Many expensive menopause supplements fail to provide the essential nutrients women may need during perimenopause and menopause, and could offer less value than cheaper alternatives, a Which? investigation has found. The consumer organisation reviewed 26 supplements marketed at women going through perimenopause, menopause or aged over 45.
Its analysis covered 80 active ingredients and found that none of the products supplied the right combination of nutrients in doses specifically suited to menopause support. Which? nutritionist Shefalee Loth said: “Navigating mid-life is tricky enough, but with so many products making big claims about how they can help, finding what actually works can be completely overwhelming, and costs can spiral.
“Our research shows that despite these big claims, the vast majority of these products lack the nutritional basics to cover the deficiencies most likely to happen with menopause, despite some costing hundreds and hundreds of pounds a year.”
Calcium and vitamin D are considered the most important nutrients during menopause because they help maintain bone health as oestrogen levels fall, according to Which? Magnesium, iron, B vitamins, vitamins C, E and K, iodine, selenium and zinc may also have an important role.
Wild Nutrition Women’s 45+ Daily Multi Nutrient is marketed as a menopause-friendly supplement and costs £1.27 per day. However, Which? found that it contained only 1.5µg of vitamin D, 60mg of calcium and 30mg of magnesium—amounts well below the daily doses recommended by the NHS.
My Vitamins Menosure, whose label includes the word “wellness”, costs 63p per daily serving. Which? said every vitamin, mineral and botanical ingredient was “severely underdosed” against its standards. The product contained just 100mg of evening primrose oil, compared with a recommended dose of 500mg.
The most expensive supplement assessed was Love Mushrooms Empower, priced at £1.33 a day for a two-tablet serving. While it contained a broad selection of ingredients at what Which? considered suitable doses, it did not include menopause-specific nutrients such as calcium and magnesium.
Which? concluded that consumers could save money—and potentially get better nutritional coverage—by choosing a high-quality multivitamin and adding specific supplements only where necessary, rather than buying a product marketed as an all-in-one menopause blend.
Ms Loth said: “Our advice is to look beyond the marketing hype and think carefully about what you actually need. A higher price doesn’t automatically mean a product will be effective, and a cheap multivitamin could do the same job without breaking the bank.”
Isabelle Nunn, head of nutrition science and formulation at Wild Nutrition, said the company’s products were “designed to complement, not replace, a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle alongside weight-bearing exercise, sleep and stress management”.
She added: “This approach is reflected in the NHS guidelines, which state that adults should obtain most of their RDA of vitamins and minerals through a varied diet, not through supplementation.
“Every woman’s journey is unique to them, which is why we recommend speaking to a qualified nutritional expert before taking any supplements to ensure they are supporting individual nutritional needs.”
A MyVitamins spokesperson said: “Our product is a multi-ingredient formulation, so individual ingredients are not intended to be used at the same levels as they would be in a standalone supplement.
“Evening primrose oil is included at 100mg per recommended daily serving as one component of the overall formulation, alongside sage, hops, soya bean, maca, magnesium and other nutrients. There is no single universally recommended dose of evening primrose oil applicable to all products or uses.”
A spokesperson for Love Mushrooms said: “Empower was intentionally formulated as a broader combination of specialist ingredients rather than as a conventional calcium or magnesium supplement. It was not designed to be a catch-all multivitamin, but to bring together a carefully selected range of ingredients at meaningful levels.”
They added that the product contains a high level of saffron, “an exceptionally costly botanical ingredient”, along with mushroom extracts, botanicals, vitamins and minerals. The supplement’s price, they said, reflects the breadth of its formulation.
