The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - Everything To Know About Vaginal Health & The Vagina Microbiome Ft. Ara Katz Of Seed Health

Episode Date: July 12, 2024

#725: Today we’re sitting down with Ara Katz, the co-founder and co-CEO of Seed Health, a microbiome science company pioneering innovations in probiotics and living medicines to impact human and planetary health. We discuss the importance of the vaginal microbiome and how everyday things like hormonal changes, menstruation, antibiotics, and even sex can throw it off balance, and what women can do to promote good vaginal immunity.   To connect with Lauryn Bosstick click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE To Watch the Show click HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential Head to the HIM & HER Show ShopMy page HERE to find all of Michael and Lauryn’s favorite products mentioned on their latest episodes.   This episode is brought to you by Seed.   Use code SKINNY25 for 25% off your Seed products.   This episode is brought to you by Alastin.    Visit www.alastin.com/skinny for 10% off your ALASTIN purchase with code SKINNY    Produced by Dear Media

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to The Skinny Confidential, him and her.

Aha! Some of these ideas are not new, but now the specificity and the precision and understanding and the depth that we your tooth, all the way to the gum barrier and the role that microbes play in securing the barrier. Same way that on your skin, like you're in skincare and beauty, the skin microbiome will be a tsunami in the coming years. We'll start to understand it, protect it more. You'll start to see every product say something about the skin microbiome, whether it's been tested for it, et cetera. And so they're all playing a role, very similar to the vaginal microbiome in how do I protect and carry out my function as a microbe or in this area.

Vaginal microbiome. That is what we're talking about today with the one and only co-founder and co-CEO of Seed Health. You guys have seen Seed all over Instagram. It's very aesthetically pleasing. And today, Ara Katz is on the show. She knows her shit when it comes to vaginal microbiome. I ask every question that you could possibly think of. I feel like this is the perfect podcast to discuss this. And we really get into it and how important it is to be aware of the

vagina's microbiome. For anyone who's unfamiliar with Seed Health, it's a microbiome science company pioneering innovations in living medicines to impact human health. There is truly no better person to talk about this subject. Ara even has a children's book called A Kid's Book About Your Microbiome. She taught me so much in this episode. I am actually on their vaginal symbiotic right now, and it's been incredible. There's like a starter kit that you can get. She gives you a code, and we also have a giveaway at the end of this episode. And it's amazing what this can do to support the vagina. On that note, I think you're going to love this episode, especially if you have a vagina. Ara, welcome to the Him and Her Show.

This is the skinny confidential Him and Her. Michael better hold on to his penis because we are not talking about penises. We are talking about vagina microbiome. Oh, boy. I really think after this show, you've talked about everything there is to talk about. He has to take a sip of water because he's nervous. No, I mean, at this point, let's see if we can shock him. I don't know. Let's get the lay of the land. I take that as a challenge.

Oh, you have a challenge. You have to explain this to there's two penises in the room. So we'll see Carson and Michael. We'll see if they can understand this. Carson, pay attention. Hang on. I will. Don't you guys worry can understand this. Carson, pay attention. Hang on. I will. Don't you guys worry.

This is close. Get your notepad out. I will start off by saying that the vagina is much more complex than the penis. The penis is a little simple. It's a little boring. In my opinion, the vagina has a lot of layers. It's like an onion. I agree.

I agree. I've never found penis that interesting, to be honest. It is what you will learn today. It's also highly disruptive to the vagina. Ah, your penis is disrupting my vagina. Well. Let's get the lay of the land. What is vagina microbiome?

The vaginal microbiome is the community of microbes, mostly bacteria, that live in the vagina that work very hard to create the most protective and resilient and stable environment. And it is truly one of the key drivers of urogenital, reproductive, and gynecological health. We did not look at the vaginal microbiome really until recent years to even understand what those microbes were doing in the vagina. We looked at them like what they did to the baby during a vaginal birth, for example, but we really weren't looking to understand exactly how and why and the ways in which we can nurture them to do their job. And so it's now becoming,

