Dr. Kate is an OB/GYN at one of the largest teaching hospitals in New York City who answers your medical questions here once a week. To ask her your own question, click here.
Hello Dr. Kate,
My question is about the taste of my vagina. Both from what my boyfriend has said/his reactions and my own taste-tests, I know that sometimes I taste of nothing and sometimes almost bitter (even after showering). Is this change due to hormones, or is it like with men where the foods you eat affect your taste? Thank you so much!
— (Would Rather Be) Tasteless
Dear Tasteless,
Every woman has a unique taste that changes based on many things. At different times in your cycle, your taste can change from sweet to salty to sour. When you’re aroused, or if you’re sweating (or both), the flavor can also be different. And certainly having an infection (yeast or vaginosis) can cause your taste to change.
It’s unclear if diet can really change the taste of vaginal secretions — unsurprisingly, it’s hard to get funding to do such research. But anecdotally, different foods in your diet can change how you taste. The foods I hear about most: raw garlic, citrus fruits (particularly pineapple), strawberries, coffee, and asparagus. Even alcohol, nicotine and vitamins have the potential to change your taste. Violet Blue goes into further details that she learned while researching her book on cunnilingus.
I’d love to hear about this from you all… Have any of you (or your partners) noticed a change in your vaginal taste? What do you think it’s due to?
— Dr. Kate
i’ve had one guy go down on me before.
he said he really liked it.
but when i did a taste test on myself, it was really gross and bitter. so im working on eating more fruits and drinking more water. because i told my bestfriend [who happens to be in love with me] that he could eat me out. and i dont want it to be bitter when he does.
i havent changed my diet, i havent drank water in almost 3 to 4 months i do drink alot of beer, my girfriend said that i taste bitter and i do, she wont give me oral sex cause she think ive been with a man and i dont do men, i want to know why the change in taste when i wasnt like this before.
I notice that I’m very acidic around ovulation, but I love the taste.
My husband and I have been together for six years and married for one. We have been sexually active with one another for five years. Everytime we have sex he would perform on me and I would perform on him. I’ve been smoking cigarettes for four years and I slowed down dramatically when I got pregnant in 2007(from needing my own pack to two cigarettes a day or non at all). My husband didn’t know about my smoking while pregnant. My daughter was born very healthy weighing 7lbs and 15oz and measuring 19 1/2 in. After I gave birth to her I went back to needing my own pack. And that’s when my husband slowed down with oral on me. My diet changed to eating whatever I wanted, when before I cared about what I ate (even before I got pregnant). I am working on quitting cigarettes and I am proud of myself because I’m doing better than I did when I was prego. I’m watching what I’m eating, too. Now,…I can’t really remember what I smelled and tasted like when we first started dating. But I know he LOVED going down on me. I don’t smell bad and I don’t taste bad. But he’s not going down on me frequently anymore, so I KNOW my taste and smell is not the same. I been reading different things on the internet for the past two/three hours and everyone is same the same thing. “Eat more fruit and vegetables.” I don’t need to be told to stop smoking because this I already know will affect my body in more than many ways. It’s been said to get pineapple juice, cranberry juice, and strawberries in your diet. And vegetables, too. Like asparagus. For one, I don’t know how to eat it. I HAVE tried it once in my cooking class back in high school and I didn’t like it. And I don’t know what other vegetables to eat. We eat baked beans, corn, mashed potatoes, and ceaser salad. I know out of those I named are not considered vege’s if at all. In general, I want to get my body to a more healthy state and get better benefits in the bedroom,too. Any advice or facts are greatly appreciated and welcomed. I just need help. I am also a little concerned with the decrease in self lub I am producing. Sometimes it’s good and sometime’s I need more. We tried lub you buy from the store and we do not like it. I have a REALLY good hunch that this also has something to do with what I’m putting in my body. Please email me with your advice/facts at [email protected] thanl you.
Shayanne is dumb, your man would tell you..he’s your husband.
Diet. Eat a lot of crap junk and you taste nasty. Eat healthy and you’ll taste great!
I wouldn’t receive oral sex from him any further. He probably doesn’t want to do it. He’s just pretending to be nice. If he felt that way, he would have never mentioned it in the first place.
my husband says my vagina is bitter, but he has no problem giving me oral, i on the other hand sometimes feel uncomfortable even tho he says it okay with him cause he loves me. i notice it more after eating onions, garlic and junk foods also when i have to use the bathroom and i don’t go right away.what i suggest is that you eat healthy . ps. if he dose not have a problem with it don’t worry its normal.
Every time my girlfriend has tasted salty/sweet. Today however, i noticed after a while she started producing A LOT more fluid and it tasted bitter.
any ideas on what this could be?
i definetly taste some differences in my woman’s vagina during oral sex the worst is a day or 2 after period so i usually know to stay away
other than that i think every woman has their own scent and some are stronger than others i also think it might have a lot to do with the diet and higene one girl i had ate alot of pickles and jar jalapenos and currys and she always had some scent another girl was almost vegetarian and she had a fresher smell but still there was a smell not a bad but like i said everyone has a scent.
We ditto the pineapple and citrus fruit thing. It works for both of us! 😛
Uh, try two cockroaches with one wingtip. I’m an animal lover!
My S/O has always made the comment that pineapple was supposed to make you taste sweet, and since he loves to spend a lot of time in that area, I have always tried to eat a lot of pineapple, which I love. Two birds with one stone.
I find I am extremely extremely acidic before my period and I can smell a difference when I change my underwear every morning. Not horrible or bad, just strong. My bf doesn’t like to give oral then, heh. And then that lasts until probably 3 days after my period. I don’t notice a huge difference with food or anything otherwise.
There is a day or two during the month when I smell especially good, fresher and more salty, and I always have assumed I’m ovulating.
When my girlfriend was taking antibiotics after a sugery I noticed that she didn’t smell or taste like she usually does. About 24 hours after she stopped taking the meds, she was back to normal. I also notice that both our tastes change throughout our cycles. I’ve always found this to be normal, but I know my body well enough to notice when something seems “off”. Usually that means I’ve got a yeast infection coming on, or that my body is fighting another illness.