What Women Want

by Lisa Schofield | January 3, 2022

Women’s top desires are to remain healthy, youthful and vibrant—no matter their age. Here’s how to help fulfill those wishes.

No doubt, today’s woman—of any age—is refreshingly fierce. Staunchly independent and expressive, women today do not take their health for granted but they do indeed take self-care and prevention seriously.

With 2022 here and the tumultuous 2020-21 years behind us, women are still concerned about potential threats to health, family and financial well-being. But, as resilient as today’s women are, natural products retailers can help steer them to having a much better 2022.

“There’s always a sense of starting fresh when a new year rolls around. For many people, it may take the form of resolutions concerning weight or fitness, but really, it can be simply a move toward better self-care and overall health—inside and out,” expressed Cheryl Myers, chief of scientific affairs and education at EuroPharma Inc.

In the viewpoint of Rafael Avila, vice president of R&D, Natural Organics, NY, the need for restorative sleep is a big concern many women share no matter their age. “Women are being pulled in so many different directions that they often find sleeping difficult,” he commented. Repetitive unstable and low-quality sleep generates a consistent low-level fatigue and lack of mental clarity, which impair optimal performance.

Jay Levy, director of sales, Wakunaga of America Co., Ltd., based in California, noted that according to HealthGrades, women are particularly concerned about cardiovascular, bone and digestive health, especially as they age. “While women of all ages are also looking for hormonal support, this is especially true among those dealing with perimenopause and menopause,” he emphasized.

A more dire outlook is held by Angela Arena, founder, Kind Lab, Massachusetts, who commented, “Unresolved stress issues—i.e., keeping women from being productive during the day or fall/stay asleep at night—have devolved into depression, insomnia and pain. There’s no doubt that a mental health crisis is happening, and women of all ages are suffering.”

Reproductive Health Concerns

Arena is onto something important—as not just women, but also men and children are more highly stressed and anxious than ever. In younger women, this not only disrupts sleep but can delay or impair pregnancy. Kashanian et al, in their 2019 study published in the Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, wrote that “stress perceived by mothers during pregnancy is dependent on several factors and can lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes threatening mother and child physical and mental health.”

Nutrition Business Journal’s (NBJ) 2021 Condition-Specific Report estimates that sales in the pre-/postnatal supplement market declined 4.9 percent in 2020 “and the forecast for coming years is not entirely encouraging. The market returns to growth in 2021, but only at 2.3 percent. That slows again in 2022. By 2024, NBJ expects the pre- and postnatal market to be a scant $14 million larger than it was in 2019.”

Broken into a pie, NBJ shows that in 2020, multivitamins captured 41.1 percent of the pre- and post-natal health supplement ingredients (products). This was followed by B vitamins at 27.4 percent, and somewhat surprisingly, in third place is not fish oils but prebiotics and probiotics at 8.8 percent; fish oils (EPA and DHA) captured the fifth spot at 3.6 percent with vitamin C in between at number four with 5.7 percent for expectant and new mothers.

“Omega-3s are nutrients before, during and after pregnancy,” stated Myers. Long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated acids like eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are critical for oocyte maturation, reduce the risk of premature birth, can treat gestational diabetes, and help build cognitive function during breastfeeding.

Humans synthesize our own EPA and DHA from alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), but that conversion rate is low, Myers pointed out. One review stated that for women it is about 21 percent and 9 percent. And eating fish, while it can be healthy, brings up questions of safety regarding mercury and other heavy metals.

Another concern is managing weight during pregnancy. While most of your female customers do understand that gaining several pounds during pregnancy is normal and healthy, they are staunchly vigilant about not letting the pound accumulation get out of control. According to Avila, “being able to manage their weight gain while still covering all their nutritional needs is a top priority for women during pregnancy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost half of all pregnant women gain more weight than recommended during their pregnancies. And the demands pregnancy makes on a woman’s body tend to exacerbate the tiredness many women already feel.”

