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Why WUKA created the world’s first heavy flow period underwear
By WUKA CEO and co-founder, Ruby Raut
Eight years ago, I launched WUKA with a simple mission: to make periods sustainable, comfortable, and free from shame.
At the time, period underwear already existed, but it wasn’t truly a solution. You still had to wear pads or tampons alongside it.
Most designs were made as backups, not as full replacements. To me, that defeated the whole purpose of creating a sustainable alternative to disposables.
Very quickly, the same question kept coming up in conversations with women: “But will it work for heavy flow?”
I’d hear comments like, “I have a really heavy flow, can underwear actually hold it?” or “Heavy periods are my biggest worry.”
As a woman of colour, I understood the silence around this. Where I grew up, periods were hardly spoken about.
Ruby Raut
Heavy flow, in particular, was brushed off as “normal” or whispered about as something you just had to endure. But for millions of us, heavy flow isn’t just a minor inconvenience. It is life-defining.
It dictates how we move, how we sleep, how we show up at school or at work. It decides whether we step outside with confidence or stay home in fear of leaks.
So when WUKA became the first brand in the world to launch period underwear designed specifically for heavy flow, it wasn’t just about innovation.
It was about rewriting a story that had been ignored for too long.
Heavy flow is more common than you think
For years, heavy bleeding was treated as something unusual, but research tells a very different story.
In the UK, around one in three women live with chronic heavy periods.
Among teens, the numbers are even starker: surveys show over 90 per cent of girls aged 12–18 say they bleed so heavily it disrupts their daily lives, with one in five ending up bedridden during their period.
For women in Black and minority ethnic communities, the burden is even heavier.
Studies show Black women are more likely to develop fibroids, a leading cause of heavy bleeding, and less likely to have their symptoms taken seriously in healthcare settings.
Combine that with cultural stigma around periods, and it’s no surprise that so many suffer in silence.
I know this reality personally.
I had heavy flow growing up in Nepal, and like many women, I was told to “just get on with it.” But ignoring heavy bleeding doesn’t make it go away, it only deepens the isolation and anxiety around periods.
Why WUKA Heavy Flow was a first
When we first launched period underwear, the industry was still stuck in a tampon-and-pad mindset. Every product seemed designed for “average” flow, as if heavy bleeders didn’t exist.
But they do — and they needed more than reassurance. They needed real protection.
That’s why WUKA created the world’s first heavy flow period underwear.
It can absorb the equivalent of four tampons’ worth of blood, without the need for doubling up with pads or worrying about leaks.
It’s washable, reusable, and made to last, offering dignity and confidence without the environmental waste of disposable products.
For women like me, it was a breakthrough: finally, underwear that could keep up with our bodies instead of holding us back.
A Founder’s Perspective: From lived experience to innovation
Launching heavy flow underwear wasn’t just a business decision. It was personal.
As a BAME founder, I have lived the challenges that many of our customers face: cultural silence, medical dismissal, and a lack of products that meet our needs.
I wanted to show that innovation in women’s health doesn’t come from labs alone, it comes from listening to women’s stories, especially those who are ignored the most. #
That’s why we built WUKA Heavy Flow. Not to sell another product, but to offer a lifeline for people who thought their only choice was endless pads and tampons.
Changing the conversation around heavy flow
The truth is, heavy menstrual bleeding is a treatable medical condition, but a UK survey found that 62% of women didn’t know it can be diagnosed and treated. Too many women still believe it’s “just part of being female.”
With WUKA, we’re not just creating underwear. We’re creating conversations. We’re telling women and girls:
- Heavy flow is common.
- Heavy flow is valid.
- And you don’t have to suffer in silence.
Our heavy flow range is about freedom, the freedom to go to school without missing class, to sleep through the night without fear, to live life without being defined by your period.
Looking ahead
Eight years on, I’m proud that WUKA has grown from a small idea into a global movement. But what makes me proudest is hearing from women who say, “I finally feel in control of my heavy flow.”
For me, as a founder, as a woman of colour, and as someone who has lived through heavy periods, that’s the change I wanted to see. And it’s just the beginning.
Because periods shouldn’t hold us back. Heavy or light, every flow deserves dignity, comfort, and respect.
Learn more about WUKA at wuka.co.uk
Ovarian cancer cells quickly activate survival responses after PARP inhibitor treatment, and a lung cancer drug could help block this, research suggests.
PARP inhibitors are a common treatment for ovarian cancer, particularly in tumours with faulty DNA repair. They stop cancer cells fixing DNA damage, which leads to cell death, but many tumours later stop responding.
Researchers identified a way cancer cells may survive PARP inhibitor treatment from the outset, pointing to a potential way to block that response. A Mayo Clinic team found ovarian cancer cells rapidly switch on a pro-survival programme after exposure to PARP inhibitors. A key driver is FRA1, a transcription factor (a protein that turns genes on and off) that helps cancer cells adapt and avoid death.
The team then tested whether brigatinib, a drug approved for certain lung cancers, could block this response and boost the effect of PARP inhibitors. Brigatinib was chosen because it inhibits multiple signalling pathways involved in cancer cell survival.
In laboratory studies, combining brigatinib with a PARP inhibitor was more effective than either treatment alone. Notably, the effect was seen in cancer cells but not normal cells, suggesting a more targeted approach.
Brigatinib also appeared to act in an unexpected way. Rather than working through the usual DNA repair routes, it shut down two signalling molecules, FAK and EPHA2, that aggressive ovarian cancer cells rely on. FAK and EPHA2 are proteins that relay survival signals inside cells. Blocking both at once weakened the cells’ ability to adapt and resist treatment, making them more vulnerable to PARP inhibitors.
