You might not have reached perimenopause yet, but it’s hard to shut out all the chat. I’m only 34, but thanks to the endless tide of menopause information that seems to land in my inbox on a near-daily basis, I’ve already started looking into the things I need to do over the next decade to prepare and have a smooth transition.

That’s great, of course – the more you know, the better. And I’m a millennial – a generation obsessed with health and wellness. According to a 2023 report from Mintel, half of millennials take vitamins, minerals and dietary supplements, so it seems only logical that we’ll be supplementing our way through perimenopause when the time comes.

It’s no wonder, then, that the menopause industry is set to grow to a staggering $24.4 billion (£20bn) by 2030. By that time, the oldest millennials will be around 47 – bang in the middle of perimenopause. But are all the menopause products coming onto the market actually helpful, or are they a form of ‘meno-washing’?

According to research from the science and nutrition company Zoe, simply eating well during the menopause could make a massive difference. Based on the data of over 70,000 peri- and post-menopausal women, a recent study from the brand found that women who made positive changes to their diet experienced a 35% reduction in menopausal symptoms.

And previous research from the brand, which was based on a smaller sample size of 8,000 women, found that those who had a healthy diet pattern were 30% less likely to experience hot flushes and sleep disturbances, and 20% less likely to struggle with low mood, brain fog and joint pain. 

Because – or perhaps in spite – of these debilitating symptoms, 30% of women report trying herbal remedies. Black cohosh, ginseng, St John’s wort… there are plenty of options out there. The question is: do they work? Well, Zoe’s chief scientist Dr Sarah Berry isn’t so sure. Talking on the Zoe podcast, she says that hundreds of clinical trials have analysed different menopause supplements but failed to find much good evidence that they have any real impact on symptoms.

The only substance really worth its weight, she says, is phytoestrogen (natural substances that come from plants) – and in particular, isoflavones. Isoflavones are particularly high in food such as soy and flaxseeds and work by mimicking the effect of oestrogen by binding to the hundreds of different oestrogen receptors we have all over our bodies.  

Dr Berry explains that women in China and Japan tend to have a higher soy intake than we do here and that fewer women report struggling with menopausal symptoms. The average intake of soy isoflavones in the UK and US is less than 0.5mg a day while in China and Japan, it’s anywhere up to 70mg a day.

Now, you might be thinking: great, I’ll pop out to Holland & Barret and buy a bunch of isoflavones when the time comes. But Dr Berry warns that the type and dose of isoflavones are important.

She explains that some people respond more than others to isoflavones – and that’s because of our individual gut microbiome. Some of us have gut bacteria that break soy down into an even more active form of isoflavones (called equol), which then bond strongly to the receptors… and others don’t. And sadly, in the UK, only 20-30% of us have that equol-converting bacteria.  

So, is the solution to just eat a stack load of tofu, tempeh or soybean? Surprisingly, Dr Berry says no. She says that there are two main forms of isoflavones: genistein and daidzein, and that “reasonably consistent” research has confirmed that 15mg of genistein a day can reduce common menopausal symptoms.

She does, however, confirm that improving our diets can make a massive difference. Going for a Mediterranean-style diet packed “with a variety of different plants will improve your symptoms”, as might supplementing with genistein.

Otherwise, she warns: “If there’s a supplement that says ‘meno’, it’s probably meno-washing.” 

Images: Getty