Personalizing a Vitamin for Menopause-Related Symptoms

Imagine, for a moment, that you have recently started to enter the initial phases of menopause and you are trying to build a vitamin routine that helps with your symptoms.  Given the current retail environment, this is not an easy task.  You would walk down aisles of vitamins and supplements at your local supermarket and probably see a number of products that would address aspects of your symptoms.  Do I take the Women’s 55+ multivitamin? How about the “menopause”-specific vitamin, but would this deliver enough of my daily essential nutrition that relates to other aspects of my profile?  Do I put together a cocktail of different pills, some aimed at hair growth, energy, sleep, and so forth?  You could try any of these approaches, and simply not get to a full solution to address your symptoms.

We are embarking on an era of personalization in the vitamin industry.  Consumers no longer need to settle for watered-down mass-market products or “do-it-yourself” combinations of pills.  There are personalized vitamin companies, like Vous Vitamin, that will complete a digital assessment of your vitamin needs and deliver a targeted product to address your baseline nutritional gaps.  The digital assessment is like a conversation with your doctor, if they had the time and training to devote to vitamin recommendations in a typical office visit.  You are asked questions about your diet, fitness, health, and lifestyle that help to drive decisions around nutrient composition and dosing levels.  Vous Vitamin, in particular, is a company that offers customized all-in-one multivitamin blends to address your particular needs.

Women in menopause have to deal with a myriad of symptoms.  They may experience hot flashes, mood changes, lack of sleep, fatigue, irritability, weight gain, hair loss, among other symptoms.  It turns out that some of these symptoms are highly interrelated.  For example, hot flashes may disrupt your sleep, and it can be an ongoing cycle of disturbance.  There are even menopausal women who experience “micro-awakenings” and have small hot flashes during the night that result in inconsistent sleep patterns.  The lack of sleep contributes to many other symptoms of fatigue, irritability, and mood swings.  The degree of symptoms might also relate to the stage of menopause ranging from pre-menopausal, peri-menopausal, menopausal, and post-menopausal.  

A comprehensive personalized vitamin assessment will drill down into the stage of menopause as well as specific symptoms to recommend the optimal combination of nutrients.  Some of the best nutrients for the range of symptoms might include Vitamin D3, Vitamin E, certain B vitamins, and some specific herbal ingredients, such as red clover extract and soy isoflavones.  While the mix of ingredients is important, it is also critical to get the right doses that align with the leading scientific studies.  Frequently, the off-the-shelf formulas dose according to daily allowance scales and population averages results in a watered-down dosing profile that fails to meet the levels at which those nutrients would make an impact on your profile.  A personalized vitamin company that is not constrained by mass-market requirements and population averages has a better chance to offer dosing levels that can provide relief from certain symptoms.  

A Few Examples of Vitamins that can Have an Impact on Menopausal-Related Symptoms:

• Vitamin D3:  This vitamin can be useful to women in a perimenopausal state with issues like bone density.  Also, addressing Vitamin D deficiency may play a role in hot flash management as there are hormonal interactions that can contribute to the repression of hot flashes.  The amount of Vitamin D required may differ based on sun exposure, skin tone, diet, and medical conditions, and it is critical not to overdose on Vitamin D with too high of levels as this vitamin builds up in the body as a fat-soluble vitamin.
• Vitamin E:  This vitamin, which is also fat-soluble and has risks of build-up in the system, can help with menopausal symptoms like hot flashes. 
• Soy Isoflavones & Red Clover Extract:  These herbal supplements can help moderate hot flashes and can serve as safer alternatives to hormone replacement therapy.    

Personalized vitamin companies can take the guesswork out of vitamin selection for menopausal symptoms, while also being cognizant of other nutritional needs related to your specific profile and insurance against gaps in everyday essential nutrition.  Take your personalized vitamin assessment at Vous Vitamin or other companies to learn more about your needs.