Taylor Wynn takes a sponsorship from the telehealth platform, Midi

Subjective description: Taylor Wynn shills for a venture capital telehealth platform founded by two women with no medical training. Their CEO spent 20 years working in venture capital and private equity, and their President holds a Masters degree in economics.
Taylor says that at times your bloodwork can be normal but you just feel “not normal” and so Midi is a great way to test arbitrary indicators that are not clinically validated to convince yourself that there is an objective problem that can be remedied by purchasing supplements from Midi that have gone through no clinical testing and that contain ingredients that have only shown improvements in small studies funded by the ingredient manufacturer.
Taylor says that the service is great because you can test, see results, and adjust. She does not give any specifics as to what changes she made or how the service helped with that process. She does not even say that she has seen any improvement since using the service.

Look I get that telehealth can be a really convenient option for people and that people, especially women, have been done so dirty by the medical system and want to believe there’s some simple solution. But you can be critical of the medical system and share your experiences without promoting these venture capitalist platforms that encourage people to think that there is something else they need to buy or be treated with just because they feel “not normal.”

I hate the science washing of making people undergo tests and suggesting that because the number is objective it means anything. Midi doesn’t disclose what additional tests they run but many of these kinds of services will offer to test dozens of markets he best way I can think to explain this is like how the Wii Fit board would objectively measure your weight distribution and based on that number lose its shit because it thinks that if you put 4 ounces more weight onto one leg you’re fucked. Testing for the sake of testing just gives the company more things to “tweak” or blame as the cause of someone feeling “not normal.” That means another round of testing a few months later, and a charge to review those results.

I’m not saying this is some big conspiracy but this is exactly the sort of cycle that sucks people into the wellness industry and down all kinds of rabbit holes on this endless quest to try the next thing that the medical establishment is hiding from us all. If you’re selling unregulated supplements this is a great marketing demographic to exploit. If you’re a doctor who is following the well established guidelines as to the biologic markers that have clinical value, then you’re just going to be seen as another doctor who doesn’t listen to women’s pain, unlike these venture capitalists selling GLP-1 compounds with non disclosed ingredients.

Dr Jen Gunter had a reel about these kinds of companies in general. If a venture capitalist has gotten involved that means there has to be money to be made in something other than just treating and seeking patients to make it lucrative. Usually that means they’re also selling supplements or some additional service that gains its legitimacy by association with the actual healthcare offering.

Anyway tl;dr I hate when influencers do brand deals with these kinds of companies and have clearly taken their marketing at face value when the continued legitimization of these venture capital operations as the ideal form of healthcare is a terrifying thought.