Apparently there are some people, specifically “vegan health bloggers,” who believe that menstrual blood is toxic and so they advocate dieting to the point of losing your period, you know so the toxins never accumulate in the first place. This amounts to promoting anorexia not health and displays a complete lack of knowledge of basic human biology. It’s also unethical.

Menstrual blood is the lining of the uterus (endometrium) that leaves the body when an embryo fails to implant. If there is no pregnancy the corpus luteum runs out of progesterone and this withdrawal of progesterone destabilizes the lining of the uterus and the blood comes out. If menstrual blood were toxic that means human embryos are deposited in a toxic wasteland. That would be a design flaw. You just need common sense and a fifth graders understanding of biology to bat this one down.

The uterus is not an organ of excretion. Those are the liver and kidneys with some minor background help from the sweat glands. The liver converts ammonia to urea and the kidneys excrete it into urine. The kidneys filter out and remove by products of cellular metabolism, mostly nitrogenous wastes.

Do some women feel “better” when they are so thin that the lose their periods? Yes, starvation can cause euphoria. It is well documented with anorexia.

Starving away periods to prevent the build up of non-existent toxins is not only dangerous for women who do it, but it’s a terrible message for girls and women who may see these videos and posts.

Thinking periods are toxic is a sad, modern-day version of hysteria.