I think, what we're excited to talk about today, truly the next frontier of women's health. When I had a baby, I had them not bathe the baby after. It's called delayed bathing. And I did not want to put the baby in the bath for a long time. I'm not going to say how much because the internet's going to freak out. What do you think about women who have babies that leave the vagina microbiome on the baby? What's I would love to hear from your perspective. Sure. So one of the most interesting things, and we'll talk about which microbes are present,

but, you know, the compounds that evolved, the microbes that evolved over many, many, many, many years to live in the vagina have a number of functions, right? Like as I was saying before, they do a lot of things to keep us healthy. Without microbes, you couldn't regulate the pH of your vagina because they produce lactic acid. That's what makes your vagina acidic. You actually want a very acidic vaginal environment. They produce what are called bacteroicins, which is in English, like your own personal, like personally made antibiotics. And they are very good at crowding out pathogens and making sure that E. coli or

other infections kind of can't take hold in the vaginal environment. They're also important like regulating acid of the vagina and making sure it's an acidic environment. It's very important for things like even shuttling sperm, just to make sure you're included in the conversation. So when we talk about like what they do and why they're so important, one of the other things that they do, and this speaks to like when an infant comes through the vaginal canal, is the vagina itself, as well as the vaginal microbiome, produces compounds and has microbes that are incredibly protective of the infant and particularly of like the infant's skin. So we find that there's a compound in the vagina as an example called lactoferrin. Lactoferrin, which we'll start to hear more about in coming years, particularly in like the wellness

and health world, is a compound that increases and maintains the barrier of skin. And so you can imagine that like your body and inclusive of the microbes that actually seed where we got our name from is from the process of seeding, which is seeding is the biological process by which an infant is first exposed to their microbes. Some of that happens prenatally and there's a lot of, it's a big science controversy of like when that actually happens, but the mother load happens during a vaginal birth. And so your infant through the vaginal canal receive microbes from your vagina, as well as some of these incredibly protective compounds. Those microbes go on to form the microbe,

particularly because they're going through different passages or they're getting in through different, of course, through the mouth and the nose. Especially those are the microbes that seed the infant microbiome that goes on to become the blueprint for their immune and GI system. So obviously, like not screwing with that for as long as you can is a great thing. In fact, breastfeeding and the carbohydrates and breast milk is a fun fact. One third of the carbohydrates and breast milk are only food for the microbes

that came from you that were seeding the baby. So if you think about it, like your body actually evolved to even make a food source for these microbes that go into the baby. Wow. The second thing you asked me about bathing, the compounds that are evolved to come out of the vagina and then be incredibly protective to the baby, of course, skin being part of the immune system and a huge organ. Also, same thing, which is why I screw with it. Evolution is a perfectionist and very good at what it does. And so to me, I probably also would tell you the amount of time my children went without bathing. There really is no reason to kind of interrupt that. I would say it just depends on how long they're also in a more,

I wouldn't say sterile environment, but in an environment where if you're going on planes and you're in other places where they're exposed to pathogens, that's different than if you're at home and generally kind of like nesting and they're not really exposed to that many different particularly like built environments. I also think I would love to know your opinion if someone does have a C-section birth. I've heard that you can take your vagina juice. They actually call it seeding. Okay. Seeding. And you can rub it on the baby, right? Yeah. So the scientist who actually is kind of the forefront of the field of seeding is one of our earliest and one of my favorite advisors, which is Dr. Maria Dominguez-Bello. And she and her

husband, Dr. Martin Blazer, have really been at the forefront of this work. And there's a lot of, actually, the FDA hasn't loved it, and they've actually been a bit against it. They think that they could introduce some ideas of an infection, particularly when it happens in a hospital environment. I think that there's early research to suggest that it's interesting, but I think what a lot of microbiome research today understands is that it has a lot more to do with what happens actually in the first like 18 to 36 months of life. So for example, there's science that will show that a vaginally born and a C-section born baby that is breastfed for a period of time and does not have any antibiotics in the first 18 months of life, their microbiomes start to converge and actually look very similar. So that's really important. That's very important, Abe, just because I feel like this whole C-section vaginal birth Pepsi Coke thing has created a lot of shame for women and a lot of guilt and particularly women

who've either had to choose it or didn't, particularly ones who didn't have to choose and then feel like as a result of that, their baby is somehow compromised. It is true biologically that a vaginal birth is optimal if it's under the right conditions. That being said, there are many environmental factors. The most important thing just to take one step back about the vaginal microbiome or the microbiome in general, unlike our genomes, like we're born with our genomes, there will be cool science and technology in our lifetime that eventually maybe we'll be able to do something about that. What is a genome? Like our genes, like our DNA. The microbiome is so interesting because it's not fixed like our DNA is. It's ever-changing and it's incredibly receptive to intervention. That means it's both susceptible to being disrupted, but it also means

