A widely circulated statistic claiming that just 6% of sports science focuses on female athletes misrepresents the underlying research, Kathryn Armstrong, chief scientific officer at USANA Health Sciences, told attendees at the Council for Responsible Nutrition’s (CRN) SciComms Connect program during CRN Convergence 2026.
Speaking at the Oct. 6 event, Armstrong explained that the figure referred to studies exclusively involving women, while women accounted for 34% of participants overall.
“We don’t need more noise with less data aimed at women in health,” she said.
Looking beyond female participation
Armstrong also cited an analysis of 1,826 sports nutrition studies involving nearly 35,000 participants. Women represented 23% of participants, but few studies were designed to compare responses between sexes. Just 14% of studies involving women reported menstrual status, she added.
The question of who is included in clinical research came up again in discussions of hair health and maternal nutrition.
Dr. Heather Woolery-Lloyd, chief medical advisor at Nutrafol, reviewed clinical studies of collagen, probiotics and hair growth formulations, including research involving women experiencing hair thinning during perimenopause and menopause.
“If you’re making claims about supplements for women, make sure that it’s been tested in women,” she said.
Research involving women also needs to account for differences in hormonal status and metabolic response, according to Dr. Madison Kackley, assistant professor at The Ohio State University.
Kackley described research on ketogenic interventions in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), where the return of menstrual bleeding did not necessarily correspond with confirmed ovulation.
“Women are metabolically dynamic,” she said. “We need to take this into consideration.”
Ryan Woodbury, co-founder and co-CEO of Needed, raised questions about the evidence underlying dietary reference intakes, citing research suggesting that pregnant and lactating women were poorly represented in studies used to establish nutrient recommendations.
“Profound research gaps remain, particularly for pregnant and lactating women, but uncertainty is not the same thing as an absence of actionable evidence,” she said.
From physiological changes to health outcomes
The distinction between measuring a physiological response and demonstrating a health benefit also featured in research presented at the conference.
Dr. Danielle Christifano, associate professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center, shared findings from a published analysis of a DHA supplementation trial involving 300 pregnant women.
Women receiving 800 mg of DHA daily had a heart rate approximately 10 beats per minute lower than those receiving 200 mg, along with greater heart rate variability, a measure of autonomic nervous system activity.
Christifano is now examining how nutrition relates to changes in metabolism, mitochondrial function and autonomic activity during pregnancy through the Magnolia study. The observational study follows 30 women with different pre-pregnancy metabolic profiles, and the findings presented were unpublished.
“We need to move beyond does this intervention work to asking who benefits, when do we need to give them this nutrition intervention, and why is it important?” she said.
In menopause research, Dr. Roberta Brinton, director of the Center for Innovation in Brain Science at the University of Arizona, discussed PhytoSERM, an investigational formulation of three plant-derived compounds designed to selectively activate estrogen receptor beta.
Brinton described early clinical research on menopausal symptoms and cognitive measures and said a Phase 2b trial focused on hot flashes had recently been completed. Results from that trial were not presented.
“Over-the-counter products, even if they’re supposedly safe, have to be tested for their safety as well as their efficacy,” she said.
Woodbury also presented findings from a company-supported study of 235 pregnant women across seven states comparing nutrient biomarkers among users of Needed’s prenatal supplement and conventional folic acid-based prenatal products.
According to Woodbury, 94% of women in the conventional prenatal group had low status for at least one nutrient, while 81% had low status for two or more. She said Needed users showed better status for several nutrients, including vitamin D, selenium and vitamin B6.
The study assessed nutrient status rather than maternal or infant clinical outcomes. Woodbury also outlined plans for a randomized trial comparing prenatal formulations.
More menopause information, but gaps remain
Kate Jamieson, vice president of marketing and ecommerce at Bonafide Health, presented findings from the company’s State of Menopause survey, which has collected responses from more than 11,000 women over six years.
The proportion of women who openly discuss perimenopause with friends increased from 33% in 2022 to 43% in the latest survey. However, 71% of respondents did not initially recognize their first symptom as menopause-related.
Jamieson also reported that 85% of women were relying on self-education, up from 79% in 2023, while the proportion turning to healthcare providers fell from 58% to 47%.
“Trust isn’t about maximizing belief,” she said. “It is really about helping people understand what the evidence supports, what the limits are, and what they can reasonably do with it.”
Bonafide uses a five-step framework for communicating menopause research, beginning with validating women’s experiences and identifying symptoms before explaining the science, presenting evidence and guiding next steps.
Needed has developed education programs for healthcare practitioners and influencers that address nutrition research and the limits of product claims.
“The underlying science does not change,” Woodbury said. “What changes is the vocabulary, the depth, and the context to match each audience.”
