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Gary Rhodes, founder of Screen My Bones, opens a three-part deep dive into the most overlooked pillar of women's longevity: skeletal health. Part 1 covers what osteoporosis and osteopenia actually are, why bone loss in women accelerates so dramatically at menopause, and the hidden risks from GLP-1 weight loss drugs, chronic stress, and emotional trauma. Gary reversed his own grandmother's severe osteoporosis in 23 months — and has since scanned over 20,000 people to build the evidence base for early, proactive bone screening.

Key topics:
Reversing osteoporosis: Gary's grandmother's story (T-score minus 2.7 → normal range in 23 months)
What osteoporosis is — and why "disease" is the wrong framing
Bone density vs bone quality — two distinct measurements, both essential
T-scores, Z-scores, fragility scores: what to pay attention to
The menopause bone cliff: 1–5% loss per year, up to 20% over 5–7 years
Why women lose bone faster than men (oestrogen mechanism)
Osteoporosis prevalence: 19.6% in women vs 4.4% in men over 50
Peak bone mass at 28–32 and the case for screening in your thirties
GLP-1 drugs (Ozempic, Mounjaro) and the 40% muscle/bone loss risk
Osteoimmunology: bone marrow as immune factory; inflammatory cytokines and bone resorption
Cortisol, adrenal stress and mineral depletion from bone
Emotional trauma as a bone health risk factor

References and resources mentioned:
Screen My Bones: screenmybones.com
Tony Robbins — Unleash the Power Within (UPW): https://www.tonyrobbins.com/events/unleash-the-power-within
Dr Gabrielle Lyon — creatine and muscle protein research

Guest social links:
Website: screenmybones.com
Instagram (Gary Rhodes): https://www.instagram.com/garyandrewrhodes/
Instagram (Screen My Bones): https://www.instagram.com/screenmybones?igsh=MWY0ZWc1OWY1OGhubw==
Instagram (Screen My Bones US): https://www.instagram.com/screenmybones.us/
Instagram (Performance Health MSK): https://www.instagram.com/performancehealthsystemsmsk/
Facebook (Screen My Bones): https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566125690406
Facebook (Performance Health MSK): https://web.facebook.com/PerformanceHealthSystemsMSK

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In Part 2, materials engineer Shagun Maheshwari unpacks what conventional menstrual pads are actually made of — up to 90% plastic — and what that means for the body and the environment. Phthalates, microplastics, greenwashing, and why she designed Papaya to degrade in a landfill, not just a composter.

Key topics in this part:
- Why conventional pads can be up to 90% plastic; heat-bonding and textile engineering
- Adhesives as a still-unsolved sustainability problem
- Phthalates and VOCs; endocrine disruption and absorbent vulvovaginal tissue
- Why fragrance can worsen period odour rather than mask it
- Antimicrobial properties and the delicate vaginal microbiome balance
- Microplastics vs nanoplastics, and how they reach tissue
- Why plastic doesn't biodegrade; what genuine biodegradability requires
- Greenwashing: "biodegradable top sheet," bamboo/cotton pads that still contain SAP, the label test
- Industrial composter vs landfill degradation standards
- Lifetime product volume (≈5,000–15,000 products); ~800-year SAP degradation
- Where to find Papaya; what's next for the product
- The case for putting people who experience the problem on the technical design team

Timestamps:
00:00 — Hookable intro
00:42 — Biohacking Eve intro
01:07 — Recap of Part 1
01:27 — Episode summary
02:27 — Conversation resumes: plastics in pads
08:00 — Endocrine disruptors, fragrance, microbiome
16:00 — Microplastics and how they reach tissue
22:00 — Why plastic doesn't biodegrade; greenwashing and the label test
28:00 — Composter vs landfill; lifetime volume
33:00 — Where to find Papaya
34:00 — Curveball questions
40:00 — Close → outro

