Garlic and Candida: A Pilot study (PAThWAY)

This study is a pilot study to take place prior to a larger Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) "Garlic and Candida: An Exploratory Study." The RCT proposes to investigate the biological plausibility of oral garlic reducing recurrences of vaginal thrush by reducing the vaginal colonisation of Candida albicans. The RCT will involve women taking either oral daily garlic tablets or placebo, keeping a daily diary, and self collecting daily vaginal swabs and posting them to the laboratory during the second half of their menstrual cycle. This pilot study will evaluate the methodology by assessing the tolerability of the garlic tablets, the postage of the swabs, and the daily diary. It will also include a validation study on postage of vaginal swabs.