Making the first move into menopause-friendly foods

Predictions that the global menopause market could be worth $24.4bn by 2030​ has sparked a burst of innovation in consumer goods, with a growing number of supplements, teas​ and skincare lines, designed to alleviate symptoms, now available.

But food has remained a largely quiet area for product development.

That’s despite campaign groups insisting that food is an integral part​ of helping women to navigate both perimenopause and menopause.

According to new research​, 70% of European women aged 45-55 years old are likely to be going through menopause at any one time. 90% of these women will report physical symptoms, such as hot flushes, night sweats and joint pain, and a further 55% will report psychological symptoms, such as depression and anxiety.

Devon-based start-up, Mena, launches menopause-friendly foods. GettyImages/Eva-KatalinDiet and nutrition are key components to helping people address these symptoms, said Gen M co-founder, Heather Jackson, when speaking at FoodNavigator’s Positive Nutrition Summit last year. “We can no longer ignore the impact that having a nutritional diet can have on your opportunity to be the best version of yourself through menopause,” she said. “We need [food manufacturers] to recognise the purposeful and commercial opportunity before them.”

It was this gap in the market that inspired Charlotte Blackler to develop what she believes to be the UK’s first food range specifically designed for people going through menopause.

Mena, which launched in November 2023, is a range of breads, breakfast cereals and snack bars formulated, as a natural food alternative, to help combat menopause symptoms, by incorporating ingredients rich in plant oestrogens or phytoestrogens.

Blackler, who began her career in pharmaceuticals, was inspired to create the range after her own experience of the menopause left her struggling with joint pain. “I thought I had arthritis coming on because I couldn’t get down the stairs properly. I had to go down like a crab as it was really painful,” she says. Blackler also runs a smallholding where, rather than use antibiotics and hormones, she uses the medicinal properties of plants and herbs to raise her livestock and decided to try the same approach herself. “I began going through my cupboards and eating all these herbs and spices and plants that I knew helped and they did.”

Devon-based start-up, Mena, is launching menopause-friendly foods. GettyImages/Grant SquibbThrough further research, Blackler discovered that countries where women consumed a diet rich in phytoestrogens, have long been associated with a reduction in symptoms as they help to combat the drop in oestrogen that happens during menopause. Studies​ have shown that women can see a change in as little as 12 weeks, by adopting a Japanese diet, because of their high intake of foods like soy, miso and tempeh, which are naturally high in phytoestrogens. “They don’t experience that falling off a cliff [with oestrogen levels] as the plant oestrogens take over,” she says. “Plant oestrogens are the same molecular shape as biological oestrogen, so they slot into the receptor site and carry on doing the same job.”

That’s why, in developing Mena, Blackler focused on incorporating phytoestrogen-rich ingredients into everyday foods that would allow products to be routinely consumed for maximum impact. The sourdough loaf, for example, contains soya, miso, flax seed and soya milk. All three products in the range are currently sold in bulk quantities, with the option to sign up to a monthly subscription too.

Blackler thinks it won’t be long before the rest of the food industry starts to catch up. “It’s only a matter of time before the big boys wake up and just realise it is quite straightforward,” she says. “The quantities are the only thing I can keep secret, but these are normal foods that are quite easy to get hold of and make into cereals or protein bars or other products, and it is just a matter of time before Kellogg’s or Nestle realise that 33% of the people stood in a supermarket could be a target market for this. Until then I’m just making the most of my first mover advantage.”