As part of our current audio series on the pros & cons of non-enteral administration of our medicines, we’re finally up to the foof. The vajayjay. The bajingo. The coochie. I mean what exactly does happen when we start delivering nutrients direct to this target tissue?! Do they just lurk within the lumen? Do they get taken up into the epithelium? Do some break curfew and sneak right over into our systemic circulation?
What do we need to know if we’re inserting things into our nether regions? 🍑
The history of food as medicine delivered straight to the foof makes for a great read & features some of my favourites (foods that is), garlic, wine, olive oil, yoghurt. But we’re a long way past inserting the occasional clove up there. Increasingly, we’re finding reason to employ evidence-based intravaginal therapeutics: Zinc washes, Vitamin A, D and E based pessaries or good ol’ boric acid (popping into a peach near you since the late 1800s!) But whenever we deliver nutrients or herbs into the body via anywhere other than the gut there are a series of questions we should be able to answer to ensure this approach is both successful and safe.
In this episode we also visit up the bum, inhaled into the lungs and even atop the eyeball!
Can we cut out the middle man with our medicines and just deliver direct to door? To any mucosal target tissue with an accessible opening to the outside? When could we? When should we? When does it still make more sense to go back to standard supplements and boost blood levels? Oh you can bet there’s plenty to talk about here and a plethora of fun puns to be made. This is just yet another moment I am so glad we have a real live awesome human transcribing our audio for you…I can only imagine what R rated romp AI might have turned this into!🤣
Gorgeous peach pic: Photo by Allec Gomes on Unsplash
Where Next For Nutrient Delivery?
With trends of innovation heading towards novel offerings sending nutrients anywhere but the mouth, Where Next for Nutrient Delivery? takes a curious look at what these alternative routes can genuinely offer. This episode celebrates where local applications—intravaginal, lower bowel, lower respiratory and ocular—make real clinical sense, whilst at the same time, keeping one foot firmly on the ground, reminding us why the humble gut still does a very good job for most people, most of the time. A sharp, physiology-first look at what must change with our medicines when nutrients interface with different epithelial linings & environments —and why novelty alone is never a good enough reason to change the route.
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