Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi came to the New York State Capitol today to share about her own struggles with endometriosis, a disease striking women in their reproductive years, reports Capitol Confidential
Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women, according to Lakshmi. That’s 176 million women worldwide.
“Endometrisosis is when the lining of the women’s uterus where the baby is born, when that lining does not get expelled, or doesn’t come out of the body once a month, when a girl or woman has her period. The body is unable to expel that lining which is normally sloughed off. It gets absorbed by the body, and that tissue is really juicy, by nature its very existence is to nurture an embryo into a healthy baby. That tissue comes alive again and it goes all through the body cavity everywhere.”
That can cause major internal problems. Unfortunately it can be ten years before a women is diagnosed. Lakshmi herself didn’t get diagnosed until she was 36.
You can read more about how the disease has affected Lakshmi in the Capitol Confidential.
