The Menopause Show With Sue Moxley – Dr Jennifer Martin – Biggers, Hum Nutrition

Hi, this is Sue Moxley. This is Women's Radio Station. This is my show, The Menopause Show. Remember to follow us on all the socials, so that's Instagram, Women's Radio Station abbreviated to STN, Facebook, and YouTube. Today my guest is Dr. Jennifer. So I'm going to let Dr. Jennifer introduce herself now. Hi, Sue. Thanks for having me this morning. My name is Jennifer Martin-Biggers. I am the head of scientific affairs and education at HUM Nutrition, a dietary supplement and wellness company in California. My background is as a nutrition scientist and registered dietitian. So I've worked in a variety of different areas in nutrition and wellness, and my role at HUM and really my passion in my career and in this industry is taking scientific evidence, evaluating it, creating products and programs, education that are helpful for people throughout different life phases, different experiences to really help to provide nutrition benefits that are beneficial for everyone. And is one of those the menopause? Yes, yes, definitely. Especially at HUM Nutrition, we are very, very focused on women's wellness and supporting women throughout their different life cycles. Menopause obviously being one of those very important ones. So, so what, so what is HUM Nutrition? Is there supplements or is it, um, you know, diet information. Could you explain that to us? Yeah, of course. So HUM Nutrition is a dietary supplement company. We sell dietary supplements through our website, online, different retailers, and we also provide access to registered dietitians. So I have a team of registered dietitians that work for us. So if people do have questions about either the supplements they're taking or other diet or nutrition questions, they can reach out to us and talk to a qualified nutrition expert as well, and that is a free service that we offer. Okay, and is that just in America, or can that be, can you do that from the UK? Yep, yep, you can do it from the UK as well on our website. We just have to get our timings right though, don't we? It's 6 o'clock at night here. What time is it there? 10 AM. 10 AM in the morning. So, uh, yeah, you've, you've just got up and I'm going to go and have dinner soon and go to bed. But, um, so tell me a little bit more about the supplements. Are they, you know, are they extra special or are, you know, are they really excellent? I mean, I think so because I, I designed them myself. But the two, two of the things that we, we really pride ourselves on that are important to our customers, that are important to me as a scientist in particular as well, is that we focus on making sure that our products are— we call it clean and clinical. And to unpack that a little bit, the clean means that we follow all of the regulatory guidance. We pursue additional certifications, the way that our products are manufactured and the ingredients that we use. We also engage with a third-party company called the Clean Label Project, and they actually independently purchase products, test them, and test them for a variety of environmental contaminants, pesticide residues, plasticizers, things that people are concerned about in their food and dietary supplement products, but there's no really good way to know if, um, You know, your products are free of those or have minimum levels. So we partner with them to help support our clean initiatives to make sure that our products are, you know, what the consumer would consider clean. Our products, we also say that they are clinical. And clinical means that we utilize the scientific evidence. And when we're creating products and selecting ingredients, we look to see what are the forms of certain ingredients. Is it like the root? Is it an extract? How much of it was used? Used in the clinical study to then make sure that that's exactly what we're putting into our products so that the benefits seen in the clinical studies, we can ensure that that same benefit then will be, um, exists in our product for our consumers. Oh, okay. So it sounds like you do lots of tests on your products. Um, do other companies not do that then? So I'm not— I'm, you know, ignorant there. I don't really know. Yeah, I mean, do, do all sort of supplement companies do that, or is yours unique in that way? Yeah, that's a really good question. So there are, at least in the United States, there's strict regulations around how supplements are made in terms of the quality to ensure that the ingredients that are being put in, that they are, they're pure, they're what they're supposed to be, they're at the potency levels they're supposed to be, they aren't contaminated with bacteria, mold, things like that. So we follow all of those strict guidelines. We also do some additional testing above and beyond that ourselves. Themselves. The thing that really helps us then stand out, I think, that most other companies, the vast majority, are not doing is this additional testing with the Clean Label Project, because it really goes above and beyond where there actually is lab testing going on versus like non-GMO. Our products are non-GMO, but to get non-GMO certification, for example, it's, it's a, it's a paper evaluation. So the products aren't actually being tested. For the presence of any genetically modified or engineered ingredients. So it's that, that, that testing bit is really, um, nice objective way to, to ensure that our products, you know, that they're, we're, we're backing them up. Okay. They sound excellent. So kind of what, what supplements do you have for the menopause, for example? Yeah. So our, our star menopause