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If you are considering using yoghurt vaginally to treat an infection or imbalance, there is one key element that many aren’t aware of: the yoghurt has to be full of live bacteria, which means you may need to make it yourself at home or buy fresh yoghurt whose cultures have not been killed by heat-treatment after fermentation.
Many areas don’t carry live yoghurt on their shelves, because the shelf-life is more limited and the product may spoil faster. This reduces profit for the company making the yoghurt, so it makes sense for them to make yoghurt for flavour, and not for its live, healthy bacterial content. It could be argued, however, that while yoghurt is delicious, its probiotic content is part of its appeal.
These live bacteria are the whole point of using yoghurt for bacterial vaginosis, yeast infections and the like. Eating live yoghurt may modestly reduce recurrent thrush,1 and the general idea is that probiotic bacteria compete with pathogens for real estate in the vagina.2 Be realistic about the evidence, though: studies of ordinary yoghurt for BV or thrush are small and mixed, and a review found insufficient evidence to recommend it as a treatment,3 so it is best seen as a gentle, low-risk adjunct rather than a replacement for proper diagnosis and treatment.
In our own clinic we don’t tend to use plain yoghurt vaginally — we more often reach for live milk kefir, which is far richer in lactobacilli, cheap, and easy to make at home with nothing special required. It has been one of the pillar home treatments in the Killing BV program since the early days, used both orally and vaginally where it makes sense: a genuinely high-dose probiotic, if you can be bothered making it (and it is easy!).
If you are going to use yoghurt vaginally, the only way it will be effective is if you buy or make fresh yoghurt that has live bacteria in it. Usually this information will be printed on the label – if it’s alive, then the manufacturer will want you to know this, so will say so on the label.
Where to buy live yoghurt
- Ask at your local health food store
- Check your local specialty supermarket
- Some supermarkets will carry live yoghurt – check the labels
- Look up some fermentation fanatic groups on social media – people love this stuff and sell their own products
How to make your own yoghurt at home
- Get a home-made yoghurt starter kit pack, check second-hand stores, as these things are like foot spas (people think they are a good idea but then never use them)
- Get fresh milk kefir grains online (one tablespoon costs about US$10) (get fresh, not dried, and look on local listings, as opposed to retailers – grains are not sold in shops)
- Do not add sugar or flavourings to vaginal yoghurt preparations – plain, unsweetened only
Making your own yoghurt can seem laborious, but it’s easy once you take the time to understand the process.
How yoghurt goes from milk to yoghurt – the fermentation process
Yoghurt is the end result of a specific set of bacteria that ferment milk. These bacteria use lactose in milk as a food source, converting it into lactic acid. This lactic acid interacts with proteins in milk to convert it into the classic yoghurt texture and flavour – thick and tart.
All mammal milk, including human breast milk, contains lactose, and can be used to make yoghurt. Each type of mammal milk produces a different style of yoghurt.
The milk is heated to unfold the whey proteins so the set yoghurt turns out smooth and doesn’t separate. The milk is then cooled down, the bacteria are mixed in, and it sits at about 45°C for up to 12 hours while fermentation completes.
The most common forms of bacteria used to make yoghurt include:
- Lactobacillus bulgaricus
- Streptococcus thermophilus
- L. acidophilus (mainly a gut and dairy species; only occasionally found in the vagina)
- Bifidobacteria
- L. casei (a gut and dairy species, not a typical vaginal inhabitant)
Note that the bacteria that dominate a healthy vagina — mainly Lactobacillus crispatus, iners, gasseri and jensenii — are not the same as the species in yoghurt, so yoghurt bacteria may soothe and acidify but are unlikely to settle in and colonise long-term.4 That is another reason to treat it as a comfort measure rather than a cure.
Frequently asked questions
Does putting yoghurt in your vagina cure BV or thrush?
The evidence is limited. Ordinary yoghurt contains bacteria that are not the vagina’s own species, so it may soothe and acidify but is unlikely to reliably cure an infection — a review found insufficient evidence to recommend it. Treat it as a gentle adjunct, and see a practitioner if symptoms persist.3
Why does the yoghurt have to be ‘live’?
Only live yoghurt contains active bacteria. Heat-treated yoghurt has had its cultures killed off, so it offers flavour but none of the probiotic action that is the whole point here.
What yoghurt should I use?
Plain, unsweetened, live yoghurt only — never sweetened or flavoured, because sugar can feed yeast. Check the label says the cultures are live, or make your own.1
This article is general information and not a substitute for personalised medical advice. If a vaginal infection is not settling, please see an experienced practitioner rather than relying on yoghurt alone.
- Hilton E, Isenberg HD, Alperstein P, France K, Borenstein MT. Ingestion of yogurt containing Lactobacillus acidophilus as prophylaxis for candidal vaginitis. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1992;116(5):353–357.
- Reid G. The development of probiotics for women’s health. Canadian Journal of Microbiology. 2017;63(4):269–277.
- Senok AC, Verstraelen H, Temmerman M, Botta GA. Probiotics for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2009;(4):CD006289.
- Ravel J, Gajer P, Abdo Z, et al. Vaginal microbiome of reproductive-age women. PNAS. 2011;108(Suppl 1):4680–4687.
