Millions of women are being exploited by a “menopause gold rush” as companies, celebrities and influencers take advantage of a “dearth” of reliable information on the issue, experts have said.
Healthcare companies and content creators saw menopause as a “lucrative market” and were trying to profit from gaps in public knowledge, women’s health academics at UCL said.
Researchers called for the rollout of a national education programme after finding a significant number of women do not feel well-informed about menopause.
Writing in medical journal Post Reproductive Health, they said: “There has been a rapid expansion in unregulated private companies and individuals providing menopause information and support for profit; this has been termed the ‘menopause gold rush’.
“This fragmented landscape of menopause support and education leaves people vulnerable to financial exploitation, may propagate misinformation and is likely to amplify existing menopause-related health inequities.”
One woman who took part in the study told researchers: “Everything I know about the menopause I learnt on Instagram from other women.” Only one in five – 22% – of 1,500 women surveyed by the UCL team felt well-informed about menopause.
Nine in 10 women surveyed said an education and support programme was needed. The preference would be a service to be delivered in person or online in weekly sessions over two to four weeks, they told researchers.
Those surveyed said the acceptability and success of such a programme would be dependent on it being accessible, accurate and based on the latest scientific evidence. It would also help with “myth busting”.
The UCL team has begun developing a training programme that could help women prepare for menopause and support those experiencing symptoms. These can include physical symptoms such as hot flushes, palpitations and difficulty sleeping, and mental symptoms including brain fog and mood changes.
The lead author of the study, Prof Joyce Harper, from UCL’s Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women’s Health, said: “We have a menopause gold rush because companies, investors and people see menopause as a lucrative market.
“While public awareness of menopause has greatly improved recently, there has been a rapid expansion in private companies and individuals providing menopause education, especially on social media, which has led to misinformation which can make existing menopause-related health inequities worse.
“There remains a dearth of evidence-based, theoretically informed and rigorously evaluated public health programmes targeting individuals around the time of menopause and immediately afterwards. Hence our proposal for a new national programme of menopause education and support, which we hope will be funded by the government.”
The senior study author Dr Shema Tariq, of UCL’s Institute for Global Health, said: “Although menopause is a natural hormonal and social shift, without evidence-based information and support it can be a challenging time for people. Menopause often comes at a ‘crunch point’ in our lives – we may be juggling multiple caring roles as well as the demands of work, and potential impacts on our self-esteem and relationships.
“We believe that everyone should be entitled to accurate information and support networks, free of charge, so they are better able to navigate this stage of life.”
