McMaster research targets menstrual cup ‘glitch’ with absorbent pills to tackle menstrual stigma
Nearly a quarter of the world’s population menstruates, but there is little innovation in menstrual products, a McMaster researcher says.
“This is an area ripe for innovation. There’s a lot that can be done. And then there are very, very simple needs that go unmet,” said Zeinab Hosseinidoost, a professor at McMaster University.
Hosseinidoust works in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Hamilton University.
She worked with Associate Professor Tohid Didar to create smart tablets that work with menstrual cups to make them more accessible and reduce the “mess” that comes with them.
McMaster University PhD candidate Shaghayegh Moghimi explains how absorbable tablets are made and how they are used.
according to un women, The UN agency is charged with working for gender equality and empowering womenMore than two billion people in the world menstruate. In Canada, one in six people who menstruate experience period poverty, the average person spends approximately $6,000 on period products in their lifetime, and one in four Canadians “agree that menstruation is dirty and unclean”. federal government Research,
Menstrual cups have become increasingly popular in recent years due to them being eco-friendly and cost-effective as they can be reused for years.
Hosseinidoust said she wondered why people weren’t using menstrual cups, and decided to look at the comments under social media posts.
“A lot of them ask, ‘What about the glitch?’ So it is a matter of concern whether it is genuine or not,” she said.
It was a simple solution to a simple problem, Hosseinidoust said.
“It was just a matter of opening the doors and looking at the problem rather than ignoring it, which one could argue has been the attitude when it comes to menstrual health and women’s health,” she said.
Period products affect the way some people function
McMaster University student Dyer David told CBC Hamilton that while the process isn’t a glitch for her, the tablet is a “great idea.”
David said that using such a tablet would allow her to change cups or discs in a public bathroom without having to go to the sink to wash them and said that if available, she would use it.
“Honestly it would make everything more convenient. I think one of the reasons I decided to empty my cup in the shower is that I want Avoid the mess, and (a tablet) will be much easier to deal with,” David said.
Jennifer Abraham, who also attends McMaster University, told CBC Hamilton that “it’s good to hear about innovations in the menstruation industry.”
“I think it’s important that we have more products, more education about it, so people can make the choice that works best for them,” she said.
Abraham said it’s important research like this exists to promote conversation and reduce the stigma associated with periods.
“Things like this impact how a woman is able to function and can impact her role in society,” she said.
The tablet has the ability to detect and prevent infections
The pills are single-use, which defeats two of the purposes of menstrual cups: environmental impact and cost-effectiveness.
However, they are biodegradable, flushable, cheap to make, and made from a renewable resource: seaweed.
Hosseinidoust said that if the product can help people who menstruate become more willing to use menstrual cups, it would help reduce the billions of disposable menstrual products used on a daily basis around the world, essentially “killing several birds with one stone.”
Additionally, the pills also have the ability to detect things like UTI, bacterial vaginosis, and staph infections.
Bacteriophages, which have been the focus of Hosseinidoust’s research, are viruses that infect bacteria. He said they can kill bad bacteria without killing good bacteria.
“One of the things we’re actively looking at and working on is integrating these bacteriophages with some of these menstrual products to detect and get rid of infection,” he said.
This research is already underway and has the potential to extend to all types of products, not just these pills.
Hosseinidoust said as a researcher, finding such a huge gap in the work toward innovation in menstrual products was like discovering a gold mine.
“But at the same time, as a woman, as a person who menstruates, you think, ‘Really?'” she said.
