SANITARY COMPOSITION WITH AN ACTIVE INGREDIENT FOR LOWERING THE pH OF THE VAGINAL ENVIRONMENT AND/OR THE EXTERNAL GENITALIA

Abstract

A sanitary product with an active ingredient for reduction of the pH value of vaginal environment and/or external genitals, where the active ingredient contains crystalline lactic acid or salts thereof, and is applied on the surface layer of the sanitary product designed for contact with body and/or in the internal structure of the sanitary product. Lactic acid and/or salts thereof are contained in the active ingredient in the form of monoglyceryl monoester coating for sustained release of lactic acid from the sanitary product. Furthermore, the active ingredient contains the probiotic culture from the Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, or Streptococcus family, and prebiotic component from the group consisting of inulin or fructooligosaccharides.

Claims

1. A sanitary product with an active ingredient for reduction of the pH value of vaginal environment and/or external genitals, where the active ingredient contains crystalline lactic acid or salts thereof, and is applied on the surface layer of the sanitary product designed for contact with body and/or in the internal structure of the sanitary product wherein lactic acid and/or salts thereof are contained in the active ingredient in the form of monoglyceryl monoester coated lactic acid for sustained release of lactic acid from the sanitary product.

2. The sanitary product according to claim 1, the active ingredient includes, in addition, probiotic culture from the Lactobacillus, Byidobacterium, or Streptococcus family.

3. The sanitary product according to 2, wherein the active ingredient further contains prebiotic component from the group consisting of inulin or fructooligosaccharides.

4. The sanitary product according to claim 1, wherein lactic acid and/or salts thereof, probiotic culture, and prebiotic components are homogenized in the active ingredient.

5. The sanitary product according to claim 1, wherein lactic acid and/or salts thereof are micronized.

6. The sanitary product according to claim 1, wherein it consists of lower impermeable layer, absorbing core, and upper surface layer made from woven or non-woven fabric, wherein the active ingredient has a powder form and forms the functional layer on the reverse side of the upper surface layer.

7. The sanitary product according to claim 6, wherein the functional layer is covered by a sticky layer for combination with the absorbing cover.

8. The sanitary product according to claim 7, wherein the sticky layer consists of the layer of fusible glue.

9. The sanitary product according to claim 1, wherein the sanitary product has a form of a women's sanitary towel or daily or night intimate slip or slip or diaper or incontinence pads or tampon.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The invention will be described more in detail in the following figures, where:

[0016] FIG. 1 shows a cross-section view of the sanitary product during application of the active ingredient onto the fabric fibres,

[0017] FIG. 2 shows a view of the sanitary product in the form of a sanitary towel,

[0018] FIG. 3 shows a cross-section view of the sanitary product of FIG. 2,

[0019] FIG. 4 shows a view of the sanitary product in the form of a diaper,

[0020] FIG. 5 shows a cross-section view of the sanitary product of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0021] It is understood that specific embodiments of the invention described below are indicative only and do not in any way limit the embodiments of the invention to these specific shown here. The persons skilled in the art could find or derive under routine experimental procedures either higher or lower number of equivalents to specific embodiments of this invention being described here. These equivalents will be included in the scope of the following claims as well.

EXAMPLE 1

[0022] FIG. 1 shows a sanitary product 1 with the active ingredient for reduction of the pH value of the vaginal environment, where 70% wt. crystalline lactic acid is coated with DIMODAN (Danisco) distilled monoglyceride through gentle grinding of agitated mixture in a fragmentation grinder at room temperature without heating in 3 weight ratios 1:2. On the reverse side of the top surface layer 2, i.e. topsheet of a sanitary towel, 0.1 g of powder mixture of the coated lactic acid, probiotic culture Lactobacillus acidophilus is applied, in particular sprayed using dried and cleaned compressed air up to the final concentration 110.sup.8 CFU/g homogenized with 0.05 g of inulin prebiotics. Upon fixing of the powder mixture on the reverse side of the top surface layer 2 of the sanitary tower, said surface layer 2 is provided with homogenous micro-coat of a sticky layer, i.e. the layer 7 of the fusible glue at 3.5 to 5 g/m.sup.2 being applied using a fixation roll 5. In combination of the upper surface layer 2 made from non-woven fabric with the remaining components of the sanitary towel, the fixation rolls strongly presses the homogenous powder surfaces on the lower impermeable layer 3.

EXAMPLE 2

[0023] Coating of crystalline lactic acid and calcic salts thereof, i.e. of calcium lactate pentahydrate in 60:40 ratio takes place using monoglyceride alginate in a large-scale extruder. The absorbent forming a part of the absorbing core 4 of the sanitary product 1 is homogenized prior to its application to the absorbing core 4 in the ratio of 80 parts of the absorbent and 19 parts of coated lactic acid with the probiotic culture L. acidophilus up to the final concentration 110.sup.9 CFU, and 1 part of 95% wt. fructooligosaccharide as the prebiotics. The mixture formed in this way is used for production of the absorbing core 4 of the sanitary product 1 in the form of a sanitary towel either sandwiched between two cellulose cores or on surface of the absorbing core 4 before folding, where the sanitary towel described in this example is shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 shows a section view of the sanitary towel. Calcium lactate pentahydrate and lactic acid are micronized prior to the application.

EXAMPLE 3

[0024] The absorbent forming the absorbing core 4 of the sanitary product 1 in the form of a diaper is homogenized by coated lactic acid prior to application to the absorbing core 4 of the diaper. The coating is a dry process in the fragmentation grinder at 70 revs per minute. The mixture for preparation of coated lactic acid is made from 40 parts of 60% wt. crystalline lactic acid and 60 parts of glyceryl stearate with the pH value adjusted to 5.5. The final superabsorption mixture was obtained by homogenizing in a barrel homogenizer in the ratio of 99 parts of the absorbent and 1 part of coated lactic acid. The mixture prepared in this way is used for application of the coated lactic acid enriched-superabsorbent 6 onto the fiberized cellulose that forms the absorbing core 4 of the diaper as shown in FIG. 4, or applied directly on the upper surface layer 2 of the non-woven fabric (topsheet) in case the absorbing core 4 consists of the superabsorbent 6 and distribution strip 8 only. FIG. 5 shows a section view of the diaper.

EXAMPLE 4

[0025] The absorbent forming the absorbing core 4 of an incontinence pad is homogenized by glyceryl lactate-coated crystalline lactic acid prior to application to the absorbing core 4. The mixture prepared in this way is used for production of the absorbing core 4, wherein lactic acid is micronized prior to the application.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0026] The sanitary product with an active ingredient for reduction of the pH value of vaginal environment and/or external genitals according to this invention can be in particular applied in women's hygiene in the form of sanitary towels, daily and night intimate slips, slips, and tampons used both during the menstruation cycle as well as between the menstruation cycles to provide quality women's intimate hygiene in order either to stabilize or support recovery of physiological pH value by sustained and gentle release of lactic acid, and recovery of natural microflora of vagina and external genitals, skin, and rectum by addition of the probiotic culture with prebiotics used as a selective energy source. Furthermore, the sanitary product can be used in routine children's hygiene in the form of diapers, as well as incontinence pads, where the pH value reduction limits propagation of pathogenic microorganisms and reduces the risk of surface inflammations and intertrigo.