People scrolling menopause-related content are overwhelmingly advertised supplements, many of which lack ingredient transparency and come with a hefty price tag.
While many understand that social media is not a substitute for medical advice, some influencers can be incredibly convincing.
US researchers did a deep dive into the menopause-related content on Instagram, finding it overwhelmingly dominated by supplement promotion. Only a third of the top 1000 posts from the top 10 hashtags led to educational reels, lifestyle advice or non-supplement products.
The rest promoted supplements, more than half of which were from non-clinical posters. Only 18.3% of these advertisements were from credentialed clinicians, with the other 30.4% coming from businesses.
Of the supplement-peddling posts, diet and weight loss messaging was the most common theme, and two products – MenoDaily and Hormone Harmony – were the most heavily promoted.
The products contained five ingredients on average, mostly consisting of botanicals, phytoestrogens, vitamins and minerals, with indications including vasomotor symptoms, mood changes, sleep disturbances and general menopause relief.
The top 20 supplements had 55 distinct ingredients overall, including things like chaste tree extract, red clover, dong quai, sage leaf, pycnogenol and rhapontic rhubarb – none of which have been regulated for dosage, purity or manufacturing.
Some, such as black cohosh and ashwagandha, have previously been linked to potential adverse effects such as hepatotoxicity, while others have shown minimal or uncertain benefits in small or low-quality studies. Additionally, 45% of the supplements contained proprietary blends.
“Many of these compounds have limited or inconsistent evidence supporting their use for menopausal symptoms, and nearly half of the products contained proprietary blends that limit ingredient transparency,” authors wrote.
“Patients encounter these advertisements as authoritative despite minimal regulatory oversight and a lack of high-quality long-term safety data.
“These findings highlight critical gaps in clinician education and patient counselling. Improving clinician awareness of the online supplement land scape and addressing misinformation directly in the clinical encounter may help guide patients toward safer, more effective treatment strategies.”
The study, conducted in June 2024, used a new Instagram account – to minimise algorithm bias – and searched the 10 most popular menopause-related hashtags (identified using a generator tool and cross-checked against prior research).
The top hashtags were menopause, menopauserelief, hotflashrelief, meno, perimenopause, menopausesupport, hot flashes, nightsweats, menopausesupplements and menopaus. They reviewed the top 100 posts from each, looking at messaging intent, ingredient profiles, cost and evidence base.
The posters were classified based on self-reported credentials, including physicians, non-physician healthcare providers (e.g., nurses), non-clinical individuals, business accounts and self-identified homeopaths. Business advertisements sometimes featured clinicians but were classified as originating from a commercial entity.
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#menopause appeared in 90% of advertisements and the average monthly cost was around $60 AUD, with the most heavily promoted products exceeding $70.
Influencer and brand-led posts were more likely to promote “natural” remedies and over a quarter of supplement posts were authored by self-identified homeopaths using non-standardised terminology.
Product naming was also noted as potentially misleading to consumers, implying hormonal effects without containing active hormones (e.g., Estrovera).
With more than 1.1 billion people expected to be postmenopausal by 2025, researchers said social media is playing an increasingly influential role, with around 30% of women using these platforms for health information and a substantial proportion of menopause content promoting supplements.