it's an amazing lever of health because there's actually things you can do about it. I always like to make the joke, you go to Whole Foods, you can't buy anything for your DNA, but you can go to Whole Foods and I could tell you in every single aisle ways that you could be thinking about impacting your microbiome. How? We're in Whole Foods. What are we buying? Are we buying some kimchi? What are we getting? Yeah. I think if you're talking about, we're talking about the gut microbiome, really specifically not the vaginal microbiome in this case, because outside of like sugar and highly processed foods, a lot of things that create inflammatory responses for the most part, like the idea of like eating for your vaginal health is very similar to the way you would just

think about eating for health in general. There isn't like a eat this and it does this to necessarily your vagina. I think that in the gut microbiome, we know that diet is one of the most primary levers of health. So we know that like highly fiber filled and plant diverse diets are the most important for inducing a diverse microbiome, which is one of the key markers of gut health. So fiber, different diversity of plants. And it's very interesting because for people who are very healthy, they often tend to eat a lot of the same healthy foods all the time consistently, which is of course better than saying like, go eat fast food and then don't. But if you have the opportunity and you are able to diversify the kinds of plant sources,

that's very important. We know that in microbiome. Absolutely. Like fermented foods are interesting because in the United States, because the term probiotics is not regulated, you get a lot of people putting the word probiotic on all of these foods. But what they really are and what you start to understand and characterize is that just because you use bacteria to ferment something doesn't mean that it's a probiotic. That being said, it could be beneficial, for example, with kombucha, particularly if you find ones that are not high in sugar, which a lot of them kind of start to just resemble, honestly, just like sugar drinks. They're fermenting tea, and there's polyphenols that come out of that fermentation process. And those are compounds that your body, particularly your microbes, can use to biotransform them into really healthy other compounds that help various biological functions and aspects of our health. So something like kimchi, for example, is very fibrous. There's usually hundreds of strains of

bacteria that are used to ferment kimchi. That doesn't necessarily make it a probiotic, according to the scientific definition, but it does mean that the byproducts that come from lactate acid fermentation can be very beneficial to our body. Did you hear that, Michael? You were making fun of me when I was eating kimchi. Did I eat kimchi? What about things like sheep's yogurt? Were they right? So yogurt, it's the same thing, right? Most yogurts are lactobacillus starters, which is that big high school bio triggering word, but it's just the genera of bacteria that is used to ferment yogurt. Those are good for fermentation.

And then what comes out of fermentation, in this case, yogurt, has health benefits. Which we call it a probiotic. Unless it's, probiotic has a really, so the WHO has what's called ISAP, which is the organizing body of, it's called the International Society of Probiotics and Prebiotics. They have a very specific definition. Actually our first chief scientist was the scientist that chaired the panel that created the scientific definition and it says, a live microorganism, when administered in an adequate amount, confers a health benefit to the host. And I'll just break that down.

Live microbe, that means it has to be alive in some capacity. It means that you have to demonstrate that it's living and viable. The second is inadequate dose. So the problem with foods and kombucha is that you can't establish like the dose of the specific strain. So you wouldn't like someday you eat three spoonfuls of yogurt. Another day you have like a huge smoothie. So you're not really able to like standardize that every time you take a spoonful, that's like a specific amount of a microbe. And that's been studied in a human clinical trial to have a very specific outcome.

So like I'll give you a great example. This is really important because you speak about women's health all the time. And the reason we care so much about being so nerdy about the use of the term is because probiotics today are like, people just kind of think, oh, I take a probiotic. It's seriously, it's like saying in your world, like, I just use skincare and like never saying what brand, never saying if it's a serum, never saying it's a cleanser, never saying if it's a serum, never saying it's a cleanser, never saying if it has SPF. It's like there's thousands and thousands of strains of bacteria. So I'll give you a great example of why it's so important. The specificity is so important

and why it'd be hard for yogurt to say, oh, this is just a probiotic. Now there are studies happening to start establishing what I'm saying, but in our world, the specificity is so important. So for example, in our DSR1, like our gut product, we have strains that work on motility. So literally they trigger and signal to the neurotransmitters that trigger the literally stool to just move through your system. That is a very specific way that that microbe works. It's called in science, we call it mechanism of action. In our vaginal symbiote, which I'm sure we'll talk more about, those are three strains of what are called lactobacillus crispatus that have been isolated from hundreds and hundreds of strains to do very specific function together in the vagina to be able to maintain that healthy environment that I was talking about and to do very specific function together in the vagina to be able to maintain that healthy environment

that I was talking about and to do very specific things like produce lactic acid that then makes the vagina acidic and then is then what obviously creates the most healthy and optimal environment. So in the future, and there's a really interesting study recently I read, and we'll see this, probiotics will become drugs, probiot there's a really interesting study recently I read, and we'll see this,

