How Hormones Took Over Your Feed
Summary
Kate Nibbs of Wired discusses the explosive growth of the "perimenopause industrial complex," driven by telehealth startups like Midi and Hims that offer hormone therapy online. The episode explores how the flawed 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study and recent regulatory shifts created a vacuum that these companies are now filling, often bypassing traditional medical oversight. Nibbs examines the tension between increased accessibility for middle-aged women and the rise of "pill vending machine" models that lack continuity of care. She also highlights the political irony of a movement that…
Topics discussed
Sponsors and the perimenopause algorithm
The rise of the perimenopause industrial complex
Show intro and defining menopause
Symptoms and the impact of the Women's Health Initiative
Reappraisal of HRT and the GLP-1 cultural shift
Provider dismissal and the telehealth gap
Sponsor break
Key players and the size of the market
Life pressures and the biohacking trend
Regulatory oversight and asynchronous care risks
The intersection of MAHA and evidence-based medicine
Commercialization of healthcare and future outlook
Credits and final sponsor
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