Suppliers and manufacturers must consider the wide range of women’s needs when it comes to creating dietary supplements.
Women are able to have moments in life that are unique to them—such as the miracle of childbirth. But they can also face issues throughout their lives that evolve as they age, including premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and menopause. Because of the vast range of issues women face, dietary supplement manufacturers and ingredient suppliers must account for those changing needs and concerns.
“For most women’s supplements, one size doesn’t fit all here—health-conscious women are aged in their 20s through their 70s, and each life stage has certain concerns,” said Dean Mosca, president of Proprietary Nutritionals, Inc. (PNI) in New Jersey. “Women in their 20s and 30s are generally ready to become mothers, dealing with pre-menstrual syndrome. Women in their 40s and 50s are dealing with peri-menopause and menopause, plus concerns about breast health. Women in their 60s and older are highly concerned about the integrity of their bones, and of their heart health.”
“At each stage in their lives, women experience specific health and well-being concerns, linked to hormonal and physiological changes,” added Morgane Maillard, product manager for Lallemand Health Solutions in Quebec, Canada. “Hence, probiotic strains have been selected to address the specific issues of the child-bearing age, pregnancy and menopause.”
Menstruation & Pregnancy
Vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids are often recommended for women of all ages for the benefits that they offer the body. In addition, Patrick Stano, vice president of sales and marketing, North America for Dr. Paul Lohmann, Inc. in New York, noted that iron, calcium and magnesium are all important minerals for women, noting that naturally menstruating women need more iron. “Iron fortification can be found in many forms, including; ferrous sulfate, ferric ammonium citrate, ferrous gluconate, ferrous bisglycinate, ferrous fumarate and others,” he said. “Calcium and magnesium are also important minerals for women because both are essential in the development of bone tissue. Calcium is also involved in muscle contractions, while magnesium is involved in hundreds of biochemical reactions in the body.”
Further, during a woman’s menstruating and childbearing years, PMS, cramping, bloating, head and body aching can be experienced from time to time. According to David Foreman RPh, herbal pharmacist and a consultant to PNI, menstrual cramps and headaches are very frequently experienced by women of childbearing age. “Too often, women turn to ibuprofen to make those disappear,” he explained. However, ibuprofen can cause rebound headaches if taken for more than two days a week, and using too much of this painkiller can lower your threshold of pain requiring more of the drug.”
Foreman recommends Perluxan as a natural alternative to ibuprofen. Perluxan is a food ingredient made of a supercritical extract from hops cones (the same Humulus lupulus L. used to flavor beer) to be nature’s ibuprofen. In a study, Perluxan went head-to-head with ibuprofen and exhibited COX-2 inhibition for more than nine hours, equivalent to 400 milligrams of ibuprofen (two tablets), without the gastrointestinal side effects, he noted.
Menopause
The market for women’s health is especially booming when it comes to addressing menopause, bone and joint health, cardiovascular health, memory and cognition, as well as skin health. According to the North American Menopause Society, there are approximately 45 million women in menopause in 2014, and 2,700 women are going into menopause each day based on the growth model of the aging populations. “These are women that will take something for menopause daily for five to seven years and according to the recent JAMA story in the New York Times 50 percent of this menopause population size are going to experience severe menopause or women with the more severe symptoms would take something for menopause daily for 10-12 years,” said Michael Jeffers, president of New Mexico-based Helios Corp.
While cramps and bloating may affect menstruating women once a month, menopausal women may experience symptoms such as hot flashes, anxiety, mood swings, night sweats, among others, daily, which has made some women look into hormone replacement therapy (HRT). However, according to the Mayo Clinic, the use of HRT may pose more health risks than benefits.
“Hormone replacement therapy, such as Estradiol, may give many women relief of hot flashes, mood swings and other annoying symptoms of menopause—but if used in the long term could cause major health complications like heart disease, stroke, blood clots and breast cancer,” explained Foreman. “The bottom line is the liver was not designed to metabolize hormones forever. Herbs such as black cohosh, which has been scientifically proven to have estrogenic activity, and vitex agnus-castus, to replace low progesterone levels, can be highly effective.”