Tumours with higher levels of FAK and EPHA2 responded better to the drug combination. Other data link high levels of these molecules to more aggressive disease, pointing to potential benefit in harder-to-treat cases.
Arun Kanakkanthara, an oncology investigator at Mayo Clinic and a senior author of the study, said: “This work shows that drug resistance does not always emerge slowly over time; cancer cells can activate survival programmes very early after treatment begins.”
John Weroha, a medical oncologist at Mayo Clinic and a senior author of the study, said: “From a clinical perspective, resistance remains one of the biggest challenges in treating ovarian cancer. By combining mechanistic insights from Dr Kanakkanthara’s laboratory with my clinical experience, this preclinical work supports the strategy of targeting resistance early, before it has a chance to take hold. This strategy could improve patient outcomes.”
Nighttime temperatures during pregnancy may be linked to a higher chance of an autism diagnosis in children, a recent study suggests.
The research tracked nearly 295,000 mother-child pairs in Southern California from 2001 to 2014 and linked warmer overnight temperatures with higher risk in early and late pregnancy.
Children of mothers exposed to higher than typical nighttime temperatures during weeks one to 10 of pregnancy had a 15 per cent higher risk of an autism diagnosis.
Exposure during weeks 30 to 37 was linked to a 13 per cent higher risk.
Lead author David Luglio, a post-doctoral fellow at Tulane University, said: “A key takeaway is that we identified specific windows when a mother and her developing child can be most affected by exposures to higher nighttime temperatures.
“This is critical and hopefully can help mothers prepare accordingly.”
The study is described as the first to examine how temperature may affect fetal neurodevelopment, the process by which a baby’s brain and nervous system form during pregnancy.
Extreme temperatures linked to increased risk were classified as above the 90th percentile, meaning 3.6°F hotter than average, and the 99th percentile, 5.6°F above average.
The association held even after researchers accounted for factors such as neighbourhood conditions, vegetation and fine-particle air pollution.
The study could not account for other factors such as access to air conditioning. Researchers did not find the same association with daytime temperatures, potentially because people spend more time away from home during the day.
“Heat waves are becoming more frequent, and people may only think of the dangers of daytime heat exposure,” said Mostafijur Rahman, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Tulane University.
“These results indicate a strong association between high nighttime temperatures during pregnancy and autism risk in children and show that we need to think about exposure to heat around the clock.”
The study did not examine how higher temperatures at night might affect prenatal development, though Luglio said it is possible that warmer nights disrupt sleep for pregnant mothers.
Previous research has suggested insufficient sleep during pregnancy may be linked to a higher risk of neurocognitive delays in children.
“Extreme heat exposure during pregnancy has been linked to a range of adverse health outcomes, including prenatal neurodevelopment delays and complications with an embryo’s development of a central nervous system,” Luglio said.
“The goal of our study was to specifically explore the link between prenatal heat exposure and autism diagnoses for the first time.”
Kindbody has launched a fertility platform integrating AI with clinical care and patient support for employers and health plans.
The platform will enter a pilot with select Kindbody employer clients in 2026, covering over three million lives, ahead of wider availability in 2027.
Building on the company’s clinical model, the platform aims to improve outcomes and cost efficiency across family-building journeys. It connects Kindbody-owned clinics, partner clinics and an integrated clinical app.
The app offers virtual care across conception, pregnancy and reproductive health, extending through the menopause transition.
Launch features include updates in medication management, third-party reproduction, adoption, pregnancy, men’s health and global programme design.
David Stern, chief executive of Kindbody, said: “With our next-generation fertility platform, Kindbody is redefining what comprehensive, intelligent and affordable family-building care looks like for employers, health plans and patients.
“By unifying best-in-class clinical care, AI-driven intelligence and whole-person support, we are making it easier and more cost-effective for more people to build the families they envision.”
Kindbody has expanded access via its national network of IVF centres, including IVIRMA, Inception Fertility and Ivy Fertility.
A new Fertility Medication Portal is designed to streamline authorisations so medicines can be dispensed on time, giving patients visibility from prescription to coverage, pharmacy fulfilment and delivery tracking.
Through KindMan, men’s health education, digital resources and integrated clinical care are expanding, including hormone management programmes.
Services cover andropause (age-related testosterone decline), erectile dysfunction, low testosterone and other male reproductive conditions.
Specialist fertility care includes semen analysis, diagnostic testing, male hormone panels, genetic testing, surgical sperm extraction and sperm cryopreservation.
Launching in the second quarter, a pregnancy support app will act as a digital companion for expecting and new parents, with resources, interactive tools and clinical assessments to identify social drivers of health and mental health needs during pregnancy and beyond.
Kindbody’s physician-led menopause programme provides consultations with board-certified obstetricians and gynaecologists to diagnose, treat and manage menopausal symptoms, including hormone replacement therapy where appropriate, with support from nutritionists, mental health therapists and pelvic floor specialists.
AI and analytics will be embedded across the care journey. An AI care navigator will guide employees from benefit activation through intake, triage and scheduling.
Tools will track benefits and treatment plans, showing coverage and expected out-of-pocket costs at each step.
AI-supported scribing will assist clinicians with documentation, and a predictor tool will estimate a patient’s likelihood of having a baby across different treatment paths.
In 2027, Kindbody plans a savings model for eligible large employers that it says will guarantee lower total fertility spend while improving clinical efficiency and patient experience.
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