product, we have a supplement called Fam Club. And Fan Club is designed— we designed this specific product to target menopause symptoms specifically in perimenopausal and menopausal women. Yeah, we also have other products that support women going through menopause. We have vitamin D, a vegan vitamin D. We have a vegan calcium supplement, omega-3. We have a lot of skin, hair, and mood products. So if you're experiencing, you know, loss of elasticity or hydration, um, fine lines and wrinkles. We also have products that help to support that with ingredients like ceramides, collagen, vitamin C, other antioxidants as well. Oh, okay. So are they oral products, or, or do you do some skin supplements as well? They're all oral, so all of the products we have are, are ingested. But, um, the the company, we do have a, a history that when the company was first founded, a lot of the emphasis was on this beauty from within with taking supplements that have specific benefits and have been researched in certain ways to support different skin health outcomes. Oh, okay, okay. Is it true— this is— this— I'll ask you this because I've been meaning to ask someone this for a while now. Is it true that What if you ingest, say, a vitamin or a supplement that you lose some of it in the digestion process? Oh, that's a very good question. And like, yes and no, right? It kind of depends. So when a food or supplement is going through your digestive system, there's different acids and enzymes and so forth that are working on it and starting to degrade it and break it down. That's where I really see, you know, looking at what the human clinical studies have been shown is where it's really important. So even if, you know, there is some breakdown of, you know, like an antioxidant that you're consuming, if they're shown that it's superior to a placebo in studies in people, you can, you know, be pretty well assured that even that decrease in um, how like bioavailable it is, is still going to give benefits to you. So it's— there is some degradation, it varies a lot, but it, um, overall doesn't really affect the efficacy of supplements. Okay, yeah, I just wondered if one day, you know, we might be kind of rubbing supplements in our gums or something, or injecting ourselves. I don't know, um, just, uh, and is it possible to have too much of, um, yeah, definitely. We actually, um, for example, we have a lot of products that contain zinc. And zinc, most people consume a certain amount of zinc per day and foods that they're eating. There's some really nice benefits of zinc for helping with like acne and breakout prevention in particular. So being a skin, you know, having a lot of skin supplements, we have a lot of products that contain zinc, but you can have too much zinc. So we actually have some systems built in on our website so that people can't purchase too many products that contain an over amount of zinc because it can cause some problems when, when taken for a long time. Same with chromium as well. So there's, there's definitely such a thing as, as taking too much. Oh, oh, that's interesting. So what, what, what would happen if you took too much zinc then? Um, what, what could be the side effects of that? Yeah, good question. It's, um, it's one of those things where it, it generally takes you taking too much zinc for a very long time for problems to show up, but it can actually— it competes with copper in our bodies um, so your body then is not getting sufficient copper, which can cause certain, um, like, like nerve problems and stuff like that. So it's, it's not like a drastic going to, to kill you sort of thing, but it can, you know, cause some potential issues in the body. Oh, okay. So, um, how did you, um, how did you come to be in this business? Is it something that always interested you, or was there something happened to you that um, made you want to have, uh, you know, to work for a company like this? Or— yeah, um, I would say it— my passion for nutrition and health started when I was, um, in university, an undergraduate, and I, I wanted to be a medical doctor. That's what I, I wanted to be really badly. And after 2 years of school, I just— but this is— this isn't for me. I don't want to be a surgeon. I don't want to you'd be dealing with horribly sick people. This is just not— I'm more interested in the wellness and prevention aspect of it. I've always loved food and cooking, and I just kind of stumbled across the food and nutrition program at my university. And I was looking for different courses to take and so forth. And I never knew that you could have a career as a, as a dietitian. So it was really interesting to me, and it just— everything sort of clicked. Like, this is, this is exactly what I want to do and, and where I want to be. And I've always, throughout my, my education career then, I just, I loved research and the science behind things, how things work, the intersection with our psychology, our behaviors, our environment, everything just kind of coming together and I just really, really love being able to be in a position where I can be helping people and helping people through, you know, working with a company that has very strong ethics in terms of the products that we make. We make really unique and interesting products. We make products that have really good efficacy, good safety. It's really kind of— it's all kind of gelled for me at HUM Nutrition in many ways. Oh, that's amazing. No, I understand about, um, not, you know, I mean, I admire doctors, um, but I do think you have to be a certain type of person, don't you, to be able to deal with everything that goes with it? Because it isn't