The University of Reading's INFORM Innovation Hub backed a feasibility study on 1 July 2026 for a novel functional snack aimed at perimenopausal symptoms and well-being. The pilot, titled Impact of a novel functional snack on perimenopausal symptoms and well-being: a pilot study, is led by Professor Ana Rodriguez-Mateos of King's College London. As a feasibility study, it tests whether the snack can be studied properly and whether it produces early signals worth taking into a larger trial.
Perimenopause is linked to mood disturbances, anxiety, poor sleep, vasomotor symptoms, gastrointestinal discomfort and reduced well-being, and those symptoms are tied to declining oestrogen. The hormonal shift can disturb the gut microbiome, increase inflammation and contribute to cardiometabolic and mental health risk. Vasomotor symptoms are the most commonly reported menopausal symptoms, affecting around 80% of menopausal women, according to NICE. NHS guidance covers common perimenopause and menopause symptoms and ways to help manage them.
The study is a double-blind, randomised crossover pilot in women aged 40 to 55 who are not on hormone replacement therapy, according to ClinicalTrials.gov. Participants will take a daily snack rich in dietary fibre and phytochemicals, compare it with a calorie-matched placebo snack, then cross over after a four-week washout period. The trial runs for four weeks on one snack, four weeks off, then four weeks on the other. It will assess mood, stress, sleep quality, cognition, depression and anxiety, along with microbial diversity, gut-derived metabolites, stress hormones and female sex hormones.
Close to four million women aged 45 to 55 are employed in the UK, according to the government. A government review on menopause in the workplace examines the impact of symptoms on work and the cost to the economy. In a CIPD survey, 67% of working women aged 40 to 60 with menopause symptoms said their work was negatively affected, and 53% said they had taken sick leave because of symptoms.
The Tula Code has an independent research partnership with King's College London and calls this pilot the SWAP study, short for Snacking for Wellbeing And Perimenopausal Health. Rodriguez-Mateos' work spans plant foods, phytochemicals and the gut microbiome.