Hey there, welcome to the root cause medicine podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Carrie Jones. On this podcast,

we go in depth with leading experts from all walks of life to understand and improve your health

and well-being. Okay, are you ready for an episode all about vaginal health, vaginal myths,

and the vaginal microbiome with Dr. Karina Dunlap?

I hope so, because she answers all of your questions.

Dr. Dunlap graduated from the National University of Natural Medicine and completed a residency

in women's health. She then went on to do a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship

and has a master's degree

and integrative medical research.

She's a medical advisor and research consultant to the well-loved brands Lola and Skin Tea.

She's also the co-owner of Bia Wellness.

It was an absolute pleasure talking with her today as she discussed everything you need to know about the vagina

but didn't learn in school. Here's a clip from today's conversation. The vaginal microbiome

mainly consists of and what we want it to consist of is mostly lactobacillus, lectobacillus,

lectobacillis strains. Those strains basically feed off of the glycogen, which are

sloughed from the subs, like from the cells of the vagina. Basically, they feed off of that and produce

and create and maintain a certain pH. So it really has to do with the way the tissue is, the health

of the tissue, the health of the secretions from those

tissue, from the tissue, and that the bugs, the lactobacillia, feed off of that and maintain a very

what we consider healthy, normal pH for the vagina. And they really keep it. It's nothing that has to be

maintained from the outside. Honestly, the less we bug that whole environment, the less we bother it, the less we kind of messes

it with any sort of products, the better, honestly.

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