just about healing people, it's seeing some real things. And, you know, I think you'd have to be able to really cut off from that to, to be able to do it. I mean, I have a— yeah, yeah, I have a tenant living, living with us at the moment, and she's actually a surgeon, and she tells us stories over dinner because she cooks us Chinese because she's Chinese. And she tells the stories, and they, they just— she doesn't get emotionally involved in it at all. It's like she sees the body as a machine rather than a person. So So that— yeah, I understand. So, so do you have like a degree or something in nutrition, or, you know, is there, as my neighbor calls it, an ology? Do you have an ology in it? Yeah, I have, um, a bachelor's and master's degrees in nutrition science, a PhD in nutrition science, and then between— after I did my master's degree, I went, um, and did training. It's about a year-long training to become a registered dietitian. Um, it's a year-long training in clinical settings and also requires an exam at the end. And I, I have to maintain that, that specific registration and certification separately. So yeah, I have 3 degrees and an RD. Wow. Amazing. So are you really good with your own diet then? Be honest. Oh gosh, that's a good question. Um, I will be honest. Yeah, overall, yes, I would say yes. Overall, when I'm cooking food for the family or, you know, feeding myself or I'm out to eat, I see food like for its nutritional value is oftentimes how I put together meals. I think, okay, am I— is there enough protein in this? Is— am I— did I have 4 or 5 fruits and vegetables today? Am I getting enough fiber? So I do kind of, you know, in the back of my head, I'm constantly working through everything. It helps that I like vegetables. My favorite food is a salad. Not because I, you know, want to be a dietitian who eats salads, but I really, I just, I love vegetables and I always have. But yeah, we did have ice cream for dinner last night, so I'm not perfect. You had ice cream for dinner? Yeah. When you say salad, you say, in England, a salad is obviously like tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, all of those kind of things. But then people put, you know, coleslaw, like full fat things on it, and potatoes and cheese. And so when you say a salad, do you mean just a salad, you know? Like any salad, honestly. Yeah, I like— my favorite thing to make is I use, um, I just have like chopped lettuce or kale. I like kale. I'm a strange— my husband says I'm strange that I actually like the taste of kale. Yeah, garbanzo beans, like roasted sweet potatoes, some cheese, like a little bit of cheese, like a light vinegar and olive oil. A little salt. So I, I try to make it be my, my, like, a base where I'm getting vegetables, I'm getting fiber, but then I don't, I don't shy away from putting things like, you know, cheese or something on it that, that helps make it a little bit tastier sometimes. Yeah, more interesting, because, um, yeah, I like salads and vegetables as well, but, but I also like all the bad things. Um, like french fries and, uh, yeah, chocolate and ice cream, which is not a good idea. But, um, I have been very good lately. I've recently lost 20 pounds. Don't know how I've done it. Tried for 8 years, um, and I think I've come to the conclusion that I was more unhappy feeling overweight and sluggish than I was in deleting some of the foods from my diet. I think that's how I've sort of come to terms with it, really, that one thing's better than the other, you know. So do you have children? No, just, just dogs and my husband, and I'm aunt. I am an aunt to 5 wonderful little kids that I try and spend time with when possible. But 5, 5, did you say? Yeah, yeah, I have 4 nephews and 1 niece. Oh, how sweet. So are you always telling, um, your brothers and sisters or, or whatever what, what they should be eating, or are you very good at not doing that? Oh, I, I try not to do it. Um, it is funny though, my, my niece, she's a very picky eater. She's 4 years old and my sister will call me and she's like, oh, you know, she has a question. She wants to ask you a question about food. So it's, it's cute. My niece will call me and she says, oh, since you're a food doctor, what about this? Mom told me I should, you know, eat this instead of that. What do you think? And so it's, it's very cute. It's a lot of fun. Oh, I met someone the other day, um, I mean, this isn't really— I think this is obviously more of a psychological thing, but I wondered if you'd ever come across it where this lady's child would only eat certain foods. And in her case, the only thing she actually eats, and I mean all the time, is garlic bread. And she's deficient in all sorts of— she won't even take vitamins. Because she, she just literally will not have anything else apart from water. There's a certain diet, diet drink, Coke or something that she'll drink, but she even knows the different tastes of the brands. Have you ever come across anyone like this before? Oh yeah, yeah. A lot of my, my graduate work when I was doing my PhD was focused on child eating behaviors. Yeah. And yeah, there's, there's a lot of times, especially like, like 2 to 7 years old where, you know, hopefully it's just a period that they go through. It's a phase that they go through. They have different aversions to tastes and smells and textures and so forth. But it's, yeah, it's one of those things. It's sometimes you can kind of work through it on your own, but you, you know, oftentimes parents need to call in professional help to see a therapist or meet with a dietitian or nutritionist or something to kind of work through those issues and try some different tactics and techniques to kind of slowly get the child out of that. But oftentimes they outgrow it, but not always. So it is good to see if there's ways to help behaviorally with that. So you've seen that before? It's something that crops up, you know, occasionally? