Lets Talk Lemme Purr

About a week ago I found Kourtney Kardashians supplement company, Lemme had released a new produced named Purr. This supplement claims to be your kitty’s best mate, boasting: That it will support healthy vaginal pH, microflora, and overall health. So far so good. Other benefits though, are a possible cause for stipulation, “supporting vaginal odour” and “freshness”.

Women everywhere seem to have rallied against this product, and at first glance understandably so! Here’s some comments from one of their clips promoting purr:

Loosey Goose says: “dangerous and unethical, supporting the patriarchy, and just completely ignores the response from medical experts.”

Jade Barnett states “Its 2023 and we are still trying to capitalize off of women’s insecurities? The Kardashian’s really do a great job at doing exactly that, and now this?”

Kmiououi says “ freshness and taste? What the fuck? Selling fucking useless products and make women feel insecure? Great business objectives!”

Historically women have been shamed for not only having vaginas, but for vaginas being, well, vaginas. I’ve met women who are afraid of even interacting with their own reproductive system, and its understandable in a society which teaches you that vaginas are these dim dark dirty places only to be ashamed of. Its obvious that this shame is still prevalent as celebrities such as DJ Khaled proudly backing his stance that he refuses to go down on his own fucking wife. From this perspective the outrage response to this product is completely understandable.

Outrage and taking offense is in vouge right now and I tend to lead toward nuance. While we reside in a culture which seems to be anti-women it is easy to jump on these band wagons without taking a closer look at why we are reacting and what people or in this case companies are saying. Sure, the marketing of Lemme saying this product would make your vagina into a ‘sweet treat; could have been thought out much more thoroughly.

At the crux though, vaginal odour is a symptom of vaginal microbiome imbalance and shouldn’t be ignored. With the rise of feminism specifically in the health and wellness world I’ve seen people swing so far to the other side of the pendulum, where they stop making sense. Women react to pop culture movements such as this with ferocity, and say that their normal IS normal, when it couldn’t be further from the truth.  

If you have vaginal odour, you cant just say “well that’s MY normal which means it’s COMPLETELY okay”, that’s simply delusion and furthermore is dangerous as ignoring your bodies attempts at communicating with you often have dire consequences if left unheard and undealt with.

From what I’ve seen, Lemme is seemingly innocent. Their product range covers many supplements to aid with digestion, energy, and sleep.  I don’t see why vaginal health should be left out of the equation, and with the rise of women learning about alternative and preventative treatments for their reproductive health, it’s a smart move.

Before we delve into Lemme Purr, lets talk the microbiome. Specifically vaginal microbiome. The vaginal microbiome refers to the collection of microorganisms that inhabit the vagina. The composition of the vaginal microbiome can vary from person to person and can be influenced by a variety of factors, including age, hormonal changes, sexual activity, and the use of certain medications.

The dominant bacterial species in the vaginal microbiome are usually Lactobacillus spp., which help to maintain the acidic pH of the vagina and prevent the overgrowth of harmful microorganisms.

However, the composition of the vaginal microbiome can shift, leading to a condition known as dysbiosis, which is associated with various vaginal infections, including bacterial vaginosis and yeast infections. Recent research has also suggested that the vaginal microbiome may play a role in reproductive health and fertility (duh), as well as in the transmission of sexually transmitted infections.

 This school of thought extends outside of the vagina, if you have a healthy and robust microbiome you have a small chance of contracting infectious diseases as your microbiome and your immune systems are so tightly intertwined to the point its sometimes hard to tell the difference between these two systems.

Additionally, there is growing interest in the potential role of the vaginal microbiome in overall health and well-being, as emerging evidence suggests that the microbiome of the vagina may be linked to various systemic health outcomes, such as immune function and even mental health. I would agree with the later statement specifically through a tantric and Taoist perspective because happy pussy generally means a very happy lady.

The other incredible thing about the vaginal microbiome is that we get a huge dose of it from our mothers as we pass though the birth canal on our journey earthside, essentially us being exposed to our mother’s vaginal microbiome helps colonise our own.

With all that, let’s have a look at the product. The active ingredients are a probiotic, vitamin c and pineapple extract. The probiotic is clinically tested SNZ 1969 containing 1 billion CFUs, which they say has been shown to support vaginal health and odour.

I found a study published in 2017 which looked at the efficacy of using this particular probiotic to treat recurrent bacterial vaginosis, which if you don’t know is a condition of vaginal flora overgrowth which can result in a yeast like odour with thin grey or white discharge and sensations of itchiness, for the lay people it’s what we also call a yeast infection.  In this study they found this probiotic pretty damn effective at a 86.6% success rate, its peer reviewed and from my opinion a great study with statistically significant results showing its high efficacy for overall vaginal health. The use of this particular probiotic in this supplement seems perfectly logical.

The other main ingredient is pineapple extract, with each serve containing 100mg. Pineapple is known to be beneficial for vaginal health due to its phytoestrogen phlorizin and antioxidants which help stimulate vaginal blood flow and promote better sexual function, lubrication, and ability to orgasm.

 Vitamin C is also a primary ingredient sitting at 20mg per serving which is around 20% of your daily recommendation. This well-known vitamin better known historically for warding off scurvy in seabound pirates also serves at a friend of the vag, preventing UTIs and their associated symptoms such as pain, burning sensation and vaginal irritation.

Lemme Purr, so far so good. Once I looked at the ingredients label that positive train of thought quickly came to a halt.

The first ingredient is tapioca syrup, a highly processed product which along with the second and notably only organic ingredient (insert video of Kourtney saying she only eats organic) , sugar. Next is Beta carotene, not included for is benefits for health but as a colouring agent. Carnauba Wax, which is made from a palm in Brazil called Copernica Prunifera. It only grown in north-eastern Brazil, and its cultivation is known to be detrimental to its native ecosystem.

Despite this wax being considered safe for ingestion by the panel on food additives and nutrient sources, its been reported that people have been having allergic reactions to it both topically and internally. Lecithin, is a fatty like substance which has known positive health effects and in the form of Sunflower Lecithin is a known food additive. The remaining ingredients: citric acid, MCTs, and Sodium Malate are all known food additives considered to be safe, for now.

The ingredients tapioca, sugar and sunflower mostly non-organic, are all known to be monocrops, and wherever you monocrop, you use gargantuan amounts of herbicides, and pesticides, making these air quote “supplements” glyphosate bombs.

For those who don’t know, glyphosate is the active ingredient in the infamous pesticide roundup, not good news. It is an antibiotic, which makes little sense as Lemme has placed expensive probiotics with an ingredient which essentially kills, microbiota. That makes absolutely no sense to me.

The bottle of Lemme Purr costs $47 US, which is $72 Australian, making this product dicey on the bank considering you only get 60 gummies, and each serve is 2 gummies which with everyday use amounts to a month. Smells like bullshit to me.

Lemme wasn’t completely off kilter though, their main ingredients are effective in combatting vaginal dysbiosis. You don’t need to consume an expensive supplement to reach this health goal. So if this supplement is decidedly bullshit, what can we do?

Eating whole foods, such as pineapple itself will be overwhelmingly effective for equalising any unwanted odour. While eating foods high amounts of pre and probiotics will improve pH and microbiome balance within the vagina. Foods such as kimchi, kombucha and kefir are powerful sources of pre and probiotics, and more often than not, contain more probiotics than a supplement (yes even the expensive naturopathic prescription probiotics).

Not only is eating whole foods such as these more affordable, but they are also more effective as whole foods holistically heal the body and help equalize the root causes of what might be causing vaginal microbiome dysbiosis in the first place.