probiotics will become drugs, probiotics will become really specific. In the next five years, you'll see a probiotic, as women are aging, for example, you'll start to see probiotics that are very specific for women in bone density. So specific microbes that play a role in the density of your bones as you age, You'll start to see probiotics that work on from a metabolic health perspective. So obviously everyone's obsessed with Ozempic today. We understand GLP-1. It's kind of the keyword of the last couple of years. You'll start to understand the microbes that work and activate specific receptors or pathways related to like GLP-1 and metabolic health. So it's very important because if everyone just

thinks probiotics are like tortilla chips at Whole Foods, it doesn't then make it taken very seriously when you have really rigorous science starting to realize the potential of how we can use microbes to create extraordinary health benefits for our bodies. I have sort of a tangent question to this. A lot of guys mainly who are listening think that they can touch a girl's butthole and then touch the vagina i don't know how to say that eloquently yeah a lot of guys think that they can like grab the ass and then touch no shocking you cannot do that i want to do a public service announcement turn this up to all and it girl. I think it's more guys, though. They just don't know about the anatomy. You cannot touch our butthole and then try to touch the vagina unless I'm wrong. Call me out if I'm wrongi. And I imagine that's part of the function for a healthy vagina microbiome. Is that correct?

I would say that it's kind of like saying like, yes, it's correct in the sense that if you had a very resilient and stable vaginal microbiome, you'd be less vulnerable when someone does that. However, I would say if you want to be a great conduit for E. coli to make its way from the rectum into the vagina, then that's one very efficient way to do it. But it's fair to say you have more- Are you really trying to make a case to just my asshole and my vagina? No, I'm not. I'm not.

Just give it up. I'm not. I'm not trying to make a case, but to your point my vagina just give it up i'm not i'm not trying to make a case but to your point if you want to touch the butthole then you can stay away from my vagina i will round it out the point is if you have a healthier vaginal microbiome yes you're less resilient you're more resilient to exactly you're more resilient exactly i'm keeping up with the conversation you're less you're less susceptible to infection and and by the way that that sex, for example, is a very meaningful

contributor to bacterial vaginosis as an example. And so many, many forms of sex and then of course the penis as well. And so, you know, different forms of sex introduce different microbes that have the end pathogens. And I think if you know this, even if your partner's vagina is stable and resilient, one could also wash their hands and maybe not risk it. I know that's hard for you guys. By the way, clip your nails.

I will say, I am the cleaner one of the two of us. I am religious about... Yeah, he's the cleaner one. I'm more of like a slob I'm a two day shower kind of guy I don't like dirt You are clean But I still don't want

Your fingers and penis In my butthole And then entering my vagina Just so we can just lay that on the line You are painting a wild picture of me on this show No I'm just saying I just met We just met today

I'm actually not directing this towards my husband He is very clean He's a fourth Japanese. He keeps everything very clean. But there are a lot of... She's sitting there wondering, like, what the hell is this guy doing? No, you should see my DMs.

This is nothing. She talks about the vagina. I think that you're the perfect person to ask. There are a lot of women who are listening that have had experiences where the guy doesn't realize that you can't go in for the butt and then go into the vagina.

So can you speak on sort of the science of that? I would say not just fingers also, which we hear a lot about. Penis, vagina, tongue, whatever it is. We don't want that in our vagina. Look, it's very simple. The easiest way to think about it is you don't want to introduce microbes into the vagina that shouldn't be there. And that happens through a number of different ways. But of course, sex is truly the most direct. The interesting thing is that most people have some reservoir of E. coli in their guts to some extent, usually a very small amount. Obviously, when there's a lot, there's often a problem. There's a lot of discussion in science as to exactly how some various microbes move and migrate from the rectum to the vagina, which is partially why the wiping from front to back, where also that comes from. So it's not just obviously from sex, but wiping

is a huge one because a lot of women wipe forward, which is, of course, a way to introduce microbes that are coming from the gut, being excreted through stool, and then are being introduced into the vagina as well. You always want to wipe front to back, right? I know this because I have a daughter and I changed her for a long time. Yes, that is correct.

I have a song about it and everything. I have a whole song about wiping front to back. I can't wait to hear it. Yeah. Let's hear it. We wipe front to about wiping front to back. I can't wait to hear it. Yeah. Let's hear it. We wipe front to back, front to back. Michael knows the song. It's amazing.

Because I think that's important. You should record it. Because kids want to do an album with me about. Well, it's been interesting because we have a daughter and a son. And with him, it doesn't. I mean, you'd want to be clean. But it's not as. No.