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's various reasons why a child will do that, um, but yeah, yeah, definitely something that happens. Oh yeah, it sounds like a very extreme version of— yeah, the most extreme. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's been going on for years and she's deficient and also in, you know, but I just thought— I wondered what your opinion was on that. So apart from the supplements and being able to contact a dietitian, is there anything else that the HUM Nutrition offers? What does HUM stand for, by the way? Oh, it doesn't stand for anything. It's like hum, like the sound hum. Our logo is a little hummingbird. Oh, so the, the story behind it with the, the co-founders— the one, one of our founders, our CEO, he, he likes humming and just thought like the, the sound that it makes is very relaxing. Even to say hum, it sounds kind of, you know, like an om, like in meditation. And the hummingbird just being like a very, you know, it's hard not to smile when you see a hummingbird. They're just a very lovely, energetic, beautiful bird. So kind of picked that as our— In the UK? Not that I know of. Oh, we have a lot. We have a lot here in my yard. It's great. We have really pretty pink and purple flowers outside of my kitchen that they're always, always humming about. Very lucky. That sounds amazing. How big are they? Do you mind me asking? They're tiny. Yeah, they're maybe, um, like 5 centimeters. I think I've seen some small ones, maybe, maybe a little bit more, 10 centimeters maybe. That's really small. That's small. It's more— less like a bird and more like an insect of some sort, I suppose. Yeah, they're quite small. My husband one time was at a coffee shop with a friend and they're sitting outside and a little hummingbird like sat down on the bench next to him and he took his— the lid of his coffee cup and this little hummingbird was just kind of like fitting inside the lid of the coffee cup and they got some juice and just kind of poured it in and gave the hummingbird some energy to start flying again. So yeah, they can fit inside the lid of a coffee cup. So yeah, so that, that's the story of how you got the name. Why is the menopause supplements called Fan? Is that a— is there a reason for that? Yeah, so we pride ourselves, we have a lot of kind of cute quirky names for our products to be kind of cheeky and fun with it instead of being kind of overly intense and kind of scary sounding. So the Fan Club name came about when we were brainstorming as a team on a name for this product, thinking about, you know, what is the benefit? One of the ingredients in particular has really nice research that it reduces severity of hot flashes and night sweats. So we thought, okay, it's like a, you know, like using a fan to kind of cool down. Right. And then we like the club and fan club, like, you know, like we're We're your fans, we're here to— it's here to support you, this product is here to support you, like a fan club for a rock star or movie star or something like that, to make you feel like, you know, you've got this product behind the scenes cheering you on and supporting you. So kind of a couple different ways that we thought about it. So it's got two meanings kind of thing, really. Yeah. Fancy cool down and the fan club that we're fans of it because it's doing us good. Things I did ask, I don't think we, we got around to answering it. Um, so you have the supplements and you have the dietitians. Is there anything else? Um, those are our main product is the supplements. We do provide, uh, people go on to our website, there's a quiz where you can get, uh, customized product recommendations. Right. I don't believe all of our products that may be recommended are available in the UK, but if someone is interested, that could be a way to start, and then you could reach out and kind of talk to one of the dietitians and, and customize with what's available in the UK too. Okay. Um, yeah, it sounds interesting. So, um, when did, when did you join HUM then, or HUM? Yeah, we just call it HUM. I joined about 2 and a half years ago, so during, during, uh, during COVID and all the stay at home was still going on. So it was interesting joining a company and never seeing anyone face to face for several months. So, um, actually in my garden, a mother's just feeding a baby bird as I'm talking to you now. So sweet. I love that. So what— so before that, was you still studying or was you in another job before that? Because I don't really know how old you are, so I don't really know. Oh yeah, I'm 38. I was in school till I was in my early 30s because I worked in hospitals for a few years before I went back to do my PhD. But no, I've worked for a variety of companies since I finished my PhD. So I worked at PepsiCo, the giant food company, for a bit. And since then I've worked at other smaller companies overseeing kind of similar to what I do now, product development, the science behind products, running clinical studies or consumer studies to support the product efficacy. So That's one of the things that I do at HUM as well is oversee clinical studies that we conduct on some of our products. So Fan Club, for example, after the product was launched or around the time it was launched, we finished up a clinical study. So we sponsored a research study. It had a third-party research