Emerging research

Creatine monohydrate — long known in sports science for muscle performance — is getting serious attention for a different reason in midlife women: emerging trials combining creatine supplementation with resistance training suggest it may help preserve bone mineral density and muscle mass in postmenopausal women, alongside some early signals for cognitive support (memory, mental fatigue). Women naturally store less creatine than men, and levels decline further with age, which is part of the rationale for looking at this specifically in a menopause context.

This has become a genuinely popular topic on social media, partly through neuroscientists and wellness influencers who talk about creatine for brain health in midlife — several of whom also sell their own branded creatine supplements. Worth knowing: a financial interest in a specific product doesn't make the underlying science wrong — the broader research on creatine and postmenopausal bone/muscle health is real and growing — but it does mean you don't need a specific branded, premium-priced version to get the benefit. Plain creatine monohydrate is one of the most studied, cheapest supplements there is.

What we'd actually suggest: if you want to try it, a plain creatine monohydrate powder (no proprietary blend needed) at a standard 3–5g daily dose, alongside resistance training — and a check with your doctor first, especially if you have kidney concerns.

Testosterone isn't just a "male hormone" — women produce it too, and levels decline with age. There's a growing, reasonably solid evidence base for testosterone specifically improving low sexual desire in postmenopausal women when other causes have been ruled out. Evidence for its effect on energy, mood, or muscle mass more broadly is less settled, despite how it's sometimes marketed.

Where it stands: licensed testosterone products formulated specifically for women are limited in availability in both the UK and US, so this is currently a specialist conversation — worth raising with a menopause-trained doctor rather than assuming it's readily prescribable everywhere.

A newer class of medication (neurokinin-3 receptor antagonists) targets the exact brain pathway involved in triggering hot flushes, rather than working through hormones at all. This matters most for women who can't or don't want to take HRT — for the first time there's a non-hormonal option with a genuinely different mechanism, not just an off-label repurposed medication.

Where it stands: now approved and prescribable in both the UK and US for moderate-to-severe hot flushes — ask your doctor whether it's suitable for you if HRT isn't the right fit.

Continuous glucose monitors — small sensors originally built for diabetes management — have become popular among women without diabetes hoping to understand menopause-related metabolic and weight changes in real time. The appeal is obvious; the evidence that this improves outcomes for non-diabetic midlife women specifically is still thin.

Our honest take: interesting to watch, expensive to run long-term, and not something we'd currently recommend over the unglamorous basics (protein, resistance training, sleep) covered on our weight & metabolism guide.

There's early research interest in how declining estrogen reshapes gut bacteria, and whether that in turn affects everything from weight to mood to bone health via an "estrobolome" (the subset of gut bacteria that metabolise estrogen). It's a genuinely interesting research direction — it is not, yet, a basis for buying a specific probiotic marketed for menopause.