It wasn't as much for me to learn is what I'm saying. This is a really important topic that I really want to discuss with you. It's my main topic and that is antibiotics. If someone has to go on antibiotics, what is your advice of how to mitigate any risks that come along with that, especially in the vagina? Well, I think, you know, first, at first I would say if some, the key word was has to, I think that's one of the bigger misnomers in the U S especially there's 200, roughly 211 million prescriptions of antibiotics written in the United States every year, over 50% of which are for conditions or symptoms or, or use that is actually not of any bacterial origin,

which means that there's a lot of indiscriminate use. Now- Are those numbers comparable to other parts of the world? The Western world is the worst. The United States is one of the worst aggressors. China is bad as well. There's other places. Of course, antibiotics, we're talking about when you take antibiotics because you choose to, then you have to start looking at food supply and other ways that we of course consume antibiotics and antimicrobials that we're not choosing to but are just a part of living in this world that we have built for ourselves but in the world where you're taking like an antibiotic prescription i think the first is make sure you need it and make sure that it's important because it does have and by the way i think antibiotics are one of the most important innovations of the last couple centuries.

So I'm not an anti-antibiotics person. I am an anti-don't use them when you don't need them. And just to call out, because I think it's very important, antibiotics are relegated today to be thought of as just prescriptions. I have a friend that just takes a Z-Pak every time she gets sick. I'm like, what are you, like, she's like, it's a cold for three days. Correct. A lot of people, a lot of people do that. That's a lot of the behavior that we see. But you have to remember that we also expose ourselves in, especially in the people who are more prone to wanting to have natural

interventions, like they'll just like down oregano oil or other antimicrobials. And those are very powerful. I mean, oregano oil is used as an antibiotic in livestock, right? So just because it's not in a blister pack and your doctor didn't write it, it's not that... I think just being mindful of antimicrobials in general is a very good practice. Would you say be cautious with oregano oil as well? I would just say be cautious with things that indiscriminately kill all bacteria, right? And I only say that just because I think sometimes people are like, I'm not taking an antibiotic. I'm going to take oregano oil. And you're like, but it's also an antimicrobial. This topic came up too with the

mouth microbiome, where people were saying like with coconut or silver, and they're just like constantly going. And they were basically, and I'm going to butcher this, was the argument of maybe you don't need to kill everything in there all the time. You shouldn't. Your oral microbiome is incredibly important. I think you'll see. I wouldn't be surprised if in 18 months, either I or somebody is back here speaking to you about the oral microbiome. It's probably one of, again, another next frontier of health that the microbiome is kind of opening. It's starting to happen. I see it. The topic's coming on the show. Very much. And there's about 700 plus different species of microbes in your mouth.

It is the second most diverse microbiome of the body. It impacts the gut microbiome because you're swallowing microbes all day. And those are going into, of course, your GI system. But the oral microbiome, very similar to what you're saying about the gut, also the vaginal microbiome, entirely different ecology, different microbes that live there. They play very different roles, although they do,

again, maintain the acidity of the mouth. They are a big part of whether or not you can even get cavities or you develop gum disease. They are a part of that immune. Your mouth is a very important part of your immune system. It's the first point of entry for all stressors like food in your body and plays a huge role. And actually, now they're starting to look at the correlation between the oral microbiome and neurodegenerative disease. And so looking at degradation of that oral microbiome in relationship to cognitive impairments and neurodegenerative disease, if you think about it, it's very close, right? In proximity and in geography of your body, but also they're starting

to understand that the oral microbiome, it's very interesting, like Chinese medicine. I mean, many, you go to a Chinese medicine doctor, the first thing they say is, oh, show me your tongue. Right? So some of these ideas are not new, but now the specificity and the precision and understanding and the depth that we can start to see these things at is so different and so new. And so everything from like the local impact to dental carries, which are really like microbes eating at food particles and degrading the enamel of your tooth, all the way to the gum barrier and the role that microbes play in securing the barrier. Same way that on your skin, like you're in skincare and beauty,

the skin microbiome will be a tsunami in the coming years. We'll start to understand it, protect it more. You'll start to see every product say something about the skin microbiome will be a tsunami in the coming years. We'll start to understand it, protect it more. You'll start to see every product say something about the skin microbiome, whether it's been tested for it, et cetera. And so they're all playing a role very similar to the vaginal microbiome in how do I protect and carry out my function as a microbe or in this area of health. If someone has to take an antibiotic, let's say, there's no choice get back to the question i just want to know like what if what we can do to support our vagina if we have to take an antibiotic and there's no other option i think you need to support both your gut and your vagina okay so like the the the gut both of them inflammation and gut gut uh impact to my micro our microbiome primarily happens to both the gut and of course

