be disrupted by factors like stress, antibiotics, and hormonal shifts.

When your vaginal microbiome is imbalanced, supplementing with probiotics can help:

  • Restore and maintain healthy vaginal flora: By taking probiotics, you essentially replenish your intimate area with Lactobacillus, the dominant “good” bacteria.

     

  • Balance vaginal pH: Lactobacillus produces lactic acid as a by-product, which keep the vagina slightly acidic. This prevents the growth of harmful bacteria that can cause infections.

     

  • Support yeast balance: Candida albicans, a type of yeast, naturally lives in the vagina. Probiotics can help keep it in check, “crowding ” them out and preventing overgrowth & discomfort.

     

  • Reduce vaginal odor: Probiotics can help you restore a normal vaginal odor when things start smelling “off”. Maintaining a healthy balance of bacteria helps control odor-causing bacteria.

Did you know your gut health is linked to your skin health?

This gut-skin connection is proven by tons of scientific studies done, which suggests that you can manage skin conditions (and even hair) through improving your gut health. 1

Some skin conditions that probiotics have been known to help with are: 

Eczema: Studies suggest probiotics may help improve eczema symptoms by reducing inflammation.

Acne: Probiotics may help regulate hormones and reduce inflammation, potentially improving acne.

Rosacea: Similar to eczema, probiotics might help manage rosacea by reducing inflammation.

Wrinkles and dry skin: Probiotics can help to promote collagen production, which can help maintain skin elasticity and hydration.

A healthy gut microbiome plays a vital role in digestion and nutrient absorption.

However, as we age, our gut bacteria naturally declines, which can lead to digestive issues like bloating, constipation, and gas.

Here’s how probiotics can help:

Improve digestion: Probiotics can help break down food and promote better nutrient absorption.

Reduce bloating and gas: A balanced gut microbiome can alleviate digestive issues like bloating and gas.

Block fat absorption: While not a magic bullet for weight loss, some research suggests certain probiotic strains, like L.Gasseri, may help your body absorb less fat.

Results You Can Expect in 90 Days

Here’s a general timeline of what you might experience when starting a new probiotic regimen.

Do keep in mind that different people tend to see results at a different rate:

Day 7:

 

Starting a probiotic regimen can sometimes lead to temporary digestive discomfort, as your body adjusts to the influx of beneficial bacteria.

To minimize these effects, it’s best to start with half a dose to acclimatize — and gradually increasing it over the course of a week.

This allows your body to get used to the new ingredients & probiotics you’re feeding it, without having side effects or too big of a reaction.

Day 30:

 

By now, you may start to experience and see some improvements in your digestion, maybe even a reduction in bloating or healthier-looking skin.

Also, by the average supplement standards of a monthly supply (30 servings per bottle), you would have finished the bottle if you were taking it consistently.

At this juncture, it’s best to replenish your stock if you want to continue seeing the benefits as probiotics in the gut diminishes over time.

Day 90:

 

Here on out, you’ll be able to enjoy significantly smoother digestion, clearer skin, and better vaginal health — as the probiotics would have been fully indoctrinated into your system.

Remember, probiotics do have a limited lifespan.

To continue enjoying these results, consider incorporating both probiotic-rich foods and your choice of a high-quality women’s probiotic supplement, into your daily regime.

3 Things You Must Have For An Effective Women's Probiotic

Not all probiotics are created equal. Here’s what to look for in a women’s probiotic for optimal results:

Lactobacillus Species


These are some of the most studied probiotic strains for women’s health. Look for these specific species:

  • L. Reuteri: This strain supports a healthy vaginal microbiome by promoting the growth of good bacteria and inhibiting the growth of bad bacteria. 2
  • L. Gasseri: This strain has been linked to improved weight management by promoting healthy metabolic function and reducing belly fat storage. 3, 4

Bifidobacterium Species


It’s good to mix in probiotics from the bifidobacterium species as well. These strains offer additional benefits:

  • B. Coagulans: This strain specifically supports intimate health by promoting a healthy balance of vaginal flora. 5

  • B. Breve: This strain can help regulate cholesterol levels by reducing LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and increasing HDL (“good”) cholesterol. 6

  • B. Lactis: This strain contributes to a healthy digestive system by breaking down complex carbohydrates and promoting regularity. 7

✅ Collagen & Hyaluronic Acid


To further support women’s health, choose probiotic supplements that also contain collagen and hyaluronic acid for benefits like:

  • Collagen Complex (Type I, II, III, IV, V): Collagen are the building blocks that make up our skin, and as you age, your body produces less and less collagen. Supplementing with the right blend of collagen (look out for type I and III) can help you build stronger skin (both inside your vagina and outside). 8

  • Hyaluronic Acid: This nutrient helps lock in moisture within the skin, promoting hydration & elasticity. This helps with one of the most common problems women face when it comes to intimate health — vaginal dryness. 9

Top 5 Probiotics for Women Over 40 On The Market, Ranked [2024 Edition]

Why we like Radiancy

Radiancy is labeled as a vaginal probiotic & collagen formula for lasting feminine balance. Its probiotic & collagen blend of ingredients presents a unique, yet comprehensive approach to vaginal health — which we absolutely love. 