group conduct it for us, recruit the participants and so forth. Because we really wanted to show the people who are interested in taking Fan Club, you know, not only are these ingredients very well backed up with scientific research, but also this product itself has been studied to show these benefits to reduce severity of hot flashes and, and other symptoms associated with, with menopause and perimenopause. Oh, wow. So I need to, to try some of these, I think. So Yeah. So, um, have you got anything else that you're possibly going to bring out? Is there any new products on the horizon? We, we always have new products on the horizon. Um, the most recently we've come out with a variety of new gummies. Okay. And for sale at a big retailer in the US, they're called Target, which has been our big push this past year. So the most recent product that we launched is a fiber gummy with celery juice. So we call it our Celery Juice Fiber Gummies. And the thing that's great about that is it provides vitamins from a serving of celery juice. And then also it provides 4, 4.5 grams of fructooligosaccharide. Prebiotic fiber. So the great thing about that specific type of fiber is it's a really good prebiotic. So it helps to nurture your gut microbiome, the good bacteria in your intestine, some, some good food to ferment and do all of their, their good things in there. It also helps with improving regularity, which is nice and something that people are always looking for. And it does so without causing bloating, which can be a side effect of some fibres. Yeah. Is celery— celery as well, isn't that really quite good for— I mean, I know it does help you to— it's a— what is it called when you lose water? It's just gone out my head just for a second. Diuretic. Yeah, it's a diuretic. So is that good for kind of weight loss as well, or, or not really? Is it not really made for that? Uh, it's not really made for that. We don't have, you know, specific ingredients in it that would cause someone to lose weight. Um, that's not the way that it's, it's designed. And like a diuretic effect, it's, you know, you're, you're, you're urinating out excess water, but it's not actually it's not causing meaningful weight loss. So you may, you know, weigh a little bit less, but it's because you have less fluid inside of your body. Yeah, okay. It's just that sometimes, you know, that makes me happy, even if, even if it's not real. Get on the scale, yeah, the pound, but it's not a real pound, it's, um, yeah, water. Yeah, I get that. So, um, the target's really huge, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, it's a really big— yeah, it's, it's huge, especially in, in, um, in the, in the supplement space for vitamins and minerals. It's one of— I think it's the number one place that people go to aside from the internet to purchase dietary supplements right now. So it's really great for us to be able to get, to get into that store and get in front of more people. Yeah, that's absolutely amazing. Do they have hundreds of stores all over? Yeah, thousands of stores, over 2,000 stores. It's great. I love Target personally. It's been great. With the orders, the production, you know? Yeah, so far so good. Yeah, yeah, we did a lot of work behind the scenes. Our inventory management and supply chain teams have done done really well to try and get everything worked out so that we've got enough product, things are shipping out on time, because it is definitely adding more to the team's workload. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I had my own makeup range some years back in a big store here, or a chain store, Superdrug, and It was difficult in that certain items would sell out really quickly and then there would be other items that didn't sell. And so you would have to— I can't really explain what I'm trying to say, but we used to get in a bit of a pickle. We'd have lots of stock of one thing that didn't sell and then run out regularly of the, of the top sellers, and then the, the store got, got annoyed if you couldn't, you know, um, keep up with the production. So it's good that you did that first, uh, yeah, that you didn't have any of those problems. That's really good. But if it's just one product, is it just one product that you've got in there then, the gummies? Uh, we actually have 4. Um, so we've got a, uh, Ashwagandha Calm gummy, our Hair Strong hair growth gummy. We have a sleep gummy that has prebiotic fiber and melatonin called Beauty Z. And then we also have a PMS gummy. It's called SOS PMS, and it helps with supporting PMS symptoms. Oh, what's the bestseller? Have you got a bestseller out of those? Out of curiosity. Yeah, no, I— they're again, they're all doing really well. And the Calm gummy is doing much better. We're selling a lot of the ashwagandha Calm gummy. It's interesting. I think, you know, one of the reasons I think it may be a big seller is people are looking for stress relief. They're looking for that kind of calming effect. Ashwagandha is a very popular ingredient here. And one of the other leading ashwagandha gummies, um, you actually have to take 4 gummies to get the same amount of ashwagandha to get the, the stress relief effect that's shown in clinical studies. As for our gummy, it's 2 gummies that you only need to take per day. So it's, you know, there is calories and sugars in most gummies, so it's nice to be able to get the benefit with, with you know, a little bit less sugar too. Oh yeah, that's good. I think, yeah, I think the whole world is stressed though, isn't it? So anything to do with anti-anxiety or calming is, is a really good thing to be providing. So what is your favorite