Digital menstrual tracking risks creating more harm than benefit, argue experts

Experts warn that digital menstrual tracking can cause more harm than benefit and needs closer examination, according to a piece in The BMJ. Companies and social media have promoted menstrual tracking apps and femtech tools that supposedly analyze personal data to enhance health, well-being and performance. However, Katharine Lee and colleagues contend that neither tracking menstrual cycles nor cycle syncing (altering diet and exercise based on cycle phases) has been proven to improve health or performance metrics.

They argue that slick marketing of these apps, coupled with questionable practices like cycle syncing, demands critical scrutiny. For instance, decades of sports science research reveal no significant impact of menstrual cycle phase on performance, injury risk or general health. Any potential effects found have been minimal and highly individual.

Likewise, phase-based dietary interventions to alleviate symptoms or enhance performance remain inconclusive, individual or speculative. Even if menstrual cycle phases correspond with health or performance fluctuations in individuals, digital tracking technologies cannot reliably foresee such changes. Apart from their weak evidence base, digital cycle tracking tools also pose significant risks such as wasting time, enabling unwanted surveillance, and jeopardizing data privacy.

Moreover, these technologies could divert attention from or even undermine efforts to advance women's health. While the potential impact of these apps on women and girls' well-being is substantial, the evidence supporting their ability to manage menstrual conditions, boost health or provide insights into exercise and nutritional needs is lacking.

The authors suggest addressing risks by bolstering data protection measures, enhancing user awareness of data usage, and limiting clinician recommendations for apps unless they meet strict standards. They also advocate for regulating misleading marketing and resisting the commercialization of feminist activism. Tailoring health communication strategies to social media environments where users encounter cycle syncing content could help build public trust in more credible sources and counteract misleading narratives about hormones and health.

Ultimately, health practitioners, regulators and the general public must acknowledge and tackle the risks these consumer technologies pose to women's health.