Perimenopause ads filling your feed? Long Island experts debunk social media misinformation

About five years ago, Tara Wider, of Lindenhurst, started posting on social media about holistic beauty and women’s wellness. She’s built a community of women in her age group, and her algorithm recommends like-minded peers in her feed.

Her niche is healthy aging, fitness, nutrition, self care — everything that helps her feel great at 54. 

Because of the feed Wider has cultivated, she and other midlife women are likely to come across posts and advertisements by influencers pushing products, diets or workout routines that promise to target symptoms of menopause and perimenopause, including hot flashes, sleep disruption, weight gain and mood changes. Sometimes these posts make bold claims, with little research to back it up.

“You’re just getting 30 or 60 seconds of information and you think, ‘What did that person just say?’ ” Wider said.

Menopause occurs around the average age of 52 in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Healthcare professionals told Newsday they have seen an uptick in menopausal patients asking about products, peptides, supplements and diets recommended on social media. Social feeds may serve posts about peptides that have not been regulated or specifically tied to menopause treatment by experts, along with supplements (which do not undergo FDA approval) that can have varying effects. Still, they have been highlighted by content creators as possible cures for menopausal symptoms like sleep disruption and gut issues.

Silvia Tuthill, a nurse practitioner who owns Tenth Avenue Aesthetics in East Northport and Islip, warns that women experiencing menopause “should be mindful of influencers, and potentially what bias they may have.”

"Remember: People are being paid for their opinions, as well as advertisement," Tuthill said.  "Sometimes, it can be predatory."

The Pew Research Center recently analyzed 535,512 posts created by 6,334 health and wellness influencers between Feb. 1 and April 30 on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The results show that one-third of health and wellness influencers "promote a product or service in a majority of their posts." Of the posts analyzed, nearly half that address health and wellness topics directly also "disclose a sponsorship or encourage their audiences to use a product, service or subscription," according to the findings.

Long Island healthcare experts weighed in with their advice — what works, what doesn’t and what people should watch out for as they scroll.

Supplements

“The biggest piece of misinformation is in the space of vitamins and supplements,” said Dr. Stephanie Trentacoste McNally, of Northwell Health. She is the director of ob-gyn services for the Katz Institute for Women’s Health, and serves as the clinical lead for its menopause and midlife medicine program.

For example, content creators on Instagram have recommended magnesium glycinate to their followers to help with sleep disruption, a common symptom during menopause. McNally said that although the supplement may provide a sedative side effect, it is not for everyone, so an interested patient should consult their clinical team before taking the word of someone online.

Supplements “have taken on a world of their own because women are desperate” for answers, McNally said, but they “are not studied in the gold standard for medicine.”

That would be a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial, which would involve enough women to evaluate and compare those taking a supplement versus a placebo. As new supplements are coming to the market “rapidly,” the research needs time to catch up, McNally said.

A label of “natural” does not necessarily mean a supplement is safe, Tuthill said, adding that menopause symptoms such as skin changes, weight fluctuation, vaginal dryness and hot flashes “require different assessments and treatments” beyond supplements. 

When it comes to supplements, more isn’t necessarily better: “Your body can only absorb so many supplements and vitamins, and it may not have a long-term impact,” McNally added.

Dr. Meredith Vandegrift, a plastic surgeon based in Huntington who primarily works with women going through menopause, said there is an “overabundance” of supplements marketed to menopausal women. And in reality, there is little evidence to back up a lot of the claims, she said.

“People can position themselves online as being experts in whatever field they want to say, but you don’t really know what their credentials are,” Vandegrift said.

Shelbi Thurau is a registered dietitian for Redefine Fitness, which has locations in Stony Brook and Mount Sinai. She urges women in menopause who are seeking supplements to first look at their diet and lifestyle.

"Sometimes there are things you don’t necessarily need to be on, once you’ve addressed it through food," Thurau said.

Nutrition

Angela Houlie is a registered dietitian whose private practice, My Fruitful Body Nutrition, is based in Centerport. She sees plenty of misinformation — like recommendations to cut carbs and minimize calories — when it comes to the types and amounts of food that can properly nourish the body in menopause transition.

Instead, women in menopause should consume carbs from whole foods, such as sweet potatoes and beans, which can be used as fuel for a workout and increase energy, Houlie said. Proteins become particularly important for women after the age of 35, she said, due to the risk of losing muscle mass.

Amanda Leal, chief operating officer of Redefine Fitness, has seen online coaches advocating for low-fat diets, which "works great if you’re not in perimenopause or menopause."

