CanesMeno Night

Marketing claims:

From canesten.co.uk [1]:

• "Designed to address the specific nutritional needs of menopausal women"
• "Contains Ashwagandha KSM-66 which supports the maintenance of normal sleep"
• "Vitamin B6 contributes to the regulation of hormonal activity"
• Press release adds: contains hops and B6 to "support hormonal regulation" [2]

The claims are deliberately restrained:

• Claims 2 and 3 are EU-authorised general health claims
• They have passed regulatory wording rules but are not specific to menopause
• The framing of the product as menopause-specific does heavy lifting that the per-ingredient claims do not

Quick Summary

• A food supplement containing ashwagandha, hops, magnesium and vitamin B6, marketed for menopausal sleep and "hormonal regulation"
• No UK or international guideline (NICE [3], BMS [4], IMS [5]) recommends any of these ingredients for menopause symptoms or sleep
• The exact product has not been tested in a clinical trial
• Ashwagandha has moderate evidence for sleep in general adults [6] and small trials in menopause [7][8]; hops, magnesium and B6 evidence is weaker for these uses
• The UK Food Standards Agency is reviewing ashwagandha safety after reports of liver, thyroid and blood sugar effects [9]; not suitable in pregnancy or with thyroid conditions
• Overall, the evidence base is thin and the safety picture is unsettled

More Detail

What the condition is

• Sleep problems affect around half of perimenopausal and menopausal women
• They are driven by night sweats, anxiety and falling hormones [3]
• Supplements are widely marketed as alternatives or add-ons to HRT

What do the guidelines say

• NICE NG23 (2024 update) recommends menopause-specific cognitive behavioural therapy for sleep problems associated with menopause [3]
• NICE does not recommend ashwagandha, hops, magnesium or B6 for menopausal sleep
• The British Menopause Society notes that few complementary treatments stand up to evidence-based scrutiny and warns against unregulated supplements marketed as hormone-balancing [4]
• The 2026 International Menopause Society systematic review found moderate-to-strong evidence only for vitamin D, black cohosh, Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture in specific outcomes
• Ashwagandha and hops are not in the IMS recommended list [5]

What does the evidence say

• The product itself has not been tested in a clinical trial
• A 2021 meta-analysis of five RCTs in 400 adults found ashwagandha had a small but significant effect on sleep, more so at doses of 600 mg or above and in people with insomnia, but studies were in general adults, not menopausal women [6]
• Two small RCTs in perimenopausal and menopausal women (n=100 and n=60, both single-site studies in India) reported reductions in menopause symptom scores with ashwagandha root extract [7][8]
• Hops contains 8-prenylnaringenin, a potent phytoestrogen; small RCTs suggest it may reduce hot flushes [10], but it is not a "hormone-free" ingredient in the way some retailers describe
• No good-quality RCT supports B6 for menopausal sleep or hot flushes [11]
• The "regulation of hormonal activity" claim is an EU-authorised general statement about B6 metabolism, not a menopause-specific claim [11]

Safety

• The UK Food Standards Agency has been reviewing ashwagandha since 2024 after incident reports of thyroid toxicity, hypoglycaemia and liver injury [9]
• The Committee on Toxicity could not establish a safe consumption level
• Hops phytoestrogen activity means it is not appropriate in women with hormone-sensitive cancers without medical advice

Bottom Line

• CanesMeno Night is a reasonable thing to try if your sleep is poor and you're not ready for or eligible for HRT
• The ingredients are well-chosen and the doses are sensible, but the specific product has not been tested as a whole
• The strongest evidence is for ashwagandha and sleep in general adults, not specifically in menopausal women
• If you take it for a few weeks and notice a real difference, that is useful information; if you do not, you have not missed anything the guidelines would have recommended
• One genuine caveat: ashwagandha is under active UK safety review for rare liver and thyroid effects, so flag it to your GP if you take thyroid medication, have liver issues, or plan to use it long-term

References

1. Canesten UK. CanesMeno Night product page. 2026. Available at: https://www.canesten.co.uk/discover-canesten-products/canesmeno-night. No PMID (manufacturer website).
2. Bayer. Bayer UK Launches New CanesMeno Educational Hub and Product Range to Transform Menopause Support. Press release, 29 January 2025. Available at: https://www.bayer.com/media/en-us/bayer-uk-launches-new-canesmeno-educational-hub-and-product-range-to-transform-menopause-support/. No PMID (press release).
3. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Menopause: identification and management. NICE guideline NG23. 2015, updated 2024. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng23. No PMID (clinical guideline).
4. British Menopause Society. Non-hormonal based treatments for menopausal symptoms. Consensus statement, 2025. Available at: https://thebms.org.uk/publications/consensus-statements/non-hormonal-based-treatments-menopausal-symptoms/. No PMID (clinical guideline).
5. Maunder A, Bensoussan A, Vermeulen N et al. Complementary therapies for management of menopausal symptoms: a systematic review to inform the update of the International Menopause Society recommendations on women's midlife health. Climacteric 2026;29(2):165-209. DOI: 10.1080/13697137.2025.2584061. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13697137.2025.2584061.
6. Cheah KL, Norhayati MN, Husniati Yaacob L, Abdul Rahman R. Effect of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) extract on sleep: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One 2021;16(9):e0257843. PMID: 34559859. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34559859/
7. Gopal S, Ajgaonkar A, Kanchi P et al. Effect of an ashwagandha (Withania Somnifera) root extract on climacteric symptoms in women during perimenopause: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. J Obstet Gynaecol Res 2021;47(12):4414-4425. PMID: 34553463. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34553463/
8. Vani I, Muralidhar G, Rao BS. A prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study on efficacy and safety of Ashwagandha root extract (Withania somnifera) for managing menopausal symptoms in women. Front Reprod Health 2026;7:1647721. PMID: 41561822. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41561822/
9. Food Standards Agency. Call for evidence on ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) in food supplements: summary of responses. 2024. Available at: https://www.food.gov.uk/our-work/summary-of-responses-to-call-for-evidence-on-ashwagandha. No PMID (regulatory consultation).
10. Aghamiri V, Mirghafourvand M, Mohammad-Alizadeh-Charandabi S, Nazemiyeh H. The effect of Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) on early menopausal symptoms and hot flashes: A randomized placebo-controlled trial. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2016;23:130-135. PMID: 26850808. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26850808/
11. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies. Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to vitamin B6 and protein and glycogen metabolism, function of the nervous system, red blood cell formation, function of the immune system, regulation of hormonal activity and mental performance pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. EFSA Journal 2009;7(9):1225. Available at: https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/j.efsa.2009.1225. No PMID (regulatory opinion).

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