Session Preview: Evidence-Based Botanicals in Menopause Management

As a preview of our upcoming The Outlook on Women’s Wellness, Nutritional Outlook interviewed Jennifer Greer, ND, MEd, Scientific Advisor/Medical Affairs Consultant, who will be presenting Evidence-Based Botanicals in Menopause Management at the event.

In this interview, Greer discusses the need for individualized formulation in the women’s health category, specifically regarding menopause management. She also shares what excites her about this category.

Learn more and register for the conference here.

A transcript of this conversation can be found below.

Nutritional Outlook: Could you tell us a little bit about your professional background?

Jennifer Greer: So I like to sort of joke that I'm on my third iteration of my career. I have a background in education. And then I went into naturopathic medicine and then after that into working in industry. So what I really love about being in industry is that I get to take pieces from all of the parts of my background. So from the education part, from when I worked in college athletics administration, so that sort of management administration part into medicine and clinical practice and then putting it all together within industry. So taking all of those pieces and putting it into something that serves the industry in a broad way.

Nutritional Outlook: What are some key takeaways from your presentation?

Greer: I think there are three that are sort of top of mind for me that I think are, are pretty important for attendees to, to leave the presentation with. One of them is it's important to be really clear on your audience when you're formulating. So you want to make sure that you understand who you're formulating for and what the goals of your products are. A lot of times I feel like we see a lot of products on the market that are sort of formulated to be kind of a one size fits all approach for women's health. And even within the menopause category alone, nothing is really one size fits all. Everyone's individual, people have different symptoms. So really understanding who your audience is and what they, what their goals are, so what the goals of the product are, is going to lead to a better formulation that that serves more people.

The next one is that dose matters. So a lot of the botanicals in the women's health space benefit women's health across the lifespan, but that's often at different doses depending on where a woman is at and what she's experiencing. So really, you know, dive into the science behind the botanicals and understand what dose for the age group of women that you're supporting and what their needs are.

And then the last one is there are still women's herbs that don't have a lot of human clinical data behind them, but have really wonderful traditional history in women's health. So to me, that's, that really says there's a lot of opportunity still in the ingredient space to bring forward some herbs that haven't gotten much attention yet.

Nutritional Outlook: What excites you about the women's health category?

Greer: That it's finally getting some attention and well deserved attention. So, you know, for a long time we just treated women like small men. And our bodies don't work the same way. We have different hormonal balance and, you know, we're different sizes. There are all sorts of different things about women's health. And so this, this sort of bigger interest and more people talking about it. To me, this is really, really exciting. I think it's going to drive a lot of innovation. But beyond that, it's really going to drive a lot of help and support for women who need it. So, that's the most exciting thing, that we're actually even talking about this now and that more people are talking about it as this is how things are going to be moving forward. Not that it's just some sort of trend or fad.