Arena pointed out that during pregnancy, women tend to become much more aware of their bodies and how they are feeling, as they self-monitor for any shifts, cramping or excessive fatigue. “But the most important thing to keep track of is managing mom’s stress levels in the mind and body,” she emphasized. “A calm mom makes for a much more comfortable pregnancy.”

When women find out they will enjoy a new baby in six to eight months, they tend to immediately think about boosting their folic acid intake to prevent neural tube defects. However, pointed out Myers, while it’s true that increasing consumption of folates is critical, supplemental folic acid may not be the ideal choice because up to approximately 50 percent of humans have a genetic predisposition that impairs the proper conversion of supplemental folic acid into the active form, L-methylfolate. She explained, “This form is bioavailable and readily utilized to help with proper cellular division, forming nucleic acid precursors, and help prevent any deficiencies during a baby’s development in the womb.”

Myers added that vitamin B6 in its form pyridoxal-5-phosphate (P-5-P) is preferred as it does not require conversion by the liver. EuroPharma’s Clinical Essentials multivitamin and mineral formula features both L-methylfolate and (P-5-P) as well as methylfolate and vitamin B12 in the bioactive methylcobalamin form, which may reduce risk of anemia during pregnancy, according to Myers.

Natural Organics’ Source of Life Garden Women’s Multi is both certified organic and vegan, and includes iron, a mineral many women fall short on, said Avila. It also features a blend of women’s botanicals that features cranberry, maca, flax and fenugreek. Source of Life Garden Prenatal Multi supports a healthy pregnancy by promoting reproductive, fetal and maternal health. It includes extracts from 35 whole foods along with the women’s botanicals ginger, prune, flax, fenugreek and cranberry.

Iron plays a crucial role in energy support and is important in women of childbearing age, Avila added. “Iron by itself isn’t enough, however. Natural Organics’ HEMA-PLEX is a total blood support supplement, providing not only iron but also a broad spectrum of essential cofactors to maximize effectiveness and has been shown to be effective in improving blood’s ability to carry oxygen.”

More women today are aware of post-partum depression and overall mood regularity. EuroPharma’s Saffron Lift+ Curcumin supplement combines saffron with clinically studied BCM-95 curcumin found in clinical studies to alleviate symptoms of depression, Myers added. The results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial published in the journal Phytomedicine show that it relieved symptoms of mild to moderate post-partum depression in 96 percent of breastfeeding mothers compared to 43 percent in the placebo group after eight weeks. The complete response rate was 66 percent of the saffron group versus only 6 percent for the placebo group. There were no significant adverse effects for the mothers or their infants.

Although becoming a new mom is indeed a joyous event, healthy, restorative rest becomes harder for moms to obtain regularly. Kind Lab’s Rest Chews, Arena described, are blueberry-lavender flavored vegan chews featuring 20 mg CBD, 2 mg CBN and 75 mg magnesium glycinate. The CBD helps relax the body and mind, CBN promotes sleepiness and magnesium booster calms the nervous system so women can ease into slumber.

Lift Capsules are Kind Lab’s newest addition to the line, with 10 mg CBD + 10 mg CBG for daytime stress, 28 mg of affron saffron for sadness, as well as rhodiola root for balance and eleuthero for energy and focus. “Minor cannabinoids like CBG and saffron are newer to the market, but both are proving to be very effective at helping women manage pandemic-era sadness, stress and lethargy. In fact, affron has been clinically proven to improve mood in healthy adults,” she commented.

Kind Lab Ease Advanced Cream is an updated formulation that works for all body. It’s 500 mg CBD is boosted with 300 mg CBDa—the raw version of the cannabinoid that is even more potent for relieving swelling and discomfort—plus arnica, magnesium and frankincense serrata to ensure maximum strength relief for new moms.

Menopause Concerns

The menopause support supplement category, according to NBJ’s 2021 Condition-Specific Report, has shown some fluctuations; sales in this sector declined a significant 3.3 percent—and while the market sales reached approximately $575 million in 2019, it declined in 2020 to $555 million.

