From vaginal laser treatment to spa breaks – it’s the great menopause gold rush
msn.compostpone menopause for a decade or so – provided you are willing to freeze a slice of your ovary in your 20s and then have it grafted back on in later life.
Menopause is enjoying a moment. After centuries of enduring the rollercoaster of physical and emotional symptoms that often accompany it, middle-aged women have never been so well-catered for with products purporting to help.
But is this sudden choice empowering, or just exploitative?Half the world’s population will experience the menopause and, according to one recent report, the global menopause market represents a $600bn (£450bn) business opportunity.
Dietary supplements, symptom-tracking apps, telemedicine and cosmetics represent some of the biggest investment prospects. “Women in this life stage continue to be sorely underserved,” says Adrianna Samaniego, an investor at the US venture capital company the Female Founders Fund (FFF), which produced the report. “And it’s not like the maternity experience where it’s nine months – this can last for 10 to 30 years. ”But while medical experts are delighted that common symptoms such as night sweats, heavy bleeding, anxiety and low libido are being discussed more openly, and welcome the development of workplace programmes to better support women, some are concerned by the apparent menopause gold rush that is under way.
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