also the vaginal microbiome. Which is why a lot of us get yeast infections when we take an antibiotic. And also antibiotic-associated diarrhea and many people experience other health conditions after they take antibiotics or for people who have to be on multiple courses over short periods of time. And so the first is, as I said, like for gut health, especially it's diet. So lifestyle factors and anything that is like reducing inflammation, but also really increasing the, very similar to what I was saying about the vaginal microbiome, the things you can do to increase resilience means that when a big disruptor, like an antibiotic comes in, it's like a rubber band. It's like, how well will it respond and come back to stasis and come back to baseline? So eat food, of course, is a huge, huge piece of that. There are, of course,

supplementation with compounds like probiotics. For example, our adult probiotic, we just presented data at this huge gastroenterological conference, the first probiotic to demonstrate improvement of gut function, maintenance of the gut barrier, and increase and maintenance of the diversity of the gut ecosystem in the presence of broad spectrum antibiotics. And that is very important because there's a lot of question as to, and that was the trial and the research was done while taking a probiotic alongside and after. And we were able to show that within 14 days with specific probiotics, and in our case, both prebiotics and probiotics, we're able to induce those benefits even in the presence of an antibiotic.

And so that's very important because there are really kind of what I was talking about earlier, specific probiotics that are able to be supportive during, again, they have to have data and of course be able to represent their specific strains. And then of course there's, I mean, other things like, for example, drinking alcohol. Some antibiotics already tell you not to do that because of contraindication, but alcohol induces gut barrier permeability. We know this, we've studied it, we've looked at our probiotic in relation to it. We did our study on great goose vodka, but most alcohol is detrimental to the microbiome. Also other medications. So what happens with antibiotics is a lot of times, like maybe your friend who's taking that Zipro might also be like

downing other kinds of medications at the same time and certain medications have a huge impact on the microbiome. Tums and acids, all of these medications have an impact on our microbiome. So I would say there's also an opportunity to just look at other lifestyle factors if you are going to take an antibiotic to also reduce those, particularly at least during the highest stress period while you're taking them, looking at very specific probiotics. As I said, ours is, to my knowledge, the only one that has data on broad spectrum antibiotics. And then really looking at some of the other, and of course, like stress and sleep and all the things one would think just to be able to be as supportive as possible. Very similar to like if you were recovering from a surgery or you're recovering from something

that really was detrimental where you really needed to heal, I would kind of think of the same thing, just kind of turn it inwards very similar things we launched VSO1 in our vaginal symbiotic because the science is very clear of what you need to do to optimize the vaginal microbiome and then what you need to do to also maintain that resilience and stability over time so that when you do introduce sex with a new partner or traveling or you do have to take a course of antibiotics for something totally different, you have this kind of more stable and optimal environment that you're kind of, you know, you're more empowered to kind of

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Coconut oil has really helped me. I used to get UTIs. I don't anymore because there's something in the coconut oil, I swear, that is really good for the bacteria. I love this lube. It's the only lube that I will use, but I also am a fan of their vibrators. Their vibrators are the best if you're looking to have some fun alone or with someone. Their vibrators are strong. The best part is not only are they the best of the best, but they also come in this almost like a toothbrush holder, but for your vibrator. So when you travel with it, it's not like next to your makeup or your skincare. It's nice and

protected. And when you get to the hotel, it's not like laying out. It's in its protective little case. For your vaginal health, get the coconut oil lube and then definitely pick up the vibrator. Go to woomoreplay.com and use code vagina and you will have some fun. That's woomoreplay.com. Use code vagina and code vagina gets you 20% off. That's woomoreplay.com. The product to me makes so much sense. When I started taking it, I was like, you're supporting your gut, you're supporting your skin, you're doing all these things that we're supposed to do. You're brushing your teeth and then it's like the vagina just kind of gets left in the dust. And so to create a product that's surrounded by the vagina is disruptive. You guys made it sexy too. It's pretty. It's not ugly. I wouldn't mind it sitting out on my vanity, which I think is

