The claimEvidence B · meta-analysis
Perimenopause can be managed with supplements alone
The evidence
Menopausal hormone therapy acts on bone density, hot flashes and night sweats, and vaginal and urinary symptoms all at once; plant estrogens have scattered effects and are no substitute.
The mechanism, in brief
Many women in their 40s start to notice that periods become irregular, a wave of heat and sweat comes out of nowhere, sleep runs shallow, and mood and memory feel less steady. Usually nothing is broken. The body has entered a transition called perimenopause: the ovaries are winding down their estrogen output, and they…
Sources (2)
- Harlow, S. D., Gass, M., Hall, J. E., Lobo, R., Maki, P., Rebar, R. W., Sherman, S., Sluss, P. M., & de Villiers, T. J. (2012). Executive summary of the Stages of Reproductive Aging Workshop +10: addressing the unfinished agenda of staging reproductive aging. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 97(4), 1159-1168.
- The 2022 Hormone Therapy Position Statement of The North American Menopause Society Advisory Panel. (2022). The 2022 hormone therapy position statement of The North American Menopause Society. Menopause, 29(7), 767-794. Hormone therapy remains the most effective treatment for vasomotor symptoms and the genitourinary syndrome of menopause and has been shown to prevent bone loss and fracture; treatment should be individualised and periodically re-evaluated; for women younger than 60 or within 10 years of menopause onset without contraindications, the benefit-risk ratio is favourable for bothersome vasomotor symptoms and prevention of bone loss (abstract, PMID 35797481).