The editors noted, “Much of that can be explained by a drop in sales for menopause-labeled multivitamins. The biggest subcategory in the menopause market, multivitamins, dropped 24.9 percent, losing $39 million in sales. The likely explanation is that women who started taking multivitamins for immunity stopped taking them for menopause. Interest in immunity likely helped boost sales for vitamin D in the menopause market, but that gain of $1 million hardly puts a dent in the losses elsewhere.”

Concurrently, black cohosh, long a “go-to” herb for helping to manage menopause (and PMS) symptoms also declined rather precipitously, (5.2 percent in 2020)—but herbal combination formulas seem to be where the action is. Combination herbal supplements aimed at managing menopause symptoms achieved double-digit growth and spirited growth is expected to continue: in 2016, they garnered 11.6 percent of the market, and in 2024 they are expected to enjoy 24.6 percent of sales of the menopause supplements. Or, in another view, a $59 million market in 2016 is projected to be a $155 million market in 2024.

However, expressed Myers, for women dealing menopause symptoms, “the record for black cohosh is well established. It has repeatedly shown amazing benefits for relieving night sweats, irritability, hot flashes and mood swings. Because it does so well taking care of these symptoms, it also allows women to experience uninterrupted sleep—possibly for the first time in quite a while.”

She elaborated that although black cohosh does not appear to have phytoestrogen content (at one time researchers thought it did), it does appear to provide benefits as a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM). This makes black cohosh unlike soy or red clover, which have also been popular botanicals. The lack of phytoestrogens makes it safe to use for women who have had breast cancer.

What menopausal-aged women are looking for go beyond the hot flashes that are so uncomfortable. “Stress and sleep,” asserted Arena. “The hormone shifts really throw the body off balance, the result of which is new or increased daytime anxiety and nighttime inability in menopausal women to fall or stay asleep.”

As Levy described, “a woman traveling through menopause often experiences numerous hormonal changes that can disrupt her health and wellbeing.” These symptoms include hot flashes, night sweats, irritability and vaginal dryness. Additionally, once a woman is post-menopausal, other health challenges and concerns arise—chiefly, bone health and cardiovascular health. “Women on the other side of menopause face an increased risk of atherosclerosis, heart attack or other cardiovascular condition,” he commented.

Estrogen balance is important in all stages of a woman’s life but tends to be more a priority during the peri-menopause years. There are three major types of estrogen—estrone (E1), estradiol (E2) and estriol (E3), with each subtype occurring in different forms. When these estrogens metabolize down good pathways, there’s little risk, Myers explained. But when estrogens are metabolized down problematic pathways, they can increase the risk for hormonally related cancers. Also, xenoestrogens, commonly found in pesticides, herbicides and in plastics, masquerade as estrogen and are also metabolized via undesirable pathways. Dysfunctional estrogen metabolism is also related to endometriosis, uterine fibroids, menstrual migraines and problematic PMS or perimenopause symptoms. It is critically important.

Diindolylmethane (DIM) is a supplement that has been shown to keep estrogen in its safe form and guide it to the best metabolic pathways. DIM does not change levels of overall estrogen; it assures that it is metabolized properly. EuroPharma’s DIM Complex with BCM-95 Curcumin is formulated for women dealing with dysfunctional estrogen metabolism.

Natural Organics’ E FEM and Ultra E FEM are hormone balance supplements that Avila said contain no hormones—“just pure, woman-friendly ingredients such as flax lignans, maca and Passion Factors, a proprietary botanical blend,” he described.

Wakunaga’s Estro-Logic is a patented, clinically tested formula that offers natural plant derivatives, including soy isoflavones, which the body can use to maintain healthy estrogen levels, according to Levy. Research from Canada’s University of Toronto notes that, because Estro-Logic has both weak estrogenic and progesterone activity, it may help ease menopausal symptoms.

