Have you seen menopause in the headlines recently, and been introduced to the word ‘menowashing’? Here are our thoughts on it.

When products are designed to acknowledge & address the needs of a vast demographic that has largely been ignored up until now, we think this should be celebrated. 

Menowashing feels hyper critical & belittling about a much needed new wave of change. Not all products are made equal, so let's not taint everything with the same brush, we need innovation & to be loud! 

Creams & skin care products designed for menopause have come under fire particularly, with well-known GPs criticising their claims. If a moisturiser, for example, is designed to smooth and hydrate skin that has lost suppleness & collagen during ageing, why is this a bad thing? It doesn’t promise to stop hot flashes and change your hormone levels - it can be part of the toolkit at our disposal and can be a nice thing to make us feel a bit better about ourselves. 

We founded Peachie to give women a helping hand with their nutrition. Any GP or medical professional will go back to the key pillars that can impact how women experience menopause:

-HRT

-Nutrition

-Exercise

-Stress Management

We are proud to be supporting one of these key pillars and giving women options to boost their nutrition. 46% of menopausal women are actively looking for better nutrition support. Our boosted seed & nuts toppings give an important protein, fibre & key vitamin boost at a lifestage where nutrition is key. 

We made Peachie easy to add into our already busy days and realistically, most of us need that extra helping hand with nutrition as we don’t have much time to put ourselves first. 

We also wanted Peachie to be tasty and a pleasure to add into our meals. During menopause, it can feel like pressure is added to us physically and mentally in all directions, so taking a moment a day to think about our own nutrition and actually enjoy looking after ourselves is important. 

We know from research that 80% of women are demanding better menopause support and signposting from brands. So there is a clear need for products that support the menopause. 

No-one’s menopause is the same so we need to offer choice. 

Therefore, the issue here is not products innovating to support this life stage, but the lack of clarity in the information shared so that women can make informed choices.

So, this is us at Peachie showing you all the research that has gone into our product:

-We were one of the key brands in a University-run Healthy Ageing study

-Peachie was developed with a University Food Innovation framework

-Our recipe was developed over 2 years and our focus was purely on serving nutritional needs of perimenopause - menopausal women to support healthy ageing

-We partner with a nutritionist who has over 22 years experience working with nutrition, health & lifestyle change

-We use real, whole foods that are natural sources of fibre, protein & Omegas

-We use seeds such as chia seeds & flax seeds that have nutritional benefits that have been researched in scientific journals

-We use a high quality powder supplement blend to boost vitamins & minerals that are harder to find in food forms such as Vitamin D & Vitamin B12

-Our research showed us that menopausal women are most concerned about: Heart health, bone health, energy levels & cognitive function - therefore we tailored our recipe development to these key pillars 

-Peachie was founded by 4 women - 2 are currently menopausal 

-Peachie has collaborated with and been recommended by female health GPs

We are also really proud to be building a community that is a safe space for women to ask questions and share experiences. We are passionate about making menopause more positive, and providing free information & resources about menopause to empower rather than scare.

As female founders, we want to run our business differently. We do want it to be successful so we can continue to make helpful nutrition products, but we can still be compassionate and bring everyone along with us for the journey. 

We want to encourage all those working in the perimenopause - menopause space to re-unite in our key aims of awareness, research & women living better for longer. Raising the standards to best serve those of us in menopause is vitally important. 

So this is our invitation to other brands, menopause coaches, fitness instructors, nutrition experts, medical experts to do the same and help clarity of information around menopause so women can choose their support options.

#menowashing #menosupport

Scientific Papers / Research Links to read more:

-Menopause - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

-Estrogen: A master regulator of bioenergetic systems in the brain and body (tahomaclinic.com)

-Menopause Is Associated With Postprandial Metabolism, Metabolic Health and Lifestyle: The ZOE PREDICT Studhttps://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4051462

-Dietary Flaxseed as a Strategy for Improving Human Health (nih.gov)

-Flaxseed reduces total and LDL cholesterol concentrations in Native American postmenopausal women – PubMed (nih.gov)

-Flaxseed: A Potential Source of Food, Feed and Fiber https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408390903537241

Link between dietary fiber and depression partially explained by gut-brain interactions https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210106111952.htm

-Chemical Composition and Health Benefits of Flaxseed https://zellavie.ch/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/fulltext_ajnfs-v2-id1045.pdf

-Plant proteins as high-quality nutritional source for human diet - ScienceDirect

-The Chemical Composition and Nutritional Value of Chia Seeds—Current State of Knowledge (nih.gov)