An app to get pregnant faster, really?

Infertility affects one in six people, according to data from the World Health Organization. For Dr. Diane Francoeur, president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada, “fertility is a big market: there is a lot of money to be made in it.”

She has seen infertile couples for over 30 years. What she finds is that infertility can cause a lot of guilt in women.

In search of answers, some turn to social networks. This is the case of Vanessa, an American who subscribed to Gyna. She wishes to remain anonymous because those close to her do not know that she is infertile.

After her last miscarriage, she felt helpless and frustrated being told by her doctors to try again, but getting no more answers.

There must have been something I was doing wrong. Maybe I wasn’t eating right or taking the right vitamins.

After more than two years of living with infertility problems, she felt a little hope thanks to Gyna’s advertisements, she confides by telephone.

After several miscarriages, I felt emotionally vulnerable. Gyna’s advertisements lead us to believe that we will get answers to become pregnant, because several women testify there saying that they became pregnant after using these servicesshe says.

With its advertisements and publications, Gyna also targets women who are trying to conceive at 35 or 40 years old. This is precisely what piqued the curiosity of Susanna Stankiewicz, a Swede who paid $170 for her subscription.

She admits she felt a lot of shame when trying to conceive when she was in her 40s. Gyna’s positive approach gave her confidence. I felt like it was an honest company that really wanted to help womenshe said.

One of Gyna’s promises is that she will give you precise information about your hormonal balance and tell you exactly what to do to get pregnant faster. Each client must agree to complete a comprehensive questionnaire on her reproductive health.

However, when you arrive on the platform, you do not find a description of the user’s hormonal profile but rather around a hundred chapters of content both generic and specialized on food and fertility.

We have collected testimonials from users from several countries as well as those from Quebecers who have subscribed to Gyna. At the end of their free trial, these women paid between $130 and $200 for a basic subscription that was expected to last three to six months.

Broken trust

Susanna and Vanessa’s trust was broken when they tried to cancel their subscription.

Dissatisfied with Gyna’s service, they sent numerous emails to the company, but were never able to obtain a refund.

They told me they couldn’t refund me because I hadn’t completed all the fertility modulesexplains Vanessa. For her part, Susanna received the same response from the company.

My experience with Gyna was terrible. I felt stupid and used.

Contrary to what Gyna claims in its advertisements, the content is not personalized, Vanessa believes. For me, it’s clear that everyone receives the same program, regardless of what we answer [dans le questionnaire]she says.

In order to verify this hypothesis, we created three profiles with different health conditions: a 38-year-old woman suffering from obesity with lactose intolerance, a 37-year-old woman suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome – one of the main causes of infertility in women – and, ultimately, a 29-year-old woman at a healthy weight with no particular health problems.

Result: apart from five chapters on weight and fertility intended for the profile of the fictitious user in a situation of obesity, the 106 other chapters and recipes proposed were identical.

Questionable information

The young women who embody the Gyna brand on Instagram share information they say is drawn from science. They talk about foods that kill fertilityfor example red meat, or other foods that, on the contrary, increase it, such as milk rich in fat.

Other unusual information can also be found on this company’s platform. For example, Gyna says drinking four to seven glasses of alcohol per week is associated with higher sperm concentration.

This statement raises eyebrows among several experts consulted for this report, including Dr. Francoeur. I’ve never seen that anywhere, she points out with astonishment. We are more in the opposite trend. We know that if we consume too much, it can have a reverse impact and reduce spermatogenesis.

While browsing the Gyna platform, Vanessa also had doubts about the scientific foundations of the content. It wasn’t very encouraging, she says. When I did some checking, I realized that information was not drawn from solid research or was based on small studies with small samples.

Moreover, we have had certain Gyna content reviewed by experts, notably nutritionist Émilie Bernier. She points out that it is difficult to confirm whether the assertions on the platform are the subject of a scientific consensus since the studies and references are not cited there.

There is mention of the Nurses’ Health Study a few times, but vaguely, without providing certain details necessary for their fair and informed interpretation. Furthermore, the results presented appear to have been interpreted inadequately.declares Émilie Bernier.

Fertility is a very complex subject, influenced by many factors, some of which have more weight than nutrition, such as age, gynecological conditions or lifestyleexplains nutritionist Céline Saloumi, who is interested in fertility as part of her practice.

Although diet can play a role, Saloumi points out that no food taken separately can harm fertility. She insists: Rather, it is the balance of the plate, the nutrient density, but also the overall quality of the individual’s diet that counts.

In addition, certain dietary restrictions encouraged by Gyna can become a source of stress, according to these two nutritionists. Dr. Francoeur is of the same opinion.

The moment we try too much to control our life, it leads to a certain level of anxiety.

The platform is also categorical about certain foods. In particular, you should avoid eating rice, potatoes, fries or even frozen pizza because of their high glycemic index.

The doctor is troubled by this approach, which could unnecessarily make a woman feel guilty if she consumes these foods while trying to conceive.

I don’t see anything that suits me, scientifically speaking, to make women guilty of the failure of not becoming pregnant, specifies Dr. Francoeur. And I find that to be terrible!

Disturbing Privacy Policy

Furthermore, certain passages in Gyna’s confidentiality policy could be problematic, according to Sara Ève Levac, lawyer and analyst at Option Consommateurs.

The company says in particular that it can sell, share, exchange or rent personal information to third party companies without first disclosing it.

Me Levac adds this: The Personal Information Protection Act states that if we collect consumers’ personal information, we must tell them for what purposes this information is collected, therefore how we use it, why we take it and also from which third parties or categories of third parties. this personal information may be communicated.

Gyna is an app from Lily Health, a company that uses artificial intelligence to provide reproductive health advice to women. It displays with an American address but says it operates according to Kenyan laws.

Even if a company is foreign, as soon as it does business in Quebec, it must respect Quebec laws, recalls Sara Ève Levac.

We tried to contact the founders of this company several times, without getting a response.

It’s huge, everything we try to make women swallow and make them believe that magic will work and that they will become pregnantdeplores the president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada.

When asked if she would recommend a platform like Gyna, the answer is unequivocal: Absolutely not!

When trying to have a baby, you have to try to have good lifestyle habits, adds the doctor. Have a varied diet with color on your plate […]exercise, try to take your mind off things and take $150 to go get a massage, that will bring a lot more positive effectsshe advises.