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.

Not toxin filled!


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  1. Menstruationsblut wurde nie auf toxine untersucht. Deshalb ist antwort dieses “doctors” unkorrekt.

  2. A vegan is someone who does not use other species for food, clothing or any other purpose- because they believe that to do so would be unethical.

    This has *nothing* to do with the views outlined above. By allowing​ then the name vegan, you not only misrepresent veganism, but you also elevate the views you are criticising, by labelling then vegan- a coherent ethical belief system- protected by UK law.

    1. Hilarious. Are you going to drag Dr Gunter over here and make a claim against her, under the Equality Act? I would love to see that!

      Guess what? The Equality Act is entirely toothless. Veganism isn’t an immutable characteristic, so given that the Act has not protected the thousands of people killed by the DWP, it isn’t protecting the tens of thousands of people with disabilities who are being oppressed by the government, the DWP, landlords and employers. It fails POC at every level, it hasn’t protected gay and trans people from discrimination and abuse.

      If you honestly think that it would protect you against people using the word ‘vegan’ in a way that chafes your arse, then you’re operating under a delusion. Like I said, more than ten thousand dead PWD were denied their basic human rights. PWD, POC, and LGBT are treated illegally every day, they’re not treated as equals, The EA is a sham, and allows people who, through no fault or choice of their own, to be discriminated against on a daily basis.

      I am honestly disgusted that you equate your dietary choices with involuntary characteristics such as race, gender expression, sexuality, and disability.

      1. And yes, I’ve made some syntactical errors, it’s 6am and I’m not morphinated or caffeinated yet.

  3. Actually, I always thought it was extremely healthy to have a period as long as possible. Recently, I have been told that it gets rid of unbound iron, so after menstruation ends, it is healthy to donate blood to retain this benefit.

  4. This is why we so desperately need comprehensive sex education in our schools.
    It was bad enough when I had to explain how the male body works to the guys I was seeing.

    1. You’ve nailed it. Comprehensive and continuous (throughout the school years) age-appropriate sex, sexual health, and relationship education is as important as any other subject.

      It frustrates me beyond belief that children – who eventually become adults – are expected to live in bodies that they know nothing about. They’re expected to have healthy relationships with a partner, without anyone modelling that for them, without being taught about consent, or what’s abusive, or that most sex in porn is nothing like everyday, typical sex.

      That’s why these toxic rumours proliferate, the ignorance of the readership, and amorality of the quacks and frauds who encourage such dangerous, life-altering behaviours.

  5. And yet another BS mantra that weakens the feminist position both physically and philosophically…after more than 30 years as an OB/Gyn NP, this is probably the most outrageous crap to come down the “info highway”…absolutely insane “thinking” (and I use that term VERY loosely) without fact, reason, or medical basis…

  6. This sounds like an update of the ancient, religious idea that menstruating women were ‘unclean’. Such women then had to undergo a ritual ‘purification’ ritual before they could return to polite society.

    And there are suggestions too which refer back to a debate in the British Medical Journal in the 1870s. There was a hot debate as to whether the touch of a menstruating woman could ‘turn’ a ham, that is to make it rancid.

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