The probiotic trio (L.Reuteri, B.Coagulans, L.Bulgaricus) they’ve chosen for their ingredient blend are all probiotic strains studied to help improve vaginal health 2, 5, 10,  providing benefits like: 

  • Lesser infections (Yeast/BV)
  • A balanced vaginal microbiome
  • Healthy vaginal pH
  • Reduce vaginal discomfort like dryness & itch

Radiancy also contains premium ingredients that’ll help with skin care and repair, both inside and out. Featuring ceramides that prevent the skin from drying out, hyaluronic acid that increases and locks in the moisture, and a collagen complex (Type I, II, III, IV, V) that helps improve elasticity.

That’s not all, Radiancy also included anti-aging ingredients like sakura extract, vitamin C and vitamin E. These ingredients are high in antioxidants, which helps fight skin-aging & vaginal atrophy.

This combination of probiotics, hydrating skin-care & anti-aging ingredients casts a wide net of support for vaginal health, making it the most comprehensive supplement on this list.

It’s also keto & paleo friendly, which allows it to be easily integrated into modern diets. The ingredients are non-GMO, non-hormonal & stimulant-free, making it safe for long-term consumption.

Pros

Cons

Why we like Provitalize

Provitalize is the only supplement in our list that’s formulated for weight management. It’s labeled as a probiotic & herb supplement that helps with digestion, hormonal support and fat-burn.

According to their official website, over 2,200,000 women have shed the stubborn weight with just two capsules a day.

It contains 3 specific strains (L.Gasseri, B.Breve, B.Lactis) capable of supporting higher metabolism levels, reduce fat absorption in the gut, lower inflammation levels, and even tackle bloating. 11, 12, 13

In addition to probiotics, Provitalize contains a herbal blend with demonstrated benefits for premenopausal, menopausal, and postmenopausal women including turmeric root extract, moringa leaf extract, and curry leaf extract. Together these have been shown to combat inflammation and bloating, decrease hot flashes, joint pain, and support healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Bioperene (black pepper extract) and sunflower lecithin are shown to enhance absorption of vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial properties of herbal formulas.

Pros

Cons

URO is a probiotic supplement, marketed to help improve vaginal health, with clinically-studied ingredients to support healthy odor, pH, and yeast balance.

Each serving of URO (2 capsules) features 50 mg of their V-Positiv Probiotic Blend (L.acidophilus, L.rhamnosus, L.reuteri, L.fermentum) and 400 mg of XOS (xylooligosaccharides) prebiotic.

We love that they’ve included prebiotics along their probiotic blend to provide a source of energy for the probiotics to feed on. However, we feel that the ingredient blend lacks holistic ingredients that either helps with hormonal balance, or helps repair and moisturize the vaginal skin.

We’d also like it better if they didn’t include fillers (maltodextrin, coloring).

But all in all, URO Vaginal Probiotics is a great choice for a probiotic supplement to help manage your vaginal health.

Pros

Cons

Garden of Life’s Dr Formulated Probiotics is a probiotic supplement, marketed as a once-daily probiotic for vaginal, digestion and immunity.

Each serving (1 capsule) of Garden of Life’s Dr Formulated Probiotics contains 248 mg of their probiotic blend (Lactobacillus.acidophilus, plantarum, casei, paracasei, bulgaricus, brevis, reuteri, salivarius, fermentum, gasseri, rhamnosis / Bifidobacterium.lactis, bifidum, breve, infantis, longum), and 377 mg of prebiotic blend (potato starch, acacia fiber).

We love that they do not sneak in additional fillers, and that they blend multiple probiotics that are beneficial for overall health.

However, having so many strains means you’ll get less of each probiotic going into your gut. This means that if there are any specific areas of health you want to focus on, like vaginal health for example…

You might be better focusing on a probiotic that has concentrated amounts of specific strains.

Also, after looking through their page, we’ve found out that the Dr behind this formulated blend is a male neurologist.

Now, seeing that it’s formulated for women, we’d definitely prefer it if they got a more qualified doctor. Like someone who actually knows what the female body needs, or a microbiologist who knows which probiotics benefit the female body.

Pros

Cons

Physician’s Choice Women’s Probiotic is a probiotic supplement that’s designed specifically for feminine health & overall digestive health.

Each serving (1 capsule) of Physician’s Choice Women’s Probiotic contains 133 mg of probiotic women’s blend (Lactobacillus.plantarum, paracasei, casei, gasseri, acidophilus / Bifidobacterium.lactis), 100 mg of their prebiotic blend (jerusalem artichoke root, acacia senegal), 60 mg of D-Mannose and 50 mg of cranberry fruit powder.

We love the decision to use acid-resistant capsules as those will help the probiotics survive the journey through your digestive system.

However, there wasn’t any additional information provided and we cannot attest to its effectiveness.

Now, the blend contains D-Mannose, a sugar that’s studied for its ability to help with UTIs. However, this ingredient may cause side effects like diarrhea and nausea, and may even lead to kidney damage.

Do note that this probiotic blend contains fillers (rice flour, rice hull extract), so we recommend taking that into consideration when choosing supplements.

Pros

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OR

Nancy Grace
Researcher and Science Writer
Nancy specializes in science journalism and factual information in the fields of health, medicine, and nutrition. She spends hours each week pouring through 100s of medical journals and research studies to increase accessibility to the depths of information by the everyday person.

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