Pricey Menopause Supplements Slammed: No Better Than Cheap Multivitamins!
Pricey Menopause Supplements Slammed: No Better Than Cheap Multivitamins!
Consumer watchdog Which? warns that many expensive menopause supplements, some costing over £400/year, offer no more benefit than a basic multivitamin. Don't get ripped off!
A recent investigation by consumer watchdog Which? has revealed that many popular menopause supplements, some costing more than £400 a year, are no more effective than a standard multivitamin priced at just £22 annually. This finding raises significant concerns about the booming $17 billion global menopause supplement market, projected to reach $25 billion by 2030.
Which? analyzed 26 popular supplements sold by major retailers and found that a concerning number lacked meaningful quantities of key nutrients essential for menopausal women, such as calcium and vitamin D for bone health, or magnesium and iron for other symptoms. Shefalee Loth, a public health nutritionist at Which? and co-lead of the research, criticized the industry, stating it has become a “wild west” with “dubious marketing and unchecked quasi-medical claims” preying on health anxieties.
For example, Love Mushrooms' Empower, costing £1.33 a day (£485 a year), was found to be missing crucial menopause-specific nutrients like magnesium and calcium. Similarly, Wild Nutrition's Women's 45+ Daily Multi Nutrient, priced at £1.27 a day (£468 a year), contained significantly less vitamin D, calcium, and magnesium than NHS recommended daily amounts.
In stark contrast, Asda's A-Z Multivitamins & Minerals, at a mere 6p a day (£22 a year), provided all essential vitamins along with 200mg of calcium and 100mg of magnesium.
Even the highest-scoring menopause supplement analyzed, Vitabiotics’ Menopace Max, costing 93p a day (£340 a year), was still more than 15 times the price of the effective Asda multivitamin. These findings are echoed by UCL research, which previously found that less than half of 201 supplements sold in the UK contained vitamin D and calcium, and most ingredients weren't specifically recommended by major menopause societies.
Dr. Xand van Tulleken, an honorary associate professor at the UCL Institute for Global Health, unequivocally called these supplements a “massive rip-off” for consumers. He highlighted the disparity between the hundreds of times more spent on menopause supplements than on menopause research, concluding that there's “no persuasive evidence” of their significant effect, and some may even be dangerous, with exploitative pricing and marketing.
The Health Food Manufacturers' Association, in response, stated they encourage manufacturers to comply with food regulations.