Helios Corp offers EstroG-100. “We developed this technology 10 years ago, and with the intent to fill a gap that was created by the negative WHI study in 2002, and the lack of safety and performance of nutra ingredients that attempted to fill this void,” Jeffers explained. “Today we have technology in EstroG-100 that maintains three placebo-controlled, double-blind and randomized human clinical studies where 10 of the 12 menopause symptoms significantly improved. We also demonstrated safety in multiple studies along with evidence that EstroG-100 works in as few as seven to 10 days or six times faster than black cohosh.”
Maintaining a Healthy Body
Menopause is not the only issue women need to address as they age. For instance, heart disease is the leading cause for both men and women in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Growing awareness to cardiovascular prevention and realizing that the equality between men and women when it comes to cardiovascular risks isn’t going anywhere,” said Golan Raz, global vice president, head of health nutrition division at New Jersey-based LycoRed. “This growing awareness amongst women is part of our encouragement to keep investing in our cardiovascular nutrition health program and fine tuning it to be as beneficial as possible for women looking to improve cardiovascular health.”
Taking care one one’s bones and joints is also vital for women as they get older. Being proactive about this issue will help many women remain active, well into their gold years. “AIDP conducted a survey of 400 post-menopausal women on bone health. Approximately 90 percent were aware that bone deteriorate as a women ages,” said Kathy Lund, vice president of business development and marketing for AIDP, Inc. in California. “Surprisingly, only 50 percent were taking something for bone health. This is likely due to the negative press on calcium. However 35 percent were aware of the role collagen plays in bone health. We believe this is an emerging segment for the industry.”
AIDP offers KoACT, a patented combination of collagen and calcium that is clinically proven superior to traditional bone remedies in improving bone mineral density. According to the company, KoACT’s patented composition drives collagen to the bone matrix providing a stronger more flexible bone. Its’s unique collagen formula delivers more than bone mineral density. KoACT provides a strong, flexible and fibrous protein network that supports bone structure and helps bone withstand daily impact.
“As one of the largest suppliers of chondroitin, specialty calciums, glucosamine and collagen of all types, AIDP has developed an expertise in joint solutions,” Lund said. “KollagenII-xs, a type II collagen glycosaminoglycan, offers the complete building blocks for cartilage support, manufactured through a patented process.”
In addition, maintaining one’s mental faculties becomes a topic of great concern for women as they age, especially if they witnessed their aging parents’ cognitive abilities deteriorate—they want to be proactive and not follow the same path, if possible.
AIDP’s Magtein is the only form of magnesium shown to effectively cross the blood brain barrier. According to the company, it increases brain synaptic density by rejuvenating neural cells. Four published research studies in prestigious journals demonstrated Magtein’s ability to improve short-term and long-term memory, recognition and learning, as well as alleviating anxiety and phobia. Magtein is suitable for both the nutraceutical market and the food/beverage channel. It has a clean taste, is odorless, highly soluble and is safe. It is FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) GRAS (generally recognized as safe), and available exclusively through AIDP.
Lastly, until the fountain of youth is discovered, physical signs of aging are inevitable. To hold off “Father Time,” women often seek out anti-aging products to look and feel more youthful, but are looking for more than promises on the labels. For more than a decade, LycoRed has been a leader in digestible skincare ingredients and products, noted Raz. “Our commitment to digestible skin care and skin health led us to develop a unique composition that is being tested in a challenging set of preclinical and clinical trials,” he said. “As we speak, we are getting closer to the finish line of a well-controlled clinical trial with an investment of just over $1 million in that trial alone.”