"Lower fats for women wreak havoc on our hormones," she said, adding that incorporating healthy fats and omegas is essential during this transition. "Having a little higher fats in the diet for women going through those stages in life is actually OK."

Social media can be harmful when it comes to choosing a diet during perimenopause, because "what works for one person very much is not going to work for everyone," said Thurau who often works with women in this age bracket.

"It’s really important to prioritize things that are going to fight inflammation — your fruits and vegetables, fiber and proteins," she said.

It's best to avoid ingredients that have the potential to exacerbate existing stress for those in perimenopause.

"I tell people to look at how they feel with their sleep, their levels of anxiety and how they manage their day when they have things like caffeine, an increased amount of sugar or alcohol," Thurau said. "All of these things can affect mood and the way you’re feeling.

The Mediterranean diet (which is fruit- and vegetable-focused, with lean proteins, fatty fish and whole grains), "probably poses the best benefits for women," McNally said.

But one thing is for sure, said Thurau: "Stress is the worst ingredient. Treating the whole health and well-being is very important when you want to see results and want people to stay motivated."

It's most beneficial to consult an expert, who can get a sense of an individual's eating habits and formulate a personalized diet plan, rather than following whatever is trending, experts say.

Social media is what prompted Wider to seek out a dietitian, whom she now sees regularly.

Through Instagram, Facebook and podcasts, "I would learn more and more information about the kinds of things I should be doing as a midlife woman, and it made me want to learn more," she said.

Workout routines

A common misconception for women as they age is that workout routines from their 20s — which may have focused solely on cardio — will help them lose weight later in life, Leal said.

"Honestly, that's what stresses the body out and makes everything 10 times worse," Leal said.

Instead, menopausal women should shift to resistance training to build muscle, she said — this includes exercises such as squats, hip hinges and rowing, along with weight lifting with an increased intensity each week. Weight lifting three times per week is the "gold standard," Leal said.

"We’re keeping the body steady, but happy," she said, "by growing muscle and not stressing it out." As for cardio, women should "just get those steps in," Leal said, even if that means grocery shopping, laps around a mall or just parking further away to create a longer walk to go inside.

"Get your movement in throughout the day instead of a huge chunk of movement in one part, and just sitting for the rest of the day," she added. It’s also important to monitor heart rate while working out, so as not to push too hard. 

This kind of fitness routine is one of the tried and true ways to mitigate menopause symptoms, McNally said: Strength training, cardio and balance are the fitness triangle "needed in this menopausal transition."

"I’d rather women focus on that and invest their time and energy in things that are proven, rather than the supplements they don’t have as much information for," McNally said.

Peptides

Two injectable peptides that have been widely talked about online as helpful for menopause treatment are called sermorelin and BPC-157. A social media scan of such posts shows influencers claiming sermorelin can build muscle and boost energy, and that BPC-157 is beneficial for gut issues or general pain. These peptides have not undergone randomized trials, are not regulated and have not been specifically tied to menopause treatment by experts, McNally said. Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday announced the federal government would allow access to six peptides including BPC-157, despite that lack of review.

Harvard Medical School defines peptides as "short chains of amino acids (the building blocks of proteins)." While the body can create some peptides on its own, others can be made in a lab and used in medications and injectable products. GLP-1 medications are one type of peptide that has been well studied and can be helpful in several realms of health, such as diabetes treatment, McNally said, while others have not been FDA regulated or widely studied.

Tuthill warns there is an "added risk" for women who seek out peptides through third parties, such as online storefronts. "You can't really know whether or not they're actually the active drug, because they're not being tested in the proper standards," she said.

GLP-1s have been approved for treatment of "metabolic and cardiovascular changes more common during the menopausal transition," said McNally. But overall, peptide usage to specifically treat menopausal symptoms has not been thoroughly researched and proven.

Vandegrift is concerned about how easily accessible some of these products can be, particularly online.

"There’s no regulation," she said. "And something that you’re injecting into your body probably has a higher potential of causing side effects, versus something you’re going to put on topically."

Many women are craving relief from severe symptoms and are "so desperate to feel better," McNally said. That’s why she feels clinicians must share information on this area of uncertainty with patients who inquire about it. She acknowledged guidelines on peptides could change in the future.

For now, however, McNally advises women to consult their physicians and do their own research through The Menopause Society and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists websites.

Wider, who is building her own social media following, cautioned that others should be mindful of what they post online.

“People will listen to other people on social media,” she said. “I think for somebody starting out on social media, you have to be aware of that, and know what you’re saying are facts. You have such a great responsibility.”