Supplements — particularly the ones marketed for perimenopausal symptoms — can be confusing. After doing some exploring, here’s our take on it.
SUPPLEMENTS 101
Supplements includes vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, tinctures, nutraceuticals … and the list goes on.
Try your best to get your nutrients from food. It is the most natural way for our bodies to absorb what we need. However, many factors — like the nutrient-depleted soil our food is grown in, the time it takes to procure and prepare food, and lack of access to nutrient-dense food depending on geography —all mean it can be hard to get everything we need from food. When this is the case, a supplement might be worth considering.
You find qualified health care providers touting supplements for a wide range of health issues. Be skeptical of experts peddling their own products. We are. You can also find groups of doctors calling the supplement industry only a money-making ploy. Keep in mind that it is very expensive to run a randomized controlled trial (the industry gold standard) to prove health benefits for a supplement. Only companies with potential patent protection to recoup the costs of the trials can afford to run trials. This expert opposition, without a meeting in the middle, leaves consumers who are trying to be healthy confused.
OTHER COOL THINGS
To test the solubility of a tablet-form supplement, place the tablet in hot (but not boiling) water and gently stir for 30 minutes. If tablet does not completely dissolve, that means it will pass through your digestive system before your body can absorb it adequately. We got this from Consumer Lab, an independent organization that evaluates supplements.
To test whether the cultures in your probiotic are sufficiently active, open a capsule and dump it in half a cup of milk. Stir. Place the milk on your counter at room temperature and see how the consistency changes over time. Within a day or so, it should start to clump and become yogurt-like. Source: Livestrong.
Tieraona Low Dog, MD, has one of the more comprehensive and level-headed books on supplementing that we’ve come across. It’s not for perimenopause specifically, but it covers a wide range of supplements and conditions.
TELL US
Is there a supplement you’ve tried that worked?
Click here to see what supplements have worked for others.
TELL US
SOURCES
Fortify Your Life: Your Guide to Vitamins, Minerals and More, Tieraona Low Dog, MD, 2016
Nutrition Facts.org. A site with many videos on a range of food and supplement topics.
The National Institutes of Health’s Medline Plus provides consumer information. See their Drugs, Herbs, and Supplements page to search alphabetically for specific supplements.