Women’s Health Innovation: Gut-Ovary Axis and Traditional Botanicals

Ahead of the upcoming The Outlook on Women’s Wellness, Nutritional Outlook interviewed Ayla Barmmer, MS, RD, LDN, Founder and CEO of FullWell, and Jennifer Greer, ND, MEd, Scientific Advisor/Medical Affairs Consultant, for insights into the opportunities for innovations in the industry.

Here, the industry experts discuss the reframing of women’s health, from understanding the gut-ovary axis to moving past the outdated paradigm of treating women as "small men.” They also highlight the need for a coherent, lifelong biological narrative and the potential of traditional botanicals.

At the event, Barmmer will present Reframing Ovarian Health for Lifelong Vitality and Greer will present Evidence-Based Botanicals in Menopause Management.

Learn more and register for the conference here.

Ayla Barmmer: The opportunity that I see in front of the industry and for the industry is to be the first to tell a coherent biological story, from the mitochondria to the microbiome that every woman at every stage of life can really genuinely see themselves in.

Jennifer Greer: For a long time we just treated women like small men and our bodies don't work the same way. We have different hormonal balance and, you know, we're different sizes. There are all sorts of different things about women's health. And so this, this sort of bigger interest and more people talking about it, to me, this is really, really exciting. I think it's going to drive a lot of innovation. But beyond that, it's really going to drive a lot of help and support for women who need it.

Barmmer: The ovary is not just a reproductive organ, it's a longevity organ. The gut talks to the ovary directly, continuously through estrogen metabolism, immune signaling, and short chain fatty acids that regulate the follicular microenvironment, which is a really interesting space. And really, there's no product on the market that's built around that connection yet. This is really a white space.

Greer: A lot of the botanicals in the women's health space benefit women's health across the lifespan, but that's often at different doses depending on where a woman is at and what she's experiencing.

There are still women's herbs that don't have a lot of human clinical data behind them, but have really wonderful traditional history in women's health. So to me, that's, that really says there's a lot of opportunity still in the ingredient space to bring forward some herbs that haven't gotten much attention yet.