really awesome. And it does feel good to know that I am supporting my vagina and to have the strong foundation in case something does go wrong. What do you think that people need to know about this product particularly? Meaning like how do you take it? Like can you walk us through? There's sort of like different steps. Absolutely. Maybe you could start. I can show it to you. Sure. Absolutely. So let me say what it is first. So VSO1, which is a vaginal symbiotic, is three strains of very specific bacteria that I was saying is the highest correlation with like the most stable, resilient, protective vaginal microbiome. Those strains come out of 20 years of research and they were isolated from over 600 different types of that same strain. We were able to look at them genomically and say, what are the most,

like the quote unquote best, best of the best strains. And then also how do they work together? So it's three strains of probiotics, L-crispatus probiotic strains, plus prebiotics, which means that the nutrients that L-crispatus, those three strains need to be able to thrive in the vagina and be able to colonize and be able to kind of take over, so to speak. And that's very important. And what we're able to show, and thank you for saying that about the packaging, because I think so many of these things are important in terms of whether or not someone's going to use it on an ongoing basis, right? They want to make sure they can, you have to live with these products. And of course, they're very intimate and a lot of women's

health products, you wouldn't want out on like your counter and it kind of is a little embarrassing. So I think what we were able to do is come up with a protocol that we studied in a lot of women's health products, you wouldn't want out on like your counter and it kind of is a little embarrassing. So I think what we were able to do is come up with a protocol that we studied in a clinical trial that's actually being published in August that you do kind of like an intensive reset, very similar, like if you were doing a cleanse or you were doing anything kind of intensely to kind of give yourself like a bit of this kind of restart. So the first month is called VSO1 Reset. That is six tablets. It's done on a really specific protocol. It's very easy. You sign up, we can send you little text message reminders on day 147, 14, 21, 28 before your menstrual cycle. If you're not menstruating, you can

start at any time. Or if you're a regular, you can kind of start, stop and restart. That within 21 days, we were able to demonstrate that 90% of the women, no matter what vaginal microbiome they started with, was able to convert to what we call this L-crispatus dominated vaginal microbiome, which means that the strains took hold and they were now the dominant strain in the vaginal microbiome, which means it was in an optimal state. After that first month, which is a bit more of like that intense reset, it's just two tablets a month. It's super, super easy. And it is, it is a suppository just to make sure that that's clear because sometimes I forget to say that. Yes. It goes into your vagina. That is correct. You know, it's funny because I'm like

looking at Michael and this is one of the only episodes that he hasn't had much to say. Normally every single episode he has so much to say. And he's quite literally speechless. Well, I'm not speechless. I just, listen, there's not as much for me to add here. I'm more of a learning participant on this episode. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. I have some rapid fire questions.

What is your energy on underwear? Like, what should, do we need to go organic? Do we need to go a certain fabric? What's going to support our vagina? I think 100% cotton is the way I would go. I think that there's so many. I think the manufacturing process today in the world is like, there's just so many chemicals and PFAS and microplastics. And if you can, and you can find ones that you like, it doesn't mean like every day, it doesn't mean like never wear shapewear if you're going to it just you know i think you don't have to be dogmatic about it but you know we we work we work with another scientist who's been really at the forefront of understanding like how all these compounds that we live in

live within the world like impact our barriers particularly like our skin and what that means for inflammation and how our body responds and And, you know, there's a lot of rationale to just saying like, when you can be gentle and not introduce like a stressor, like why, why do that if you, if you don't have to. I also think we had the, we've had the founder or the co-founder of Ranch Basics on here and she was talking, lovely. I knew them since they started. If she's listening, hello. She's great. And she said that we as mothers need to also be examining the underwear that our kids are wearing. That is correct.

And that was like a huge wake-up call because the kids want to wear the like Mickey Mouse underwear. But like I started looking into what's in that and it's even the diapers that you're using. I mean, it's touching children's private parts all day long. And it's like we really have to be our own.

And it's wet. It's wild. And it's wet, yeah. It's wild. Yeah, I think, I mean, for the most part, the world that I work in, both fortunately is a beautiful future of lots of solutions and optimism,

but it also reveals how much we've built a world that's not made for our bodies and our biology. Do you have any specific underwear or diaper brands or is that like, is that like too wild out of it? Or is it just more of a materials thing for you? I think it's more, it's for me, it's much more of like a materials thing, which is like organic cotton is, is great. I think if it's not organic, I think at least a hundred, a hundred percent cotton is amazing.

