How to guide women through menopause
That was the message of the Menopause Beauty & Wellbeing webinar hosted by NutraIngredients and Cosmetics Design-Europe (CDE) yesterday (October 12), chaired by CDE Editor Kacey Culliney.
“Women’s health in general has been studied in all areas of research,” said Kate Bermingham, post-doctoral researcher and academic director of nutrition at Kings College London’s ZOE Ltd. “Women live longer than men, and they spend a significantly longer proportion of their lives in ill health than men.”
According to Bermingham, women spend about a third of their lives in a postmenopausal state, and even during perimenopause (the time when your body makes the natural transition to menopause) tremendous hormonal changes take place that have a variety of health implications.
Another common problem in understanding menopause symptoms, the researcher explained, is that they often “tangle” with the symptoms of aging, meaning health problems that could potentially be treated or prevented (such as poor mood, poor sleep, thinning growing hair, weight). Profit and low energy) are simply written off as a result of older age. Zoe’s team has therefore worked to decipher the symptoms caused by menopause or old age.
British Beauty Council CEO Millie Kendall admitted she is “nervous” about talks about the commercial opportunities here, as it’s important not to encourage brands to use a disease as a way to market products.
“We want to be careful as an industry that our products don’t pretend to be a solution to menopause when the answer may be that you need to see a GP to get HRT. Nor do we want healthy aging products to be rebranded to capitalize on this increased interest in menopause. I don’t think we should go there.”
But Kendall said it’s imperative that people across all health and wellness industries start these conversations so the next generation of women aren’t sidelined by the symptoms.
“I didn’t know what was happening to me when I went through menopause…
“Even the medical community is a little off on the subject. It is incredibly difficult to seek advice from a general practitioner on this subject. If you don’t pay for private counseling, you usually won’t get the answers you need.
“I’ve been on HRT for three years and I don’t know how or when to stop and nobody seems to be able to tell me.
“What many of us want is advice, not more products.”
She also suggested that taking supplements after menopause would probably be too little too late.
“I was told to try numerous different supplements and none of them made me feel any different. It wasn’t until I started HRT that things started to change. We want to be careful as an industry that our products don’t pretend to be a solution to menopause when the answer may be that you need to see a GP to get HRT.
“I think it’s important to pay more attention to the preventive side of things — using those beneficial supplements earlier in the day so symptoms don’t become as severe by the time women reach that age.”
That being said, Kendall said that gut health and sleep are definitely two areas where she can see supplements having an impact on these mid-menopausal women.
She noted that the microbiome feeds into this preventive, long-term view of health by targeting the root of health problems, and that the sleep realm is one where people tend to look for natural solutions.
“I don’t want to take a sleeping pill, I want something that will help me drift into natural sleep so I see an opportunity for supplements there.”
Bermingham noted that there is a huge body of research showing the importance of sleep in so many areas of health that this is definitely an important space.
“It’s a modifiable factor, so this is one area of opportunity where we can take steps to improve the quality of life for women in these life stages,” added her.
Sarah Jones, co-founder and director of Free The Birds pointed out that these two areas are closely linked to the gut microbiome, which affects mind and mood.
Speaking of communication techniques, Jones added that she’d like to see the conversation about menopause as a “celebration of the next phase of life,” rather than something to be ashamed of, as can sometimes be the case today.