This was a key message from Dr Helena Tiekou Lorinczova, research and trial coordinator, and Dr Stephanie Ho Yi Chan, postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre based in the University of Westminster, London, during their presentation at Making Nutraceuticals in Coventry, UK, this week (April 21).
“The main aim of our centre is to bridge the gap between industry and academia,” Dr. Lorinczova told attendees, noting that the lack of research into women’s health may be a factor in them spending 25% more of their lives in poor health compared to men.
“There’s a great need to better understand women’s nutrition needs and a need for well designed clinical trials.”
The academics at the Centre are implementing protocols to help close the gender gap, which is particularly significant in the sports nutrition arena.
Dr. Chan explained one of the toughest challenges with studying women is their hormonal fluctuations through their monthly and life cycles which impact their supplement requirements.
“The changes in women’s hormones mean their nutritional needs vary according to their life stage,” she explained. “Whereas they might be more concerned about iron intake and skin health during their teens, they are likely to need to focus on folic acid and DHA during their reproductive years. Then in menopause they might be focused on cognitive health, metabolism and bone health.”
Hormonal fluctuations further impact digestive health, enzyme activity and absorption of nutrients, she said. When progesterone is higher in the luteal phase, women absorb less nutrients, and when estrogen is higher just before ovulation, that leads to improved absorption.
Hormones also impact gut health so the microbiome shifts throughout the lifecycle which has a notable impact on nutrient absorption as “better gut health means better nutrient absorption”, Dr. Chan said.
In order to mitigate these impacts, researchers at the Centre for Nutraceuticals stratify resulting data based on female participants’ hormone cycles in order to confirm whether hormonal changes have impacted absorption, said Dr. Lorinczova.
Recent consumer research from Lumina Intelligence revealed that sleep and stress are two key health concerns for women throughout their lives. This is important as high cortisol lowers stomach acid and impairs absorption of bioactives regularly taken by women in the form of supplements, such as iron, magnesium and B12, Dr. Chan said.
She recommended that manufacturers formulating supplements for women should utilize bioavailable forms, consider smart nutrient pairings for improved absorption, include biotics to enhance gut health, and specify supplement timing recommendations to support optimum absorption.
Dr. Chan further highlighted some key bioactives for females and recommended appropriate doses. She suggested magnesium as a supplement to support their stress and sleep concerns at a dose of 200-400mg per day, taken before bed.
Noting the higher rate of osteoporosis in women due to hormonal fluctuations in menopause, she recommended 1000-2000 IU vitamin D and 90-120mcg of vitamin K2 to support calcium absorption. She noted this as a particularly important nutrient when formulating for active females.
She said a dose of 18-28mg of iron daily should be sufficient to replenish monthly loss but avoid irritation. Again, iron deficiency disproportionately impacts active females, making it a particularly important nutrient for that audience.
The Centre already has a portfolio of research conducted in mixed gender participants and in women specifically, such as one conducted for Gencor to show the stress management benefits of its PEA ingredient in female students.
