I am delighted to see more attention paid every month to issues regarding menopause and perimenopause, with articles popping up in every magazine and newspaper, often with celebrities talking about their experiences. We're finally starting to have a voice in the world about this critical time in life. While this is a fantastic development, one of the dark sides is that it has opened up a market for companies to sell products that claim to help with menopause symptoms, but have no scientific backing.

This is particularly worrisome because it preys on women in a very vulnerable time in life who may be experiencing truly devastating symptoms that have serious future health ramifications.

Marketing products that are not proven to be helpful, is not only unethical, but is harming women. Today I'm talking about the business of supplements sold to improve menopause symptoms, and discussing the fact that not one single supplement has any scientific backing to support the claims that menopause symptoms are reduced. In the meantime, bioidentical hormone replacement has been rigorously studied and shown not only to be safe, but to have very important health benefits that should not be ignored because of unfounded fears.

Each of us can make her own decision but today I'm inviting you to think and be smart, and not let people pray on our vulnerability, or assume that we are not smart enough to understand scientific studies. While the ingredients in many menopause symptoms products are very good for numerous things, none of them has been shown to help with the symptoms of menopause.

This is an invitation to be very careful and not to believe everything that you are told by celebrities who are being paid to deliver a message that is potentially harmful.