Answers

One page, one question.

• What are the best supplements for perimenopause? In the UK, start with the vitamin D advice (10 micrograms a day), calcium from food (700 mg a day), enough protein, and two portions of fish a week. Those carry authorised claims and the largest trials. Beyond that, the case for any particular supplement in perimenopause is specific, and this page says where it is thin.
• Which supplements help bone density in perimenopause? In the UK, meet the intakes for calcium (700 mg a day) and vitamin D (10 micrograms) first, from food where you can. Those two carry authorised bone claims and the largest trials. Vitamin K2 and creatine on its own did not change bone density in trials of two to three years, and the direct evidence in perimenopause itself is thin.
• Should women in perimenopause take collagen supplements? Not as a default. No product may make a health claim for collagen in Great Britain, and the trials are modest: one 12-month study reported higher bone density in postmenopausal women with low bone density, and skin studies are short and small. If you want to try it, 12 weeks at 2.5 to 10 g a day is where the trials looked; if you do not, nothing here says you are missing out.
• Is creatine worth taking in perimenopause and after menopause? The evidence for a benefit is in women who were also doing resistance training. Taken on its own, creatine showed no difference from placebo over one and two years on bone density, muscle mass or physical function in postmenopausal women.
• Which omega-3 supplement should women in perimenopause take? In the UK, a supplement is not a default part of perimenopause, and two portions of fish a week, one of them oily, covers most people. If you do take one, choose by the EPA and DHA per daily dose on the back of the pack, and look for at least 250 mg of the two combined.
• How much vitamin D should women in perimenopause take? In the UK, 10 micrograms (400 IU) a day. The advice is to consider it through autumn and winter, and to take it all year if you get little sun or have darker skin. Perimenopause does not raise the number.