Two of the most prominent brands on the market right now when it comes to menopause supplements are Amberen and Estroven. And whilst there is definitely a clear winner between the two, both are far from the best option out there.
Both of them make a lot of lofty claims and unfortunately offer very little for the money. Yes some of their ingredients do work, and you could easily be tempted to think their $20-30 price points both sound pretty reasonable. But, most of the ingredients in both Amberen and Estroven need to be dosed at 5-10X the amount present to be effective.
Both have pretty good reviews on Amazon, but look around other third party review platforms which aren’t monitored as carefully or as regularly spammed with fake reviews and we have another story. There we see mostly one star reviews on the likes of TP and others.
As to which is better Estroven is the winner, although only just and it’s only one version of it’s many. There’s one version which is just Siberian rhubarb, and then the calm version has about 60% of the cohosh and soy isoflavones to put it in the effective range. So, if you’re on the smaller size it could do something. But, neither of these represent good value against competitors that contain the correct dosages. Ironically Estroven complete is the single ingredient supplement and the worst offender of the bunch.
As for Amberen, you’d be better off with a multivitamin as it does have some b vitamins which are helpful, [1] but the other inclusions in the proprietary blend are basically very low amounts of minerals that they hide in a proprietary blend because if they listed them against the recommended daily intakes it would read in single digit percentages.
This is generally why we recommend EstroCare – (Read Review Here), as they contain the right doses, of most the ingredients in both the products as well as a dozen more, that are more well backed than a lot of the ones in either Amberen or Estroven. Yes, it is double the price. But, ultimately you get 10x the product and ingredients actually present in the clinically tested dosages that both Estroven and Amberen use to make their claims.
Understanding Amberen
Amberen claims itself as a clinically-tested menopause supplement.
It claims to support the endocrine glands, which include the ovaries, thyroid, hypothalamus, and adrenals. By combining antioxidants (succinates), minerals, and vitamin E. And yes the B vitamins are quite useful during menopause, vitamin E is fine [2] and if you clinically test B vitamins you will also have some positive results. [3]
And that’s if you go for the perimenopause version, which has the added B vitamins. As for the rest of the ingredients the zinc difumarate these are ingredients that have a low percentage of the lead mineral, but sound fancy. And yes supplementing zinc has been shown to be beneficial for menopausal women as it’s involved in hormone production and even small deficiencies can cause issue. Once again, Amberen probably wouldn’t do much to beat a multivitamin.
And whilst Amberen claims to relieve up to 12 menopause symptoms, its proprietary formula does not disclose the exact quantity of each ingredient.
Many reviewers have reported little to no relief from symptoms, while others have expressed concerns about the presence of monosodium L-glutamate (MSG). Their trials didn’t show any negative effects, but the positive ones were underwhelming when compared against the results you’d get from a better supplement.
Exploring Estroven
Estroven however, has black cohosh, soy isoflavones and Siberian rhubarb. These are all good ingredients (and all included in EstroCare we mentioned earlier), the problem is that they’re under dosed.
You need at least 100mg of Black Cohosh and Soy Isoflavones. [4,5] The Rhubarb Extract may well be ok, [6] but in general this isn’t great value for $20.
There is also Estroven’s sleep formula, which again has some decent ingredients, but only 2mg won’t work for most people. This is largely considered a dosing size for children or people highly susceptible to the supplement. [7]
Now, as we mentioned if the ingredients were dosed correctly, the clinical trials on said ingredients have shown promising results. With reductions in hot flashes and anxiety reported from the rhubarb and melatonin being well known to aid sleep issues. However, some women have reported no improvement in symptoms or adverse reactions as soy is of course an issue for some people.
Customer Reviews and Ratings
Both brands have mixed reviews overall, and whilst a lot of their products are reviewed positively on Amazon, with a lot of clearly bought reviews. Amberen has garnered quite a few negative ones if you read through. And suspiciously a lot of negative ones with 5* (we suspect customers were offered refunds to update their scores. Whilst some women were praising its ability to alleviate symptoms such as hot flashes and fatigue, and the vitamins and minerals could help, we were more interested in the negatives. And there were a lot that simply said it did nothing.
Estroven, on the other hand, has received a bit more legitimate looking positive feedback from women. Users have reported relief from hot flashes, increased energy levels, and improved mood. Although there was a similar pattern to Amberen if you dig deeper.
Estroven vs Amberen Ingredients Side By Side Comparison
To summarize the key differences between Amberen and Estroven, refer to the following table:
Feature | Amberen | Estroven |
Ingredients | Antioxidants, amino acids, minerals, vitamin E | Black cohosh, soy isoflavones, rhapontic rhubarb extract |
Formulations | Menopause Relief, Perimenopause Relief | Complete Menopause Relief, Weight Management, Sleep Cool, Mood Boost, Stress and Energy Boost |
Price (starting from) | $75 for a three-month supply | $19 for a 28-caplet bottle |
Customer Ratings | 4 out of 5 stars on average | 4 out of 5 stars on average |
Amberen vs Estroven Conclusion
To wrap up, we recommend neither. Both of these supplements may look cheap, but ultimately you get what you pay for. Between underdosed ingredients, and deceptive labelling we can’t really recommend any of their products.
Maybe the single ingredient Siberian rhubarb could be worth it if it works for you, but it’s very overpriced considering that’s 1 of 20 ingredients in $60 a month supplements, or if your particularly lightweight Estroven’s dosages of Cohosh and Soy could work.
That said, when you compare it to the best menopause supplement on the market right now we cannot recommend their products. Ultimately the supermarket brands rely on name recognition and huge marketing budgets and it shows clearly in these products.
References
1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6372850/
2 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9824658/
3 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6372850/
4 - https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/BlackCohosh-HealthProfessional/
5 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8004126/
6 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2837008/
7 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK534823/