food? And tell me what you think is the best, the most beneficial food, and the worst food that you possibly ate? Oh gosh, um, I know you said you like one. Um, don't pick one. Oh gosh, yeah, I mean, I would say like vegetables in general, like leafy greens. They've got lots of vitamins and minerals in them. They can be eaten in a variety of different ways, which is nice. It makes it easier to incorporate it into, into your diet. And, um, and the fiber benefits as well. So whether it's kale or spinach, um, you can even— I sometimes, if I make a smoothie, I have some frozen spinach I put into my smoothie. So they're very versatile and have lots of lots of nutritional benefits. Okay, worst foods, I would probably say— I think of like, like packaged snack foods, uh, like little packaged snack cakes or donuts that are in a little plastic package, and there's no redeeming quality unless you like the taste of it. But, you know, to me they, they taste awful and they taste like plastic and they don't taste good and they just are, you know, sugar, full of fat. Um, and yeah, just no nutritional value whatsoever, just, just calories and, and things that you don't want to be putting in your body. Do you think it's true that, um, that people make those kind of foods knowing that they are addictive and that you become addicted to them, so therefore you sell more? Do you think that's a thing, or am I being controversial? Um, I would say no. I mean, especially since I worked for a couple of years at PepsiCo. I worked specifically on the beverage side, and you know, it was interesting. I had some peers that were, oh, you know, you research childhood obesity and now you go work for a soda company. And I'm like, well, you know, I can do a lot of good working at a soda company, helping to make sure that they have waters and other types of products available, or that we bring down sugars or fats and salt amounts. So it's a balance, right, between providing like nutritional nutritionally beneficial products, and then things that people like to eat and drink, because, you know, these companies, they, they're not run by dietitians and medical professionals. They're run by business people and they have shareholders. So they are making things that people, you know, want to consume that aren't necessarily the most healthful. But there's not like, you know, some evil meetings that go on where, you know, people sit around and try and figure out how to get people addicted to things. So that luckily that doesn't go on. Oh, that's funny actually. I just see these— imagine these wicked people now sitting around, yeah, let's get everyone addicted. But you do agree though that sugar is, is a drug, because don't you think? I mean, that's my drug, sugar. I, I don't smoke, I don't, I don't really drink, but I've, you know, battled my sugar addiction for probably 8 or 10 years because I just love anything that's got sugar in it, really. Um, but you do, do you think that it is, as a, as a, you know, a scientific dietitian, do you think that people are addicted to sugar? I don't know that I would call it addicted in like a clinical definition, but definitely like there— it's an easy thing to have too much of. It's all around us, it's readily available, and our brains, they like— it likes sugar. So, you know, your body, if you eat whether it's, you know, sugars or simple carbohydrates, you release chemicals that your, your brain feels good, you feel more relaxed, you feel more calm, it's comforting. So your body is actually, you know, physiologically reacting to that, that sugar that you're eating. And then, you know, you want more of that feeling, so, you know, you search out that Isn't that an addiction though, really? Because you like that feeling, what that gives you, so you want more. Yeah, yeah, it's an easy way to kind of explain it. I, I don't want to upset, you know, uh, addiction researchers out there and say it's the same thing, but yes, it's very— it's, it's the similar kind of, um, similar kind of effects. Yeah, for sure. Do you eat fruit? I mean, do you, do you like sugars, like natural sugars like that? Do you eat lots of fruit or not really? I do. I, I eat a little bit of everything. I, I went through a phase, um, where it was very restrictive with my diet for several years, and, um, it wouldn't have sugar or sugar substitutes. And it was, um, after I came out of it I was like, it wasn't very fun, you know, to be at a party and not have a piece of birthday cake or something. And it's like, you know what, this is not the way that I want to live. So I don't keep sweets and things like that in the house because again, I know if I have it here, then I'm more likely to eat it. So I try and, you know, make sure that my environment is conducive to making healthier choices. Um, but yeah, I do love— I love berries. We have the most delicious strawberries at a farm near my house, and I'm, I'm just— I love— now we're getting into strawberry season now and berry season, so that's my, that's my, my main fruit of choice. Yeah, but that's what the best thing— that's the best fruit to eat, isn't it, really? It's got the less— the least calories in it. I thought, thought that was the case anyway. Um, No, it's got less, less carbs in it. Is that correct? Yeah, it, yeah, it has less carbohydrates. Um, yeah, lots of nutrients, phytonutrients, fibers. Um, yeah, I'm a big, big fan of berries from not just the, the taste, but yeah, also nutritionally. You'll be very proud to know that I've got— I've grown some strawberries in my garden. Oh, that's— I'm very envious. I love it. There's not that many, but I'm quite proud of them because