Women's Health and Corporate Marketing

Our bodies, their business

Chapter 6 Resources

MHT, Brain Health, and Hype–Advice from Jen Gunter

“There is a worrying trend of skipping over any science on MHT that isn’t pro-estrogen, and I believe it is because menopause influencers, companies like MIDI Health and Inner Balance, and even the press have tapped into the grievance economy, which profits by amplifying complaints about an issue and then presenting a surefire solution. In this case, everything that women over age 40 are facing is incorrectly reframed as not only being menopause, but related to the Women’s Health Initiative. And while it is true that many women did not get menopausal hormone therapy who could have benefitted, MHT is also not the answer to everything; we do not have good evidence that the decline in MHT prescribing after WHI caused an increase in cardiovascular deaths or dementia.”

No one does a better job of clarifying the difference between marketing messages and science than Jen Gunter, MD. This new post on her blog, The Vagenda is a valuable contribution to this conversation.,

Black Box Warning

Jennifer Gunter & Eric Topol discuss women’s health and recent actions by the US FDA.

This live recording addressing many current women’s health issues illustrates interaction between science, policy, propaganda, and marketing. The video is informative from beginning to end. From around the 40-minute mark on, Dr. Gunter emphasizes the impact of politics and misogyny on women’s health care.

Menopause mythology is pervasive in the US

Anthony R. Scialli, MD, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University School of Medicine and an adjunct professor of obstetrics and gynecology and of pharmacology and physiology at Georgetown University Medical Center. His presentation on menopause myths at the Physician Committee for Responsible Medicine’s 2025 International Conference on Nutrition in Medicine held August 14-16 is summarized in a Q and A session with Emma Bascom posted on Helio News. Dr. Scialli’s main message is that primary care providers can help patients by not treating menopause as a disease.

Here are two quotes from the article:

So, the first myth is that menopause is a disease, and a corollary to that is that we can treat it. We can give people hormones and that will cure the disease and will make them healthier. Both of those ideas are myths because they’re not true.

Estrogen will work for hot flashes and for vaginal dryness. . . By the way, a ton of other symptoms have been attributed in the popular press to menopause that have nothing to do with menopause; they’re simply aging, but menopause gets blamed. In any case, estrogen will work, but there are some adverse effects associated with estrogen — the most important to my patients being an increase in breast cancer diagnosis.