Today on the MOTHERLANDS podcast we have Alex Taylor. Alex is a mother, a women’s health advocate and the cofounder of Perelel Health. The main topics of interest in this conversation are Alex’s personal experience of giving birth twice, how she had to unlearn her millennial programming of needing to do everything “right”, how eerily unregulated the vitamin and supplement industry is in the United States and what Perelel Health is doing to maintain quality and integrity with all of their supplements.
It was eye opening hearing Alex explain the huge disparity in women’s health research. More specifically, only approximately 10.8% of NIH (National Institutes of Health) funding goes toward female health studies. Since the recording of this epsiode, Perelel Health launched a campaign called Perelel Universe in support of allocating more funding towards women’s health research.
What is even more disturbing is that this disparity has largely been overlooked since clinical research first began. Changes in hormones and the menstrual cycle were seen as a confounding variable in research, which means that researchers decided to exclude women from studies. What this means is that most common medications are dosed according to male biology.
It is infuriating, isn’t it? It’s 2024 afterall.
So let me know what you think of this episode. Feel free to leave a comment here. There is definitely so much we can discuss together as a community about women’s health research.
To learn more about Perelel Health you can visit their website and use the code MOTHERLANDS to receive 20% off your first order.
Or you can connect with Alex here.
5:53 The inexplicable perspective motherhood brings
9:24 A new sense of empathy and understanding for her mother after birth
10:52 Accepting what you don’t know and the beauty of unique experiences coexisting
13:42 Education helps you better advocate for yourself during birth
14:44 Contextualizing your experience with “for now”
15:49 Building a support infrastructure for postpartum and your willingness to accept help
20:48 Navigating a financial and political system that is not conducive to supporting mothers and families
23:58 Identity shifts after birth & giving the gift of your authenticity and self-love to your kids
25:54 How Perelel creates targetted, wrap-around women’s supplements and tackles the women’s health gap
34:16 Skiplotting vs Perelel’s transparency
38:58 Research, education, and the double-edged sword of everyone being an armchair expert
40:59 Being present as a parent is your superpower
Please like and leave a review if you enjoy this episode. Thank you again for being here and tuning in.
** If you know someone that works with a brand or company that shares the ethos of providing deeper and more comprehensive care to women and mothers and who may be open to supporting the MOTHERLANDS Podcast, please email hello@keelysemler.com.
You can connect with our host, Keely Semler, MPH, CD here or by visiting her website.
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