they do taste really, really good. You know, they taste so sweet, and I think, maybe I should go into this. But, uh, yeah, it's my favorite. I love raspberries and blueberries and, well, basically all the berries. And, uh, Yeah, and I always think I'm okay, I'm doing— I'm eating a really good thing here. And because I know that some, some fruits are very high in sugar, aren't they? My other favorite thing was mango, and then I was told that's one of the highest, um, sugar content out of all the fruits. Yeah, it's up there. Like bananas as well have quite a bit of sugar in them too. But it doesn't mean that, you know, never eat them. I think it's more so if you're, you know, you're trying to manage sugar intake or someone who has diabetes or insulin resistance or things like that, then maybe it's something to be a little bit more aware of because it can spike your blood sugar. But yeah, there are— yeah, I would put bananas up there too with mangoes. For being higher in sugars. I love bananas too, and they— I always feel like I'm eating, you know, pure sugar or something. Or I know I'm not, but it just— I'm doing the wrong thing. What do you think about, um, the slimming jabs that are— are they big in your country? They're huge here at the moment. Oh, oh yes, yes, yeah. I just wrote recently— we have, um, we have a blog on our website and our content editor, she said, oh, I need you to write something about the weight loss injections, Ozempic and Wegovy. And yeah, it's very popular all around the US and especially in Southern California here. It's, you know, we like slimming cosmetic things. So yeah, it's very popular. And what do you think of them? I mean, you know, in your, in your expert opinion, what do you think of the Slimming Jabs? I, I think they're— it's a great option for people who need the extra assistance. I have, I have absolutely no problem with it. Where I think it's not appropriate is, you know, someone who needs to lose 5, 10 pounds, um, but they're healthy otherwise, you know. To me, I go, well, You know, there's other things that we can do from a lifestyle modification perspective to help with like that little bit. But for people who have, you know, high cholesterol, they're at risk for heart disease or diabetes. They've got a lot of weight that they need to lose and they, you know, haven't been successful to do it on their own. It's, you know, it's a safe and effective thing to do. And it's— yeah, I have no problems with it. Oh, I'm glad you said that. I know I am, because I just think that some people do need that bit of extra help. And if they're at risk of having heart attacks or strokes, or, you know, it's, it's better to have that than not do anything, I think. And hopefully, you know, it wouldn't be for life, that after, after they have lost weight, then they can and kind of just keep that lifestyle going, hopefully, and not revert backwards. So, um, yeah, even our ex-prime minister— you must have heard of Boris Johnson. Yeah, so he, he recently, um, well, obviously he's not the prime minister anymore, but he also is not an MP anymore either. Um, but he, he's got a column in one of our biggest newspapers now, and that was his subject last weekend. The Slimming Jab. That's what he wrote. I have to read that one. Which paper was that in? I have to find that. You know, the Daily Mail? It might have been the Saturday Mail. He's a very good writer. I think that's what he originally was, really, a journalist. And he's done a really funny article about it. It's really good. You should read it. It's really funny. Um, I have to find that. Yeah, Boris and the Slimming Jab. Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about, about the company, about HUM, or any of the products? And then, you know, also about the, your website, um, and how people can get hold of you and where the, the— did you say you had a podcast or a blog or something? Yeah, we have a blog. So our website is humnutrition.com, H-U-M nutrition dot com, all one word. So if you go on the website, you can take the quiz. There's a little line at the very— when you first come on that says take the quiz if you need help choosing, you can click on that and take the quiz. You can take a look at the products. Under the shop tab, look at kind of how we support our clean and clinical background, get more information about myself and the other dietitians at the company. And then we also have a link to the, the Wellness Blog. The blog is a really, really great source of really interesting articles, not just about like nutrition topics. We had one an article that one of our contributors wrote last week that was all about how to get rid of butt acne. But we have— look, yeah, yeah, acne on your rear. Yeah. Wow. So kind of, yes, you know, kind of fun, fun, silly things like that. So Jennifer, why do we get spots on our bum? I mean, is that a thing? I didn't know it was a thing. Why do you know? Honestly, I haven't read the article yet. I'm not sure. That's, that's my nighttime reading tonight when I, uh, when I go to bed, I'll read about that. So, um, wow. Yeah, that was a thing. So, um, yeah, it's pretty funny. Yeah, we have, we have a newsletter as well, so if people, um, can sign up on the website for, for the newsletter. And, you know, when we have blog posts come out or information about new products and scientific information, that sort of stuff, we'll, um, we release it on our, on our newsletter as well. My mom always asks me like, oh, I read this on the newsletter and I saw this article and read about that. And it's, um, it's a really nice, nice little education source too. Do you have like social media? Do