References mentioned in this part:
- Super absorbent polymer / sodium polyacrylate (SAP); polyacrylate, polypropylene, polyurethane
- Phthalates; volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
- Industrial composting vs landfill degradation standards (≈90% in six months)
- Strange Pictures by Uketsu — Japanese mystery novel
- Agatha Christie; P.G. Wodehouse (Jeeves and Wooster); Joseph Campbell (the hero's journey)

Guest & product links:
Website: papayapads.com
Instagram: @papaya.india and @shagun.maheshwari
LinkedIn (Shagun): https://www.linkedin.com/in/maheshwarishagun/
LinkedIn (company): https://www.linkedin.com/company/papayaindia/
Pilots in other countries: bulk orders only — contact Shagun directly

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Materials engineer Shagun Maheshwari spent five years building the world's first blood-coagulating menstrual pad. In Part 1, she explains why the industry tests pads against saline rather than blood, takes a conventional pad apart layer by layer, and reveals the reframe — keep dry, don't just absorb — that led to a pad which clots blood in place.

Key topics in this part:

• Why pads are tested against water/saline, and how menstrual blood differs
• The four-layer anatomy of a conventional pad (top sheet, ADL, core, back sheet)
• Super absorbent polymer (SAP) and why it collapses under body weight
• The reframe from "absorb more" to "keep the person dry"
• How a physical, charge-based clot works (vs the biological clotting cascade)
• The naturally derived long-chain sugar coagulant, and how it was found
• Whether some "period problems" are actually product-design problems
• Industry inertia around cheap, mass-produced SAP

Timestamps:

• 00:00 — Hookable intro
• 00:40 — Biohacking Eve intro
• 01:05 — Episode summary
• 02:05 — Conversation begins: from smart contact lenses to period pads
• 07:00 — Optimising for the wrong metric; periods vs product problems
• 14:00 — What's in blood, and why it's hard to engineer for
• 16:00 — Pad anatomy, layer by layer
• 20:00 — Why fluid comes back out under load
• 21:00 — How coagulation works inside Papaya's pad
• 28:00 — The coagulant material and how it was identified
• 31:00 — Cliffhanger → outro

References mentioned in this part:

• Mojo Vision — smart contact lens company
• Super absorbent polymer / sodium polyacrylate (SAP)
• Stayfree, Whisper/Always — pad brands referenced

Guest & product links:

• Website: papayapads.com
• Instagram: @papaya.india and @shagun.maheshwari
• LinkedIn (Shagun): https://www.linkedin.com/in/maheshwarishagun/
• LinkedIn (company): https://www.linkedin.com/company/papayaindia/

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In Part 3, Ronny Szelinsky moves into the frontier: AI-based endometrial diagnostics, the seeding event that shapes your baby's immune system at birth, the emerging theory that endometriosis may be a microbiome disease, and a clinical prediction for where gynaecological medicine is heading over the next decade. The episode closes with the curveball section, including book recommendations and perspectives on the gender health gap.

Key Topics
Seeding: how the birth canal colonises the newborn with foundational bacteria, and what C-section babies miss
How to manually replicate seeding — and why most hospitals don't
Why each successive birth reduces the mother's microbiome diversity
AI diagnostics: inferring endometrial microbiome state from a vaginal swab (no biopsy)
Applications for fertility clinics; pre-IVF screening; personalised probiotic protocols
What is scientifically established vs currently speculative in the gynecological microbiome field
Endometriosis as a potential endpoint of chronic microbiome dysfunction: the emerging theory
Antimicrobial resistance and gynecological probiotics
Why antibiotics sometimes trigger irregular bleeding — and the microbiome explanation
Clinical prediction: microbiome assessment as routine gynaecological practice within ten years
Curveball: recommended books, electrolytes, Rwanda project, ideal sidekick

