Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) remains the best treatment for menopause - but concerns are rising over 'menowashing' alternative treatments. Photo / File
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) remains the best treatment for menopause - but concerns are rising over 'menowashing' alternative treatments. Photo / File
This summer we’re revisiting some of the most-listened to podcasts from across the NZ Herald network in 2024.
A leading expert on menopause is concerned that the change in attitude towards discussing the natural process is leading some women down the wrong path.
The rush to Back in 2020, Dr Ginni Mansberg released her book “The M Word”, playing on the fact that people didn’t want to discuss the topic, even though all women go through it at some point.
“No one even admitted, even if they were 60, that they’d even ever had menopause. When Michelle Obama admitted that she had hot flushes, it was front-page news. The woman was 53, like, duh!”
Since then, Mansberg - who is a GP in Sydney and known for her television appearances over there - said there has been a “complete 180″, and now there is a “stampede” of women rushing to share their experience and symptoms.
However, speaking to Francesca Rudkin and Louise Ayrey on their NZ Herald health and wellbeing podcast, The Little Things, Mansberg said she was concerned that this had led to a rush of “menowashing” products.
“We’ve literally gone from nobody talks about it, your doctor doesn’t know what you’re talking about, no one’s giving you any treatment, to let me sell you a plethora of particularly complementary and alternative therapies for a low, low, low price of $100 per month on a subscription basis for stuff that is absolute garbage.”
A 2023 meta-analysis by the Menopause Society, looking at every study that has ever been published on complementary and alternative treatments, and has found that there is nothing to support that they work over Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).
Dr Ginni Mansberg called her book on menopause 'The M Word', as it seemed no one wanted to talk about it. Photo / Supplied
Mansberg said that patients can get a placebo effect from anywhere between six and 12 months, but her waiting rooms are full of women telling her that what they were taking has stopped working.
One particular grievance she has is menopause-specific skincare ranges that cost double standard skincare.
“It’s the same non-evidence-based BS that’s in that stuff, that is in so much of skincare that is all about marketing. And once again, shoving a pink bow on it, putting an M on the front packet, does not give you licence to charge double for it and exploit vulnerable women.”
If women were concerned about taking HRT because of bad experiences on the contraceptive pill, Mansberg said that the doses of HRT were lower and there were body-identical hormones that were based on formulations exactly as your body produced them.
Mansberg is also not keen on people seeing menopause as simple a natural process that should be endured without treatment.
“There is a movement out there of women saying menopause is natural. It’s a natural phase of life. You should just grit and bear it, which I think again is gaslighting women and telling them ‘shut up, stop complaining’.”
Mansberg said that although some people may be sick of hearing about menopause, the movement was only just getting started, and the next step was to find a middle ground between lack of information and treatment, to mass-marketed products and false information.
“Until we get the balance right and until the pendulum goes back to the middle and women can actually access, for not an incredibly expensive price, good quality information and treatments, no, we’re not going to shut up about it. We’re going to talk about it.”
Listen to the full episode of The Little Things for more from Dr Ginni Mansberg on the latest menopause research, how to find the right doctor, the safety of using HRT, and why men need to understand menopause more.
The Little Things is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The series is hosted by broadcaster Francesca Rudkin and health researcher Louise Ayrey.
