Free Soul’s Intimate Flora for Women, one of the UK’s top sellers in probiotics for women, provides a reasonable women’s probiotic although we feel there is room for improvement when it comes to all round support.

The two superstars of the vaginal microbiome, Lactobacillus Rhamnosus and Reuteri, are included in reasonable amounts. There’s also the addition of helpful lactobacillus plantarum, an ideal addition to women’s probiotic. The capsules are delayed release, which may help the probiotics to reach the gut alive - although there are no specific guarantees or authorised health claims backing this up. Additional benefits are that the capsules are vegan and that there’s a good variety of prebiotic plant fibres in the capsules.

On the downside, these probiotics contain common allergen sulphur dioxide, which gives about 1 in 5 women gas and bloating problems. What’s more, there are only 4 strains of probiotic altogether, and their overall CFU is a little low at 20 billion. We feel that whilst strong in terms of vaginal support, this won’t provide a broad enough variety of probiotics to support women’s gut health or establish the foundations of immune system support.

If you’re after a reliable, women’s probiotic for vaginal and bladder health, this is a reasonable choice. But if you want a wider range of benefits to gut health, skin and immune support, there may be better options.