‘I’m an OB/GYN—This Is the One Nutrient Post-Menopausal Women Should Get Less Of’

Menopause can be a confusing life stage to navigate. It can feel like everything is thrown off: Your sleep, your mood, your body temperature … Knowing how to properly nourish your body during menopause is not only important for giving the body everything it needs to thrive, it can make symptoms easier to navigate. Didn’t know your nutritional needs change during menopause? They do!

Here, an OB/GYN specializing in menopause explains how nutrient needs change during menopause. Plus, find out the one nutrient women need less of as they enter the post-menopausal stage.

How Nutritional Needs Change During Menopause

On average, most women enter menopause between the ages of 45 and 56, which happens when women stop menstruating because of a decrease in estrogen. Dr. Dympna Weil, MD, a board-certified OB/GYN and speaker at Prescribing Possibility, explains that there are several ways that nutrient needs change during menopause.

According to Dr. Weil, women in menopause or post-menopause need more calcium than they used to. She says that after age 51, the daily recommendation of calcium increases from 1,000 milligrams a day to 1,200 milligrams a day, adding that this ideally comes through diet and using a supplement to fill in any dietary gaps. The reason women need more calcium as they age is to keep bones strong. Menopause significantly speeds up bone loss, increasing the risk of osteoporosis.

Even though it’s important to get more calcium during and post-menopause, Dr. Weil warns against going overboard. “More is not better and can cause kidney stones, so it’s important to talk with your doctor about any supplements you are thinking of starting,” she advised.

In addition to increasing the amount of calcium you’re consuming, Dr. Weil says it’s also important to make sure you’re getting enough vitamin D, another important nutrient for bone health, noting, “As we get older, our skin’s ability to make vitamin D decreases, which means we may be at risk of having a vitamin D deficiency.”

Vitamin D is critical for calcium absorption. This means, even if you are taking in calcium, without proper vitamin D levels you are not optimally absorbing it. “We should be getting about 600 international units of vitamin D per day; and if deficient, it may be more. A blood test by your doctor is needed to tell if there is a deficiency,” she explained.

While it’s especially important to be mindful of how much calcium and vitamin D you’re getting during and after menopause, it’s also important to meet your other nutrient needs, including getting adequate protein and fiber. To understand your nutrient needs as you age, MyPlate.gov can be a great resource and can show what it looks like to meet these needs through food.

The One Nutrient Post-Menopausal Women Need Less Of

While it’s true that entering menopause, as well as the post-menopausal life stage, means it’s important to get more of certain nutrients, it would be a misconception to think you need more of every nutrient. In fact, there’s one nutrient that Dr. Weil says post-menopausal women need less of: iron.

“After menopause, women no longer bleed every month with their periods, so their iron levels are higher. That means they need less iron from their diet or supplements,” Dr. Weil explained. Per Dr. Weil, if someone gets too much iron, it gets stored in their internal organs, like the liver, pancreas and heart, as well as the joints. As a result, overdoing it with iron can potentially slowly lead to symptoms like abdominal pain, joint pain and fatigue over time.

What’s the sweet spot for getting enough iron—but not too much—post-menopause? A good guideline to aim for is 8 milligrams a day, which is 10 grams less than the recommended daily dose before menopause. It’s not that difficult to get 8 milligrams of iron: One cup of white beans, for example, has four milligrams, already getting you halfway there. One serving of spinach (about ⅔ cup) has three milligrams. A four-ounce serving of beef contains four milligrams of iron.

If you have any questions about your nutrient needs during and after menopause, it can be helpful to talk to your primary care physician or OB/GYN as well as a registered dietitian. A primary care physician or OB/GYN can do blood work to see if you are deficient in any key nutrients and a dietitian can help you figure out how to meet your nutrient needs through food in a way that fits your food preferences and lifestyle.

When all your nutrient needs are met, you’ll be laying the foundation to thrive during menopause—and beyond. You’ll be nourishing your entire body, including your brain and bones. Your golden years sure are looking bright!