Timestamps
[Part 3 start] — Seeding: the birth canal microbiome transfer
[~05:00 into part] — C-section, missed seeding, manual replication
[~08:00] — Why microbiome diversity declines with each birth
[~10:00] — AI diagnostics: vaginal swab inference for endometrial state
[~16:00] — Fertility clinic use cases; personalised probiotic prescribing
[~20:00] — What is established vs speculative in the field
[~23:00] — Endometriosis and the microbiome theory
[~27:00] — Antibiotics, irregular bleeding, antimicrobial resistance
[~30:00] — Ten-year clinical prediction
[~33:00] — Curveball questions

References and Resources
Get Happy website: www.get-happy.com
Ronny Szelinsky — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronny-szelinsky
Darm mit Charme by Jill Enders (English: Gut — The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ)
Herzenssache by Prof. Michael Becker (not available in English) — book on the female heart and gender differences in cardiovascular medicine
Boundless by Ben Greenfield — longevity and biohacking reference book; both Ronny and Judith recommend.

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In Part 2, Ronny Szelinsky explains the mechanism behind oestrogen-driven microbiome collapse at menopause — and what can be done about it. He introduces the estrobolome, details the research behind Get Happy's Happy Fem probiotic formula, and explains why oral probiotics colonise the gynecological tract as effectively as vaginal delivery. This is the translational bridge between the science of Part 1 and the practical interventions of Part 3.

Key Topics

• How oestrogen controls the thickness of the vaginal and endometrial tissue, and what happens when it drops
• Why UTIs become suddenly frequent after menopause — the biological mechanism
• Vaginal dryness and pain during sex: the mucosal layer explained
• The estrobolome: the bacterial community around the ovaries and its proposed role in oestrogen production
• The contraceptive pill and its long-term impact on microbiome colonisation after stopping
• Happy Fem: how the product was developed, the research methodology, and the fertility clinic partnerships
• Why oral probiotics achieve equivalent vaginal colonisation to vaginal administration — three pathways
• Lactobacillus CA-15: what the published research shows
• Who should take vaginal probiotics and under what circumstances
• When to pause: during pregnancy, and why
• Dosing: six-month courses for specific goals; ongoing daily use for post-menopausal women

Timestamps

• [Part 2 start] — Hormone-microbiome axis, oestrogen and tissue thickness
• [~05:00 into part] — Why UTIs spike at menopause
• [~10:00] — The estrobolome: ovarian bacteria and oestrogen production
• [~17:00] — Happy Fem: product development and research methodology
• [~22:00] — Oral vs vaginal administration — clinical study results
• [~27:00] — Lactobacillus CA-15: what it does
• [~30:00] — Who should take it; when to pause; dosing logic

References and Resources

• Happy Fem product: www.get-happy.com
• Lactobacillus CA-15

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In Part 1 of this conversation with Ronny Szelinsky, founder of Get Happy, we explore the gynecological microbiome — the bacterial community that spans the vagina, uterus, cervix, and urinary tract. Ronny explains why this microbiome operates by completely different rules to the gut, what happens when it becomes dysbiotic, and how its disruption can silently undermine fertility, hormonal health, and longevity. The science is newer than most people realise: the uterus was considered sterile until approximately 2018.

Key Topics

• What the gynecological microbiome is and which anatomical areas it covers
• Why Lactobacillus dominance — not diversity — is the marker of a healthy gynecological microbiome
• The discovery that the uterus is not sterile: what next-generation sequencing (NGS) revealed
• The bidirectional microbiome-hormone axis: how bacteria and oestrogen regulate each other
• What causes gynecological dysbiosis: the contraceptive pill, sexual intercourse, sex toys, antibiotics, thyroid medications, vaginal hygiene products
• Normal menstrual inflammation vs chronic pathological inflammation — and the difference between them
• How a dysbiotic microbiome attacks sperm and prevents embryo implantation
• Why 50% of bacterial vaginosis cases have no symptoms — and what that means for unexplained infertility