What should we look for in diapers? Diapers is a harder one. I know, it's hard. I mean, you you know of course there's still parts of the world and that where of course people use cloth and and of course that's of course optimal but and i can do a lot yeah but uh but i was about to say but that's like entirely out of the possibility in the backyard well yeah sorry that would probably be good for your microbiome um but you know in place of cloth diapers and living

like the Amish you know I think I think some of it is not even I think it's also the exposure so one of the things that I I do a lot is just I mean I let my kids be naked as often as possible and you do end up with some accidents but I think just like sitting in these things for hours and hours often in heat in moisture if they pee like to me like I am actually more of just like a you do deal with a few accidents here and there but I I'm going to do that. But I think just like, you know, I, I try and just like limit the exposure more than anything. I use coterie, but I don't, that I actually don't know a tremendous amount about all the materials. And I think we see a lot of different messaging, but that, that has felt, you know, good to me,

but I think there's, and there's other people, there's people working, I think, on some really interesting innovations in bamboo and certainly some other sustainable materials. But for me, it's just like limiting the exposure time. We need seed diapers and underwear. That's right. Sauna and hot yoga. Yeah. Is that okay on the vagina?

Yeah, I mean, you know, I think it's the same answer, which is exposure, right? Which is, I believe deeply in both of those things. I think heat exposure has really important science. And I wouldn't say like, don't do saunas and expose yourself to high heat. But have the foundation to support. Have the foundation to support.

But also, and also like after high yoga, like don't sweat in leggings in 125 degrees for 90 minutes. And don't try to put your penis in my vagina after hot yoga. And then spend the whole day in those leggings. You know, change and just rinse. Don't spend the day in the leggings, Lauren. I hate changing my leggings. I know.

Me too. Me too. Although after hot yoga, it's like kind of gross to sit in them. So I do. Yeah, change the leggings, Lauren. Change the leggings. Okay. Can we do a giveaway for the audience to get the best of the best vagina support from seed?

The vaginal symbiotic. Absolutely. Okay. What can we give away? Can we give away like six months worth to someone? Like what's good? Absolutely. Okay.

Absolutely. For sure. Okay. All you guys have to do is follow. Half a year of vaginal peace of mind. Yeah. Half a year of vaginal peace of mind. We're going to give away to one girl. Sorry, guys, you can't enter. Michael, don't get excited. I'd like to think I

give the same thing to you, Lauren. I mean, you could enter to gift it to a woman in your life who you care about them having healthy vaginal. Yes. Give it to someone for Valentine's Day. I have to tell you guys that I have a gift. If you want to have sex more often and you don't want to get the answer, I think I have an issue or I feel off. It is a true gift to yourself. It's a gift to your penis. That's right. I've been taking the vaginal symbiotic. It's not overwhelming. It's amazing. I also like how it's not a hundred different things at once. It's very simple. I think you guys will like it. It's very pretty as well. So I'm excited to see how I do on this. I'm going to keep doing it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to try it for the full, I'm going to do like six months and try it for the giveaway. Let's follow at seed on Instagram to enter and then tell us your

favorite part of this episode, your favorite vagina takeaway on my latest post. Do we have a code for the audience? We do. Okay. Skinny25. Skinny25 for 25% off seed.com. Yes. Where can everyone find you if they want to get in touch with you? You said you had a lot of DMs. Can they find you on Seed or can we find you on your own person? You can DM Seed. We actually have an entire team called SciCare, which is our team of scientific experts who answer all of our product health and science related questions. I am ericats on Instagram, but Seed is the place if you have questions

that our team can absolutely answer. So if anyone has like a question that they would deem embarrassing too, it sounds like you guys will answer. We hear it all. Yeah, you guys, if you have anything that maybe we didn't answer in this episode, or you have like a taboo question that you think you wouldn't want to ask someone, something that you wouldn't want in your Google history, I think that's a really cool thing that you can go ask Seed. I am a fan

of what you guys have created, how you're supporting vaginas. I know that Michael is a fan too. Do you want to give me the suppository? We can do that. I can do that. Okay. All right. Maybe your next invention should be something

that they shove up their dick. Actually, let me tell you that there's a lot of studies that tried to make the intervention for various things like bacterial vaginosis available as a medication that men use and to be able to do something and they couldn't get men to do it. Yeah,

because men, they don't want to do anything. You guys are so lazy. Don't blame me. But they do want to have sex. And so I know the question is, yeah, but I think more holistically. I don't know if I want to shove something up there. I'd have to weigh that. Thank you for coming on the show. Thank you so much. Maybe next time you're back, you're talking about oral microbiome, like you said. You can talk about lots of microbiomes. Mouth would be a good one.

Seed.com, code SKINNY25 for 25% off. I hope you guys win the giveaway. Thanks for listening. Go to seed.com and check out their vaginal symbiotic. Make sure you use code SKINNY25.