Menopause Supplements for Women - Not All of Them Are Created Equal

All women have to go through menopause. Common health complaints related to menopause include: hot flashes, fatigue, anxiety, depression, insomnia, dry skin, irritability, breast tenderness, weight gain, memory lapses, loss of libido and mood swings.

Many women choose to go for alternative menopause treatments to Hormone Replacement Therapy, either to avoid harsh side effects of HRT, or simply want a more natural treatment.

All-natural menopause supplement is one of the most convenient treatments to follow. They contain ingredients that are effective with symptoms related to imbalanced levels of hormone during menopause.

Widely used ingredients include Black cohosh, flaxseed, Red clover, Wild yam, Ginseng, St.John's wort and Dong quai. These herbs have helped many women with their menopause complaints.

However, while there are women who can't thank menopause supplements enough for their symptoms relief, we have also seen women complaining that their supplements are not working at all.

One explanation is that there is no one size that fits al. What works for one woman may not work for the other. Another possible reason is that not all menopause supplements for women are created equal.

ConsumerLab.com, White Plains, NY, tested supplements that were claimed to contain Black cohosh, soy isoflavones and Red clover isoflavones, as well as progesterone creams. Their test result showed that some supplements contained little of the listed ingredients; for example, one supplement contained only 30 percent of the isoflavones that it was 'guaranteed to contain'. Another surprising finding was that one supplement was even contaminated with Lead.

We all know how much harm contaminated ingredients can do to human body. It is also a little disappointing that many menopause supplements for women do not do what is said on the packages. After all, we pay the money because we expect them to work.

The fact is that, the potencies of herbal extracts can have anything from 5 percent to 90 percent of the active ingredients. If supplements for menopause symptoms contain too little of the active ingredients, especially for herbal extracts, there is no wonder they are not effective with menopausal symptoms.

A reliable supplement should only use ingredients that are free from contaminants, additives and preservatives. The effectiveness of the ingredients should be supported by scientific and clinical data. One of the most important things is that the menopause supplements for women should help the long-term restoration of human bodies' normal functions, instead of proving only short-term quick fix.