Speaking at the launch of WINCEE (Women in Nutraceuticals Central and Eastern Europe) during NutraFood Poland last week (Apr 14), Ewa Hudson and Agnieszka Anielska, co-chairs for the regional committee, spotlighted women’s health research as a solid investment for societies and economies worldwide.
They highlighted that 1 in 4 women report health problems that limit daily activities, productivity, and earnings, and closing the women’s health gap could boost the global economy by an estimated $1 trillion per year.
“Improving healthcare outcomes and quality of life for women extends to their families, and to wider society,” Hudson said in a presentation co-authored by Julia Wiebe and Petra Frick, WIN EU co-chairs. “Investing in women’s health is the best investment for societies and economies.”
Noting that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent an estimated $5 billion on women’s health in 2025, compared with $50 billion in other areas, Hudson highlighted there is a particular underrepresentation of women (29–34%) within phase one trials despite the fact early trials determine safety, tolerability, and dosing — the foundation of all future research.
“Even when women are included in trials, very few report sex‑disaggregated data,” said Hudson. “When the outcomes aren’t broken down by gender, we can’t see whether the treatment works differently in women vs men, whether side effects are more common or severe in women, or whether dose, efficacy, or safety varies by sex.”
Women’s health is too often reduced to only sexual and reproductive health, despite the fact that there are many serious and intervenable conditions that disproportionately affect women, including: depression, autoimmune diseases, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and heart attacks (No. 1 cause of death in 37% women vs 32% men).
“There are also several significant health concerns which impact women very differently to men, such as colon cancer and arterial fibrillation,” she added. “Yet research into women’s experiences of these diseases is severely lacking.”
Lack of knowledge surrounding women’s health leads to misdiagnosis, ineffective or harmful treatments, and avoidable side effects. With women reportedly experiencing around 52% more adverse drug reactions than men.
Why the gap?
“For decades, clinical studies relied on adult men as the default population for testing efficacy and safety,” the WIN chair explained.
Researchers sought more homogeneous samples, avoiding hormonal fluctuations and biological variability. What’s more, male‑only studies were also cheaper and required fewer participants.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the drug thalidomide was widely prescribed to pregnant women for morning sickness, anxiety, and insomnia, despite the fact it had never been tested on this population.
As a result, more than 10,000 babies were born with deformities, and approximately 40% died shortly after birth.
“The tragedy led to widespread fear of including women—especially those who could become pregnant—in clinical trials,” said Hudson.
WIN's mission
Women In Nutraceuticals (WIN) is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2021 by a cohort of global nutraceutical leaders dedicated to building support for women in nutraceuticals.
It offers tools, networking, visibility, and mentoring to create an environment where women have an equal place in the leadership and evolution of the global nutraceutical industry.
This resulted in decades of systematic exclusion of women from early‑phase studies, a male‑default model of drug development, and a persistent data gap that still impacts dosing, safety, and side‑effect knowledge today.
Hudson further highlighted the need to address underrepresentation of women leading clinical trials.
Research from Bharat Rawlley et al. (2023) and Celina Yong et al. (2023) reveals the gender of principal investigators can have a significant influence on the trial design and interpretation, with female investigators enrolling around 7% more women patients than studies without female investigators.
Although there has been a notable increase in the proportion of women principal investigators over time, the overall representation remains relatively low, at 14-22%.
Changing the status quo
“However, it’s no longer optional to include both men and women in clinical studies—it’s a US law since 1993,” said Hudson. “And in Europe, the product has to be studied in the population that will be using it.”
What’s more, some scientific journals do not accept studies with men only, if there isn’t a good reason for the limited design.
But progress is slow, said Hudson. Today, only around 40% of participants in clinical trials are women with some explanations including: Perceived harm, lack of interest, lack of time, poor health, and travel burden.
“The reasons for the lower participation rates of women in clinical trials compared to men must be solved to guarantee equal representation,” Hudson said.