Timestamps

• 00:00 — Intro and episode overview
• 01:00 — What the gynecological microbiome is; the body's multiple microbiomes
• 03:00 — Reproductive ageing: what it means beyond fertility
• 06:00 — Ronny's background and why he entered this field
• 10:00 — Causes of gynecological dysbiosis: the pill, antibiotics, sexual activity, hygiene products
• 15:00 — How the mucosal lining absorbs compounds and why topical exposure matters
• 19:00 — The uterus is not sterile: the NGS sequencing revolution
• 22:00 — Inflammation: normal vs pathological, and the menstrual cycle
• 27:00 — Sperm attack and implantation failure: the fertility mechanism

References and Resources

• Get Happy website: www.get-happy.com
• Ronny Szelinsky — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronny-szelinsky
• NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing): technique referenced for identifying vaginal and uterine bacterial strains
• Bacterial vaginosis and Gardnerella vaginalis: standard medical references available on NHS/MedlinePlus

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In Part 2, Anna Butterworth completes the five menopause archetypes with the Post-Menopausal Visionary and the Uninformed Endurer, then explores climate impacts on hormonal health, the VC funding problem in women’s health, and the curveball questions.

Key Topics:

• The Post-Menopausal Visionary: ageing as purpose, not decline

• The evolutionary argument: why humans and whales go through menopause

• Skin and vaginal dryness, muscle loss, osteoporosis in post-menopause

• Anti-ageing culture vs. embodying age

• Home health suites and at-home biomarker diagnostics

• The Uninformed Endurer: the forgotten consumer

• Low-barrier, affordable, stigma-free menopause solutions

• Why generic, scalable tools matter as much as personalised ones

• Upskilling primary care teams to identify menopause symptoms

• Environmental factors: PFAS, toxins, climate change and menstrual irregularity

• Why a one-degree temperature rise disproportionately affects women

• VC funding models and why they’re stunting women’s health innovation

• The Phase app and cycle-based productivity

• Book recommendations: Invisible Women and Unwell Women

• Anna’s unusual habit: a lifelong fascination with Mormon culture

• Investing in your team as the highest-return decision

References & Resources Mentioned:

• The Future of Menopause 2035 – Ultraviolet Agency report - https://www.ultravioletagency.com

• Phase app (phaseapp.io) – cycle-based productivity tool

• Biohacking Eve earlier episode with Maggie McDaris, founder of Phase - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/15-aligning-work-with-biology-maggie-mcdaris-on-cycle/id1782080943?i=1000743385443

• Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

• Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn

• Iris Apfel – referenced as cultural example of ageing visionary

• Pamela Anderson – referenced as example of natural ageing in public life

Guest Links:

• Ultraviolet Agency – https://www.ultravioletagency.com

• Anna Butterworth LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/annabutterworth

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In Part 1, Anna Butterworth introduces the first three of five menopause archetypes from her Future of Menopause 2035 report – the Peri Prepper, the Seeker and the High Performer – exploring who each woman is, what she needs and where the current system falls short.

Key Topics:

• The Future of Menopause 2035 report and why archetypes matter

• 48 symptoms of menopause and the problem with generic solutions

• The Peri Prepper: preparing for perimenopause in your mid-thirties

• GPs dismissing younger women who want to prepare early

• Millennials ageing into menopause with cycle-tracking literacy

• The AI slop era and the challenge of validating health information

• The Seeker: holistic wellness meets evidence-based rigour

• The gap between data-led tools and spiritually-oriented tools

• The High Performer: brain fog, boardrooms and the £150bn cost

• The link between menopause-related brain fog and long-term dementia risk

• Menopause benefits as the next frontier in talent retention

• The wisdom workforce: why younger women watch how companies treat older staff

References & Resources Mentioned:

• The Future of Menopause 2035 – Ultraviolet Agency report - https://www.ultravioletagency.com

• Bloomberg statistic: £150 billion global economic cost of menopause-related symptoms

Guest Links

• Ultraviolet Agency – https://www.ultravioletagency.com

• Anna Butterworth LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/annabutterworth

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Website: www.BiohackingEve.com