The $19 Billion Menopause Economy

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, radio, news.

**Sarah Holder** (0:08)
Yasmine Harris was in her early 30s when she started noticing unusual symptoms.

**Yasmine Harris** (0:14)
I was tired all of the time. My mood was horrible. I also started having minor hot flashes, right? My sex life just went 100 percent out of the window.

**Sarah Holder** (0:26)
Around that time, she also got her first ever urinary tract infection.

**Yasmine Harris** (0:30)
So that, as well as the mood swings, was really high on my radar that something more has to be going on with me.

**Sarah Holder** (0:40)
She says her primary care doctor told her it was probably just too much stress. He put her on antidepressants for her mood swings, talked to her about bathroom hygiene, and sent her on her way. One night, a few years later, in her kitchen around dinnertime, she started having chest pain and got diagnosed with heart failure. Her doctor put her on a series of medications, and eventually she was given a pacemaker. She was only 39
Shortly after, her periods became irregular, lasting for weeks at a time. Yasmin felt like this all had to be connected.

**Yasmine Harris** (1:17)
I started Googling and just doing a ton of research, and one of the very first things that came up, highlighted menopause and paramenopause.

**Sarah Holder** (1:27)
But she says her gynecologist told her she was still a little too young to worry about it. She gave Yasmin a prescription for birth control to manage her cycle.
Still, Yasmin didn't feel satisfied with the care she was getting. So she turned to the internet for a second opinion, and she found plenty.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:46)
Let's talk about some researched Ashwagandha benefits for menopause.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:51)
I'm taking a black cohosh supplement that I got from Whole Foods, and that has really seemed to be helping me.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:56)
You need three supplements that are going to help bring back your intimacy, your libido during menopause.

**Sarah Holder** (2:03)
What worked? What didn't work?

**Yasmine Harris** (2:07)
Nothing worked, Sarah.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

**Sarah Holder** (2:10)
Nothing.

**Yasmine Harris** (2:11)
Nothing worked.

**Sarah Holder** (2:12)
How much do you think you spent on these kinds of remedies and treatments and things that you'd found online?

**Yasmine Harris** (2:19)
Girl, I've spent easily thousands of dollars.

**Sarah Holder** (2:23)
When women suspect they're experiencing the lead up to menopause, finding the right way to treat their symptoms isn't always straightforward. While a growing industry of startups and supplements are advertising more and more options for women seeking that treatment, the healthcare mainstream hasn't kept up with their needs. That's led to a massive, nearly $19 billion global menopause market dominated by non-medical treatments, as opposed to evidence-backed therapies.

**Kristen V. Brown** (2:52)
This need is being filled by telehealth companies and Instagram influencers because it's not able to be met by the medical community.

**Sarah Holder** (3:03)
Kristen V. Brown is a health and science journalist who recently wrote a story for Bloomberg Businessweek, tracking the rise of the menopause economy. She says the overall market for menopause treatment is expected to exceed $28 billion by 2033
We are in the midst of a menopause gold rush. But is it also leaving women behind?

**Kristen V. Brown** (3:25)
There is a real mismatch and there is a real need to give more access to care, but that access isn't really coming from the best place for patients.

**Sarah Holder** (3:41)
I'm Sarah Holder and this is the Big Take from Bloomberg News.
Today on the show, we go inside the big business of menopause. From TikTok medical advice to complicated health care systems, how are women navigating this multi-billion dollar market? And will more money pouring into it make it easier or just more crowded?

**Kristen V. Brown** (4:06)
So, about six months before I turned 40, like it had gotten a calendar alert. Instagram started just serving me the menopause content.

**Sarah Holder** (4:16)
Health reporter Kristen V. Brown is writing a book about female fertility.
She's also a woman on the internet. And when the menopause posts started coming, they didn't stop.

**Kristen V. Brown** (4:27)
And I have to tell you, it was so depressing. There were all these symptoms, right? Itchiness, weight gain, which is associated with menopause, but also men experience weight gain in midlife, or it's just a fact of aging. And I started looking at myself, at my own aging body, and I was like, I am itchy. I have gained some weight.
I have been kind of hot at night sometimes. And I mean, honestly, Instagram basically convinced me that I might be in perimenopause.

**Sarah Holder** (4:56)
Perimenopause is the stretch of a woman's life comes before reaching menopause.