Collagen has been a popular topical ingredient when it comes to skin health, but ingesting it is gaining traction with U.S. women. An important “building block,” collagen makes approximately 30 percent of the protein in the living body and 70 percent of the protein that makes up skin. Further, collagen ensures the cohesion, elasticity and regeneration of skin. AIDP’s Naticol is a natural source of type I collagen peptides, that is produced from 100 percent fish skin and scales through a validated and safe process in Europe. It is bioavailable, allowing the body to circulate necessary amino acids used in collagen fibril synthesis and other connective tissues. Studies on Naticol and fish collagen peptides supplementation suggest health benefits related to skin hydration, antioxidant and anti-aging, according to the company.
Ageless Issues
While women may face health issues at specific times in their lives, others can occur just about any time, such as digestive health problems and urinary tract infections (UTIs). Foreman noted that health statistics estimate that nearly 50 percent of women will develop a UTI at some point in their lifetime, with symptoms that include, pain while urinating, blood in the urine and pelvic pain. What’s worse, once you’ve had a UTI, the likelihood of having another one escalates, he said.
While antibiotics are often prescribed for UTIs, Foreman said that numerous studies have found that an increasing number of UTIs are resistant to antibiotics. “Antibiotics have been the standard solution for urinary tract infections (UTIs) that are responsible for seven million doctors visits a year,” he said. “But according to a newly released report from the World Health Organization, every region of the world is reporting antibiotic resistance to UTIs. Reports of this resistance are alarming considering that UTI medication was introduced only in the 1980s. Now every part of the world is reporting the treatment basically ineffective.”
PNI’s Cran-Max is a natural concentrated cranberry ingredient, which has been scientifically proven to be effective in treating UTIs, even in severe cases. Cranberry supplementation is key because it inhibits bacteria from attaching to the bladder wall, preventing the spread of the infection, according to Foreman.
“Cran-Max has leading research, notably demonstrating dramatic results of fewer UTIs in humans,” explained Mosca. “One groundbreaking study pitted Cran-Max against trimethoprim, the top-prescribed antibiotic for UTIs, and Cran-Max performed on par—but without any side effects. No other cranberry ingredient has this portfolio of human clinical efficacy.”
According to Maillard, a woman’s urogenital microflora is fragile, and women are more commonly affected by digestive troubles than men. He noted that probiotics are beneficial for both issues. “If we focus on urogenital troubles, they are mainly linked to a disequilibrium of the vaginal microflora.”
Lallemand’s Fermalac Vaginal is a probiotic vaginal capsule that is registered in many countries worldwide and sold for decades. The company also offers Lacidofil, a probiotic food supplement combining L. rhamnosus Rosell-11 and L. helveticus Rosell-52, that is highly documented in various areas and studied in women having c-section. “In addition, we have the expertise to develop tailor-made probiotic combinations targeting feminine health, but also everyday health and age-specific health based on our portfolio of probiotic strains,” noted Maillard.
Safety First
Women want to know that the ingredients and finished products that they are purchasing are not only safe, but contain the right ingredients, and do what they claim to. LycoRed’s Raz noted that finished product manufacturers should accept that putting together few scientifically researched ingredients isn’t good enough in 2015, and should aim to offer products that are proven to be effective as a finished product. “This goal once achieved will improve the quality, safety and efficacy of products sold on the market and as a direct result will increase the trust women have in the dietary supplements as an important part of their diet,” Raz said.
Jeffers agreed, noting that women are savvy buyers and they expect safety, proof of performance and evidence backing the performance. “In my opinion this can only be achieved with human clinical studies conducted at independent test sites where the evaluator can prove said results were achieved without the influence or contract of the study designer who might benefit from positive results,” he concluded. “Clearly the FDA is cracking down on structure function claims and Helios CORP intends to stay ahead of this pattern by continuing to produce deeper and broader clinical evidence of our claims we are providing to the end user putting our ingredients in finished form.” NIE
For more information:
AIDP, Inc., (866) 262-6699
Dr. Paul Lohmann Inc., (631) 851-8810
Helios Corp., (505) 982-8836
Lallemand Health Solutions, (450) 433-9139
Lycored, (973) 882-0322
Proprietary Nutritionals, Inc., (519) 647-2071
