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Crispin Semmens/Flickr @DrJenGunter/Twitter

Gynecologist explains why garlic shouldn’t go in vaginas

Here's why you shouldn't listen to the 'vaginal garlic aficionados.'

 

Eilish O'Sullivan

IRL

Posted on Apr 24, 2019   Updated on May 20, 2021, 2:01 pm CDT

The rise in pseudoscience doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, as a gynecologist just had to explain why garlic shouldn’t go in vaginas in a now-viral Twitter thread.

“Lots of vaginal garlic aficionados (I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO TWEET THAT IN 2019, BUT HERE WE ARE) recommend inserting a clove,” Dr. Jennifer Gunter tweeted.

Gunter posted her eight-part thread on Tuesday, and it has since then amassed thousands of retweets and likes.

Apparently, there are people out there who are putting garlic in their vaginas to cure yeast infections. But Gunter wants to set the record straight: Garlic in vaginas is a big no-no.

Gunter started out the thread by explaining how garlic releases a compound called allicin when crushed. She emphasized that the compound may have anti-yeast properties in a petri-dish in a lab–but that doesn’t mean those anti-yeast properties will carry over to your vagina.

She said “vaginal garlic aficionados” usually don’t even insert the garlic properly. This is because they use a whole clove rather than crushed garlic. Only the crushed garlic would release the compound containing the anti-yeast properties they are looking for.

She then explained how impossible it would be for the garlic to work with a hypothetical scenario. For starters, you would have to crush it up and somehow stuff it up your vagina.

Then you still have to worry about the “dirt thing.” Gunter explained that garlic carries bacteria from soil, which could make a “yeasty vagina” only worse. And then a gynecologist might have to fish out the garlic later on.

Gunter then went on to describe how it may be possible for garlic to cause biofilms in the vagina. Biofilm is a layer of bacteria that you definitely don’t want near your genitals.

Gunter aptly signed off on all of her tweets with #vaginaisanogarliczone. And she had one more piece of advice: Don’t take advice from those recommending vaginal garlic for anything.

Gunter did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment.

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*First Published: Apr 24, 2019, 7:08 pm CDT