Dr Golnoush Golshirazi responding to recent Guardian article
Opinion: Misleading Headlines Are Harming Women’s Health and Stifling Research — We Must Invest in Vaginal Microbiome Science, Not Dismiss It.
The headlines
The recent Guardian article titled “Common Fertility Myths Busted” presents an oversimplified and misleading narrative about the role of the vaginal microbiome in fertility. While challenging misinformation is important, dismissing the reproductive microbiome’s role in fertility does more harm than good.
Instead of undermining the need for research and diagnostics, we should be investing in scientific advancements to ensure testing is reliable, accessible, and meaningfully integrated into fertility care.
Is history repeating itself?
This isn’t the first time a medical breakthrough has been met with skepticism. Decades ago, IVF was ridiculed and even condemned by both the media and medical community, with some claiming it was unnatural or scientifically unfounded. When the first “test tube baby,” Louise Brown, was born in 1978, she was treated as an experiment rather than a groundbreaking success. Today, IVF is a lifeline for millions struggling with infertility, a testament to the power of research and persistence. Had we let early skepticism dictate the course of reproductive medicine, we would have never seen the remarkable advancements that exist today. The vaginal microbiome is at a similar crossroads—it is a field in its early stages, requiring refinement and regulation, not rejection.
Vaginal microbiome research and its importance in health
The article frames vaginal microbiome testing as unhelpful, yet research has already linked microbial imbalances to bacterial vaginosis, chronic inflammation, preterm birth, and higher miscarriage rates.
The presence or absence of Lactobacillus species and the overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria like Gardnerella vaginalis or Atopobium vaginae can influence conception outcomes, particularly in assisted reproduction. Dismissing this research with sweeping generalisations stifles progress and neglects some brilliant work that has already been done in the field.
Not all tests are equal, but that does not mean testing is not useful
Of course, not all testing is equal, and unregulated products and probiotics should be scrutinised.
But instead of discouraging all forms of microbiome testing, we should be educating both healthcare professionals and patients on which tests and products are scientifically valid and how they can be integrated into fertility care.
There is a vast difference between unreliable mass-market products and scientific gold standard testing such as next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based screenings that provide valuable information, answers and actionable insights.
Conclusion: testing is useful, if you choose the correct test
Articles like this, which mislead rather than constructively inform, do not help women’s health—they harm it. The vaginal microbiome is already an underfunded and underrepresented area of research, and careless reporting only deepens the gap.
Women’s health has long suffered from systemic neglect, with patients frequently dismissed by healthcare providers when they report symptoms that have no immediate or easy answers. Now, this dismissal is also happening in the media, where real scientific advancements and innovations are being minimised instead of encouraged.
Conclusion: instead of discouraging, we should be educating
The Guardian article warns that vaginal microbiome testing might be commercially motivated—but the real danger is when skepticism is used to shut down necessary research and progress rather than refine it.
The focus should not be on discouraging microbiome testing but on ensuring it is evidence-based, accessible, and part of a larger movement to take women’s health seriously.
If we continue to undermine the importance of research in this field, we are not protecting women—we are failing them.
