How Does Hyaluronic Acid Help Your Bladder?

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a staple in the beauty industry because of its powerful hydrating effects. You can find HA in many different serums, moisturizers, and even vaginal suppositories! But your bladder certainly doesn’t need hydration, so how can HA help your bladder? 

To answer this question, you need to know the basics about the bladder and HA. While everyone knows that the bladder is a container to hold the urine. What’s not so obvious is what’s needed to prevent the waste products found in urine from irritating the bladder. In order to keep the urine toxins (solutes) from seeping into the bladder wall, the lining of the bladder (urothelium) must be impermeable. This impermeability is achieved through a special glycosaminoglycan (GAG) layer. And this is how hyaluronic acid can help your bladder… because hyaluronic acid is a glycosaminoglycan!

Don’t be so shocked that a substance used extensively in the beauty industry is also beneficial for your bladder. (Wait until you hear about Botox and your bladder!)

The characteristic of HA that makes it a beneficial ingredient in skincare products is its ability to absorb and hold in water. There are estimates that it can bind up to 1,000 times its weight in water. And while this is an amazing property of HA, it has multiple other benefits for the body too. Especially for joint health, eye health, accelerated wound healing, reducing inflammation, and (wait for it…) bladder pain relief.

In severe cases, there can be a condition called Bladder pain syndrome (BPS), also known as interstitial cystitis (IC), which is a chronic bladder pain condition. While the exact cause of IC/BPS isn’t known, what is known is that there is a disruption of the GAG layer of the urothelium. As pictured above, this disruption of the GAG layer allows irritants found in the urine to reach the urothelium. This can result in bladder symptoms such as urinary frequency, urinary urgency, and bladder discomfort or even chronic pain. Restoring the GAG layer is key to relieving the symptoms of bladder pain and discomfort, and hyaluronic acid is a major glycosaminoglycan that acts as a building block for the GAG layer.

With this knowledge, Femetry supplements contain HA as well as other ingredients to create a synergistic restoration of the bladder’s GAG layer and maintain its impermeability. Not only does maintaining the GAG layer help prevent inflammation, but it can also potentially prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs). Some of @femetry’s other ingredients that promote a healthy GAG layer in the bladder:

• Aloe vera contains glycosaminoglycans and can directly contribute to the GAG layer
• Quercetin itself is not a glycosaminoglycan, but it can increase GAG levels and similar to HA it reduces inflammation.
• Rutin is chemically similar to quercetin and taken together have been shown to improve bladder pain.

In short, you can make your bladder lining beautiful with @femetry!