The Best Probiotics for BV Management: Our Top 7 Picks

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is often incredibly uncomfortable for women, causing symptoms such as itching, burning, or unusually colored discharge. However, there is a solution that can reduce your risk of developing such an infection.

Taking probiotic supplements is a well-known method for maintaining good gut health, weight loss, and even mental well-being, but they can also target problems like BV. But with so many to choose from, how do you know which one is best for women’s health?

In this guide to vaginal probiotics, we’ve narrowed down the choices to just 7 that we think are best for treating or preventing BV in a safe, effective, and natural way. Read on to find out which one is right for you, along with the pros and cons of each product.

Top 3 Probiotics for BV Management

7 Best Probiotics for BV

Including a probiotic supplement in your daily routine builds up good levels of beneficial bacteria in your body while eliminating the harmful bacteria that can cause your vaginal pH levels to become imbalanced. This can lead to UTIs, yeast infections, and bacterial vaginosis in women.

Here are some of the best probiotics we’d recommend for keeping your vagina healthy:

#1 Bioma: Best overall

Bioma is a natural probiotic supplement that targets bacteria overgrowth throughout your body. Along with curbing hunger hormones, treating constipation, and boosting your energy, Bioma also supports a healthy vagina microbiome.

Take just 2 capsules a day for 4 weeks, and the probiotic’s self-activating ingredients will get to work. For instance, tributyrin promotes the growth of butyrate, a probiotic that helps the good bacteria within your body produce more beneficial byproducts to protect urinary tract health.

Another notable ingredient is xylooligosaccharide (XOS), a prebiotic that feeds probiotics to help them effectively perform their functions. XOS has also been found to have antimicrobial effects that limit the growth of bad bacteria in the reproductive system. 

Something we especially liked about Bioma is the initial quiz you’ll be asked to take, which is designed to help you find a personalized solution to your bacteria imbalances.

#2 Happy V: Best for recurrent bacterial vaginosis

If you’re fed up with tackling BV and yeast infections, vaginal discharge, and discomfort, then Happy V may be the pre and probiotic for you. The supplement was created when Daniella Levy became fed up with battling BV for years and only being prescribed antibiotics that kill both good and bad bacteria.

Providing a wide spectrum of good lactobacillus and bifidobacterium strains, Happy V begins by destroying bad bacteria that may be causing discomfort with its bacteriophage prebiotic. Once in, the probiotics begin producing lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide as natural defenses, helping to boost the pH of your vaginal flora and preventing the growth of new bacteria. 

Along with BV, Happy V is clinically proven to help relieve the symptoms of many female health issues, including menopause, urinary tract infections (UTIs), and premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

#3 YourBiology: Best for immunity

By balancing the gut microbiome, YourBiology pre, and probiotics help to keep your immune system healthy. Your body will therefore be in a better position to fight off possible illnesses, including UTIs, BV, and other vaginal infections.

Using a huge 40 billion colony forming units (CFUs), YourBiology delivers 4 live strains to where they are needed, including lactobacillus paracasei. This is a type of good bacteria that stops toxic pathogens from causing poor vaginal health.

Derived from brown seaweed, the supplement uses patented MAKTrek Bi-Pass technology, which provides a 250 times better survival rate in the stomach than other probiotics. This is because it protects the probiotics from damage as they make their way through the body, ensuring that users can experience the range of health benefits it has to offer.

#4 Culturelle: Best for balancing pH levels

Formulated with 5 lactobacillus species, Culturelle probiotic supplements are effective in driving out bad bacteria to help you maintain a healthy vaginal microbiome. Specifically, their probiotics for women 4-in-1 protection capsules contain two of the most researched strains of lactobacillus rhamnosus, along with a blend of 4 other clinically studied lactobacilli. 

These strains improve digestive health and make the probiotic ideal for relieving bloating. The rhamnosus strain has also been shown to kill harmful bacteria and yeast in the vagina. 

Getting to work in just 24 hours, it delivers 15 billion CFUs to the intestines and vagina to maintain urinary tract health and protect you from unfriendly bacteria that cause irritation and infection.

#5 Seed Daily Synbiotic: Best pro and prebiotic

As a 2-in-1 capsule, Seed Daily Synbiotic is highly effective for vaginal health as it combines pro and prebiotics. Prebiotics act as food for probiotics within the body, ensuring they can work to maintain a balanced vaginal microbiome.

Designed specifically for adults, the formula contains 24 clinically-studied probiotic strains to keep your gut happy, with research highlighting the link between good gut and vaginal health. One such strain is bifidobacterium longum, which regulates the immune system and stops inflammation. In turn, this may reduce your risk of developing a UTI.

What’s great about Seed is that the capsules are produced with ViaCap Delivery Technology, a system that protects the synbiotic from damage caused by oxygen, moisture, and heat. This ensures that each dose is delivered safely to your colon.

#6 Renew Life Vaginal & Urinary Probiotic: Best for yeast infections

Renew Life contains a blend of clinically-studied lactobacillus rhamnosus and reuteri strains, which occur naturally in the vagina and urinary tract.

By taking them in supplement form, the probiotics help to prevent the colonization of pathogens and therefore reduce your risk of vaginal infection. They do this by producing lactic acid in the vagina, helping to maintain healthy pH levels for beneficial bacteria to survive.

Interestingly, the supplement also uses 500mg of cranberries. This fruit provides the body with proanthocyanidins (PACs), compounds that prevent urinary tract infections from returning.

#7 Solaray Mycrobiome Probiotic Women’s Formula: Best vegan supplement

With 50 billion CFUs per capsule, the Solaray Mycrobiome probiotics for women formula is a high-quality, vegan probiotic that targets both digestive and vaginal health. 

The supplement contains lactobacillus plantarum, a probiotic that helps to lower vaginal pH, which prevents BV and yeast infections. As an oat fiber blend, it also reduces acidity, ensuring that your pH remains at a healthy level between 3.8 and 5.0.

Plus, Solaray as a brand was built upon the belief that nature is the source of wellness, meaning that its ingredients and packaging are natural and sustainable.

Comparison Table

How We Tested

Before recommending a product, we always evaluate it against our comprehensive criteria. This ensures that they are safe, effective, and worth the investment for the benefits they provide. Here are the 4 factors we looked at for each of the probiotics for BV.

Quality

Good quality probiotics should be made from natural ingredients and be free of preservatives, fillers, and other artificial ingredients. They should also have a good CFU count, which indicates that the supplement has a lot of active microorganisms per dose.

Effectiveness

To ensure that we only recommend products that are effective, we chose probiotics that have been clinically and third-party tested. We also made sure to select products that contain probiotic strains that are particularly effective for vaginal health by reading studies that confirm the effects of each ingredient.

Price

Price can be a tricky issue when it comes to buying probiotics, as they can often be expensive and way out of some people’s budgets. However, cost isn’t always an indicator of quality, which is why we try to choose some products that are budget-friendly and great value for money.

Brand reputation

Trustworthy brands tend to do a lot of research and testing on their products before releasing them to the market. They are transparent about what goes into their probiotics and provide detailed explanations in the product description. To make sure we only picked trustworthy brands, we looked at other customer reviews before including them in our own.

Conclusion

Probiotics are effective for maintaining good gut, immune, and vaginal health, all in one supplement. Our top 3 recommended probiotics for those struggling with BV are Bioma, Happy V, and YourBiology, which all provide clinically-proven probiotic strains to maintain a healthy bacterial balance.