Supplements During Menopause: What They Can and Cannot Do

Important: This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Speak to your GP, pharmacist, or another registered healthcare professional before starting a supplement if you take prescription medicines, have kidney problems, are being investigated for persistent fatigue or brain fog, or use HRT or blood thinners.

If you’ve recently noticed the scale creeping up — especially around your middle — despite eating the same foods and doing the same workouts, you are not alone. Welcome to the menopausal transition.

Perimenopause and menopause can bring disrupted sleep, fatigue, changes in body composition, joint symptoms, and problems with concentration. It is understandable to look for a supplement that promises to fix several of these at once.

The honest answer is that no supplement has been shown to reverse menopausal weight gain on its own, and symptoms such as persistent exhaustion or brain fog can have causes that deserve proper assessment. Food, sleep, resistance exercise, and appropriate medical treatment remain the foundations. Supplements are most useful when they address a known deficiency, a predictable dietary gap, or an NHS recommendation.

This guide explains where B-vitamins and magnesium may be relevant, where the evidence is limited, and what to check before choosing a high-strength product.

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Why Is This Happening?

Menopausal weight change is not simply a lack of willpower. Hormonal change, ageing, sleep, activity, medicines, appetite, and loss of muscle mass can all contribute. The following mechanisms may play a part, but they do not affect everyone in the same way:

1. The Oestrogen Drop: During your fertile years, oestrogen is your metabolic best friend. It keeps your cells sensitive to insulin and directs fat storage to your hips and thighs. As oestrogen declines during perimenopause, your body starts storing fat directly in the abdomen.
2. Insulin Sensitivity: Insulin sensitivity can change through midlife, but this varies and is influenced by body composition, activity, sleep, and other health factors.
3. Sleep and Stress: Night sweats and poor sleep can affect appetite, energy, and activity. That is different from assuming that everyone experiences a large or sustained cortisol surge.

Bridging the Nutritional Gap

Before we look at pills and powders, we have to talk about food. You cannot out-supplement a diet that is keeping your insulin levels high.

A balanced low-carb, Mediterranean-style diet can be a practical option for appetite and metabolic health, but no single macronutrient pattern is right for everyone.

Reducing refined carbohydrates and sugars, choosing a carb level that suits your health needs, eating enough protein, and favouring foods such as olive oil, fish, vegetables, nuts, and seeds can make meals more satisfying and nutrient-dense.

Supplements should not be used to compensate for an assumed hormonal “nutrient void.” Start with diet and investigate persistent symptoms rather than assuming that more vitamins are automatically better.

Supplements to Consider

The useful question is not “Which supplements should every menopausal woman take?” but “Is there a specific gap, risk, or symptom that needs assessment?”

1. B-Vitamin Complex

B-vitamins help the body release energy from food and support normal nervous-system and red-blood-cell function. Taking extra does not necessarily improve energy, anxiety, or brain fog when intake and blood levels are already adequate.

• Vitamin B6 contributes to normal metabolism and nervous-system function, but evidence does not support describing it as a general treatment for perimenopausal anxiety or irritability.
• Vitamin B12 is particularly relevant for people with a diagnosed deficiency, vegans, some older adults, and people whose medicines or digestive conditions affect absorption. If symptoms are significant, testing is more informative than assuming that a high-strength supplement is needed.

Vitamin B6 needs extra care. The NHS advises adults not to take more than 10mg a day from supplements unless advised by a doctor; higher long-term intakes can cause peripheral neuropathy. Check the combined total if you use more than one product containing B6.¹

These are products used in our household, included for transparency rather than as treatment recommendations:

• Ashwagandha KSM-66 Complex with Vitamin B6 — 60 Capsules (Ad) — check the current B6 amount on the label and include it in your daily total
• Vitamin B12 High Strength 1000mcg — 365 Tablets (Ad) — a high-strength product that will not be necessary for everyone

Discuss any B-vitamin supplementation with your GP, particularly if you are taking other medications.

2. Vitamin D3 and K2

Vitamin D is actually a hormone, and in the grey, cloudy UK, almost everyone is deficient. The NHS explicitly recommends that all adults take a daily supplement of 10 micrograms (400 IU) of Vitamin D, particularly during the autumn and winter months.² During menopause, the drop in oestrogen causes a rapid loss of bone density. Vitamin D3 ensures your body can actually absorb calcium from your diet. However, you must pair it with Vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 acts as a traffic cop, ensuring that the calcium goes directly into your bones and teeth, rather than building up dangerously in your arteries.

The combined D3+K2 tablet is the most convenient way to get both:

• Vitamin D3 4000 IU + K2 MK7 — 365 Tablets (Ad) — a full year of supply in a single daily tablet

If you are taking blood thinners such as warfarin, consult your GP before taking Vitamin K2, as it can affect blood clotting.

3. Magnesium

Magnesium helps the body release energy from food and supports normal muscle, nerve, and bone function. Nuts, seeds, leafy greens, and whole grains are useful food sources, and the NHS says most people should be able to obtain enough from a varied diet.³

Evidence that magnesium supplements specifically treat menopausal insomnia, anxiety, palpitations, or joint pain is limited. A supplement may be reasonable where intake is low or a clinician has identified a need, but it should not be described as a proven treatment for those symptoms.

The product used in our household provides 384mg elemental magnesium per stated serving, close to the NHS supplemental level of 400mg a day above which short-term diarrhoea becomes more likely:

• Magnesium Glycinate 3-in-1 Complex — 90 Vegan Capsules (Ad) — check the serving size and do not unknowingly combine it with other magnesium supplements

If you have kidney problems, speak to your GP before supplementing with magnesium.

The Bottom Line

Supplements can fill specific gaps, but they are not a general treatment for menopausal weight gain or a replacement for medical assessment. Start with diet and lifestyle, follow established public-health advice, and use testing or professional advice when symptoms are persistent or severe.

For the full list of supplements recommended on this site and the reasoning behind each, see the Supplements recommendations page.

Works cited

1. B vitamins and folic acid — Vitamins and minerals — NHS, accessed on March 6, 2026, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-b/
2. Vitamin D — NHS, accessed on March 6, 2026, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d/
3. Other vitamins and minerals: magnesium — NHS, accessed on July 10, 2026, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/others/