The Singapore International Menopause Congress

Cut to the case on location in Singapore. Hear Jonathan’s 5 take homes about women’s health in midlife as he and Sonia attend the Singapore International Menopause conference 2026.

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SPEAKER_00 0:05

Here's five things I learnt at the Singapore International Menopause Congress.

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It might seem crazy.

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Hi, it's Jonathan.

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Hi, it's Sonia.

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And this is Catholic Cape. And Sonia, where are we?

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We're in beautiful Singapore. We're at the Singapore International Menopause Congress. There are menopause experts and experts in midlife women's health and beyond from all over the world, from as far away as the UK, the US and Australia.

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And this meeting's covered a whole lot of ground. There's a whole lot of things that I've learnt, and I thought we should go through five things that we've learned from the conference.

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Why not?

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Let's go. Number five. The women's health gap. Women spend an average of nine years in poor health. Often menopause related.

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And it's much more than men. It's 25% more relative to men.

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And the thing is, closing that healthcare gap would actually improve not only the health of women, but would boost global economy.

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By about a trillion.

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A trillion by 2040. So that's amazing. Number four. Misinformation. Sonia, there's a lot of misinformation. I know you're big on fixing the misinformation in in women's health. What's the deal with DHEA?

SPEAKER_01 1:22

DHEA is used widely as a supplement for anything from menopause symptoms, libido, anti-aging, and memory, but the studies suggest when we look at the meta-analyses that there's no net benefit compared with placebo.

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So does that mean it just doesn't work?

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Doesn't do anything.

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So like it's a waste of time.

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Waste of time.

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Number three, non-hormonal treatments. Equals. What are equals, Sonia?

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Well, equals there's a lot of um interest in this area, especially from Asia. We're very interested in soy products and the conversion of compounds into compounds that act like estrogens. So there's a lot of information about equals. Asian populations convert soy and other products in their gut to equals, which can be very useful for treating menopause symptoms. They actually act biochemically like an estrogen.

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So you don't have to take hormone replacement therapy if you take equals.

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Is that what well there's a lot of debate about that, whether we add it or whether it's part of a healthy diet. And only about 30% of Westerners convert to equals, whereas in Asian countries it's up to 60 to 80%. So we think it's a factor of their diet as well.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Okay, so equals number two.

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There's a lot of interest in modulating the temperature pathway from the hypothalamus in terms of controlling vasomotor symptoms, flushes, and sweats. And there is a new agent, phesolinitant. There will be a newer agent coming out, possibly this year or beyond called Elinzanotant. Very long names, but essentially they block the nerves in the hypothalamus, which lead to the flush and sweat response. They don't treat the other symptoms and menopause, but if you're not flushing and sweating as much, you might have a secondary benefit for sleep mood and so on.

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And you can take that if you couldn't ordinarily take other HRT.

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Yes.

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Number one. Sleep. So high insomnia is associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease.

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The whole lot. Atriofibrillation, hypertension, heart failure as well.

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So if you're not sleeping from your hot flushes, that's a big problem.

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Absolutely. And if you're not sleeping for other reasons, that's a problem.

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50% of women have self-reported poor sleep.

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During perimenopause, and that can extend beyond menopause.

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And what are we talking about? How many hours would you recommend?

SPEAKER_01 3:50

When we're looking at cardiovascular risk and also dementia risk, it's a figure of less than six hours. So we want to be seven or eight hours. We don't want to actually be longer than that. That's actually adverse uh events associated with that as well. Yeah, we don't want to sleep in too much. But less than six hours is where the risk for cardiovascular disease and dementia comes in.

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And finally, Sonia, it's always fascinating to attend the regional congress and learn about different cultures and healthcare. Also, cuisine. What do you reckon about Singaporean cuisine?

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Well, I'm very, very full after several eight course Chinese banquets.

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I don't think we'll have to eat for another week. Anyway, that's enough from us. See ya.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Bye.