## 3 Results
### Effects of VGA-1 or VGA-2 Consumption on the Symptoms of \(BV\) Participants  
The vagina is normally slightly acidic with a pH of 3.8-4.2, and a pH value greater than 4.5 is considered to be a sign of BV [9]. In comparison to the baseline, the vaginal pH \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Characteristics** & **VGA-1, \(n\) = 18** & **VGA-2, \(n\) = 19** & \(p\) **Value** \\ \hline Age (y), median (range) & 35.5 (22–51) & 38 (28–53) & 0.34 \\ \(<\)30, \(n\) (\%) & 3 (17) & 1 (5) & \\ \(\geq\)30, \(n\) (\%) & 15 (83) & 18 (95) & \\ pH of secretion, mean \(\pm\) SD & 4.89 \(\pm\) 0.557 & 4.71 \(\pm\) 0.585 & \\ \(<\)4.5, \(n\) (\%) & 1 (6) & 3 (16) & 0.60 \\ \(\geq\)4.5, \(n\) (\%) & 17 (94) & 16 (84) & \\ Nugent score, mean \(\pm\) SD & 5.44 \(\pm\) 1.617 & 4.95 \(\pm\) 1.715 & \\ 4-6, \(n\) (\%) & 13 (72) & 17 (89) & 0.23 \\ \(\geq\)7, \(n\) (\%) & 5 (28) & 2 (11) & \\ History of BV before enrollment & & & \\ Yes, \(n\) (\%) & 8 (44) & 10 (53) & 0.87 \\ No, \(n\) (\%) & 10 (56) & 9 (47) & \\ History of vaginal symptoms last episode if & & & \\ history & & & \\ Urinary tract infection, \(n\) (\%) & 2 (11) & 1 (5) & 0.85 \\ Vaginitis, \(n\) (\%) & 3 (17) & 5 (26) & \\ Vulvitis, \(n\) (\%) & 2 (11) & 2 (11) & \\ No history, \(n\) (\%) & 11 (61) & 11 (58) & \\ History of treatment last episode if history & & & \\ Antibiotics, \(n\) (\%) & 1 (5) & 1 (5) & 0.97 \\ Antifungal, \(n\) (\%) & 5 (28) & 6 (32) & \\ No treatment, \(n\) (\%) & 12 (67) & 12 (63) & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Values are given as numbers (percentages) of subjects at baseline. The variables were analyzed using the chi-square test and [PERSON]’s exact test.  
\end{table} 
Table 2: Subject characteristics at baseline. Figure 3: Enrollment, randomization, and follow-up of the study patients. In this study, 48 subjects were enrolled, five subjects were excluded because of a Nugent score \(<\) 4 and candidal vaginitis; a total of 43 subjects were entered into this randomized clinical trials. In the VGA-1 group, three subjects were excluded because of antibiotics/steroid therapy. In the VGA-2 group, two subjects were lost during follow-up and 1 declined participation. values of VGA-1 (Figure 4A) or VGA-2 (Figure 4B) participants were unchanged at week 2 or week 4. The Nugent score is a Gram-stain scoring system for BV diagnosis [3]. We observed that the Nugent scores significantly decreased in VGA-1 (Figure 4C) and VGA-2 (Figure 4D) groups with the increase in consumption time, and the degree of decline was more evident in the VGA-1 group (Supplementary Table S6). The significantly improved color or odor of vaginal discharges with increasing consumption time were also observed in the VGA-1 (Figure 4E) and VGA-2 (Figure 4F) groups. The significant reduction of vaginal secretion in participants was also observed in the VGA-1 (Figure 4E) and VGA-2 (Figure 4F) groups. A reduced vaginal itching was observed in both groups, although that of the VGA-2 group did not reach a significant difference (Figure 4F, \(p=0.07\) for VGA-2 group). Given that the high recurrence rate of antibiotic treatment is the major problem of BV treatment [13], we further investigated the percentage and the interval time of recurrence among enrolled participants (Figure 5). The total recurrence percentage in the VGA-1 or VGA-2 group was reduced (from 44.4% to 16.7% in VGA-1 consumption group and 52.6% to 26.3% in VGA-2 consumption group), although it did not reach a statistical significance. Furthermore, the number of participants with an interval time for recurrence of less than three months reduced in VGA-1 and VGA-2 group (Figure 5). We also observed that one of eight or two of ten participants with BV history developed recurrence during three months' follow-up, after 4-week-consumption of VGA-1 or VGA-2, respectively (Table 3). These data demonstrate that the daily consumption of VGA-1 or VGA-2 ameliorates BV symptoms, including the reduced Nugent score, vaginal discharge color/odor, and itching.