Maintaining healthy bone density becomes a priority for women as they enter peri-menopause, to ensure strong bone health post-menopause, and while calcium is the queen of bone health supplements, silica is a prominent member of the court, according to Myers.

Silica increases calcium absorption into the bones by up to 50 percent, helping to stabilize bone growth and allow bones to retain calcium longer.

EuroPharma’s Silica-20 uses silica from the above ground part of spring horsetail (Equisetum arvense). Silica-20 was shown to increase absorption of calcium into the bone by an average of 50 percent through balancing the ratio of natural bone anabolism (adding minerals to bone) with bone catabolism (withdrawing minerals from the bone). Another study with 150 participants showed the supplement supported healthy, desirable bone turnover. In fact, in 80 percent of participants, significant indicators of bone health support were evident after 15 days of use and further gains were measurable after six weeks.

An issue not in the spotlight for women is thyroid disorders. According to the American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology, thyroid conditions are much more common in women than men. The American Thyroid Association data shows that one in eight women will develop a thyroid condition at some point in her life. Thyroid imbalances cause symptoms that may be confused with symptoms of PMS or menopause, and as a result they often are not diagnosed.

Iodine intake is therefore an important factor for women’s health. Iodine is critical for a healthy thyroid. In healthy adults about 70 to 80 percent of the mineral in the entire body is found in the thyroid gland alone. Without enough iodine, there’s a shortage of thyroid hormones, thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). That, in turn, affects metabolism, energy levels, focus and much more. In fact, one of iodine’s other most important functions is stopping tumor formation.

EuroPharma’s Tri-Iodine line of supplements provides the three most beneficial forms of iodine: potassium iodide, molecular iodine and sodium iodide at various dosage levels. Thyroid Care and Thyroid Care Plus supplements combine these forms of iodine with L-tyrosine and L-tyrosine plus selenium, respectively.

Post-menopausal women are at huge risk of developing cardiovascular disease. One of the more traditional supplements for heart health is aged garlic extract. According to Levy, Kyolic Aged Garlic Extract (AGE) is the subject of more than 900 peer-reviewed published papers showing its efficacy for enhancing many aspects of cardiovascular, immune and metabolic health. AGE also forms the base for several of the company’s targeted formulas, including Kyolic 108 Total Heart Health Formula, which combines AGE with vitamins B6, B12, folate and L-arginine to support healthy cardiovascular function. “This clinically studied formula has been documented to reduce homocysteine levels and also support healthy cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Kyolic 108 has also been found to aid in circulation,” he described.

More Work to Be Done

At The Healthy Place, a natural products retail establishment with four locations in Wisconsin, the conversation about female balance arises often from women customers, according to owner Tim O’Brien. “It has been surprising to me how often this conversation comes up. Women are extremely interested in anything that can bring them a greater sense of balance. Women’s balancing products are hot sellers because they work,” he emphasized. “Monthly struggles with irregular cycles, cramping, mood swings and sleep problems all drive our women customers to ask questions and seek out natural products that can help.” O’Brien said he likes to recommend Get Even from Lively Vitamin Co.

Although women today are much more intuitive about natural health, there are still many who are new to supplements and natural products, and who still believe that prescriptions or OTCs are the solution, O’Brien noted. “One myth that we consistently need to overcome with our female customers that are struggling, ‘only pharmaceuticals can help me.’ I have connected with so many women who are suffering because of PMS, menopause, or pregnancy and many have never even thought about a natural alternative because all they have ever thought about was drugs being able to help them. I get to share some good news that there are natural alternatives around this conversation that absolutely work and bring much needed relief.”

Arena concluded, “Despite the fact that one in four Americans is a woman over 40, it’s an often-overlooked demographic. What these women want are solutions made specifically for them, that meet their wants and needs and are presented to them with a voice that they can relate to. So many brands target millennials or err on the side of masculine. But women over 40 don’t want to be lost in the shuffle, nor do they deserve to be. We deserve brands dedicated to helping us continue to live full and happy lives.” VR