UK-based registered dietitian Nigel Denby is working to raise awareness of the lifestyle and nutrition support that healthcare providers can give to the 80% of women who experience menopause symptoms.
“Of those experiencing symptoms, 25% report experience debilitating symptoms,” he told NutraIngredients, “so there’s a significant group of women looking for ways to manage their symptoms independently or in support of HRT.”
Through his online menopause education community, Harley Street at Home, Denby supports more than 75,000 patients and 10,000 health professionals through online tutorials and webinars, with the aim to provide health practitioners with the tools and knowledge they need to better support women through this transition.
“Women at this stage in life are ready to hear this is the time for an overhaul of their lifestyle choices, and they are ready to make necessary changes.” he said, “so a prescriber needs to be confident to give lifestyle advice as well as prescription treatments.”
He said research conducted through his platform indicates 94% of women going through menopause report digestive health issues. This makes sense, he noted, as estrogen and progesterone help to regulate the gut and their decline can slow digestion, disrupt gut bacteria, heighten gut pain sensitivity, and worsen stress-related gut issues.
Probiotic study delivers real-world insights
But given the microbiome’s wide-reaching health influences, Denby wanted to conduct further research to discover what additional health benefits probiotics might provide.
He partnered with multi-strain liquid probiotic brand Symprove to conduct a pilot study into the benefits of the supplement on a range of symptoms, with the results presented at the 2026 British Menopause Society Conference today (June. 25, 2026).
“We know that diet, sleep, and exercise, are all important but if you can give your patient something else to build into their toolkit that has some evidence behind it, this will give them added confidence.”
The single-arm, virtual study was conducted by Denby, alongside Dr Katie Barber, GP and menopause specialist, and Prof Simon Gaisford, University College London.
A total of 197 women were recruited through the Harley Street at Home platform and instructed to take Symprove every day for 12 weeks.
The researchers measured changes in key perimenopause symptoms using the Menopause-Specific Quality of Life (MENQOL) questionnaire at weeks 4, 8 and 12.
Secondary measures were assessed utilizing the Gastrointestinal Symptom Index for Midlife Women (MSI-GI), the Midlife Women’s Symptom Index (MSI) and the Sleep Regularity Questionnaire (SRQ)
The unpublished data indicated 98% of women reported improvements in menopause-related quality of life. Women also reported improvements in: hot flushes and night sweats (52%), bloating and digestive discomfort (78%), sleep regularity (66%), mood and psychological wellbeing (42%), physical symptoms such as fatigue and aches (47%), and sexual wellbeing (47%).
Placebo controlled trials with objective markers need to be conducted in order to verify the results, but Denby said it was noteworthy to see average scores improving by 46% across all parameters beyond just gut symptoms.
“It validates what I’ve seen in my practice for years,” he said. “Symprove can support women going through menopause with their gut health issues, but crucially many other symptoms of menopause.”
Gaps in healthcare knowledge
Co-author Dr Barber, a menopause specialist at Oxford Menopause, said the supplements she recommends to women in menopause are vitamin D, calcium and biotics.
She noted that most general practitioners have received minimal training in menopause health support, making Denby’s online community all the more important.
“I had a one-hour lecture on menopause in my six years of medical training,” she told NutraIngredints. “Students now get about an hour every year so its still not a lot more.”
Speaking about the importance of Denby’s service, she added: “There’s fantastic training available if GPs are interested to invest and become specialists, but for those simply looking to improve their knowledge in this area of healthcare, accessing free education is really difficult and finding a reputable, trustworthy company is a big challenge.”
Although Denby’s healthcare advice is diet and lifestyle centric, he argues when probiotics are prescribed alongside lifestyle interventions, they can help to give patients an initial improvement in symptoms, making patients more open to further modifications.
“When a patient starts to feel an intervention is working, this is when they start to embrace lifestyle changes and ask what other changes they can make to boost the benefits.”