you have Facebook page or anything like that, or do you not go down that route? No, we do. We have, uh, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. Uh, we have some things on Pinterest out here, but yeah, Instagram and TikTok are, uh, our two big social media platforms, I would say. Yeah. And we also have a YouTube channel, so we've been starting to create more video content as well. So on our Hub Nutrition YouTube channel, there's, uh, some videos about like how our products work, information about different ingredients. And then we're working on building out some additional video content. We just started something where we do kind of like a short, like a 5-10 minute interview with myself and our editorial director. And we just did one recently. For example, we talked about Ozempic. And glucose management and weight loss drugs and sort of like a short, easy to, easy to digest little, little interview session. So those are available on our, our YouTube and we post some short snippets of them on our Instagram page too. Oh, okay. I mean, these days when you, when you have a business, I mean, in, in the olden days, because I'm, I'm a lot older than you, We used to have like a PR company, yeah, to, to get, you know, our brands out there and push it out to the papers and the magazines, etc., etc. But now you have to do social media, really, don't you? I mean, it's like part of the package, and, um, and it's quite time-consuming, I think. Yes. Don't you? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we have, I would say, kind of like 1.5 full-time people that at least— more than that actually— that work on our— work on putting all of our social media information together, responding to comments or questions that people have or direct messages. And, you know, all the, all the photography that goes into it and the, the words, because you have to make sure that the information is, is correct, that you know, it kind of fits with the, the brand voice that it's— nutrition. And, um, yeah, it's, it's, it's quite a lot of work, but it's a good way. A lot of people find us that way, you know, they see something interesting and they share it with a friend. Um, it's a nice way to kind of help build that, build our community. Yeah, no, I, I know, I agree. I mean, it's, it's the internet in that way is, it's amazing, isn't it? But it is definitely another part of of a business these days, you know, you can't just concentrate on the business, you have to, you have to do the social media to get your, your, um, word out there really. Just going back to slimming drugs, this is something I'm quite interested in, I'm sure listeners would be as well. In England we have, um, Saxenda and Ozempic, and Wegovy is just coming over. There's a fourth one. I think— I can't remember the name of it. Does it begin with an H or a V? Or that apparently it mimics two hormones in the brain rather than one. Do you know which one I mean? I think it's only— I'm not sure. Oh, okay. Yeah, um, I can't remember now. I know it's just that it Apparently it will be coming. I know it's in your— I know it's in the US, and I think it's coming over here, but apparently it's like even better than the other ones because they mimic one hormone, this mimics two. I just wondered if you knew about it. I wonder if it's— I'm like totally blanking on it. Okay, sorry, I've heard of it, but yeah, I can't think of like the name or the details right now. Yeah, I've gone blank on the name as well. No, I was just really interested in if you knew about it or anyone that had taken it and if it is superior to the others. So, um, but yeah, so, uh, okay, um, what— so what are your plans for the future? Just to expand HUM and bring more products in and do more things, or is there anything else in there? Yeah, yeah. So we are really focused right now on, you know, getting our name out there, expanding, especially now that we're in a bigger retail footprint in the US, um, making sure that people, they, they know about HUM, you know, making our products a household name and really sharing why, why our products help with, with women's wellness. You know, we've got, like, you know, women, women expert dietitians that myself and my team that do our formulation of our products. We work really closely with a lot of our consumer insights and marketing and talking to people who are our customers or people who would be our customers to make sure that we're providing innovative solutions that work for, work for what they're, what they're going through. Different things that women experience in our lives, like our, our PMS gummy is an example of that where it's— there's, there's not much of a market there, but it's, it's doing very well in retail. People really love it. There's great reviews. People are seeing really good effects from it. And it hasn't really been like a huge market until recently. So it's nice to be able to provide, you know, interesting benefits like that. And I think we'll continue to do, you know, invest more in clinical studies to support the efficacy of our products. Again, we're very careful and conscientious with the science behind the ingredients that we use. But again, showing more so our— this whole product, we put all these ingredients together. Here's how, how efficacious it is, seeing if there's benefits. We have some products, for example, like one of our products called Daily Cleanse. It's a great product. It's one of the original products that HUM started with about 10 years ago. And it's— people just absolutely love it. And, you know, they feel like their digestion's improved, they feel more regular. But it's sort of a mystery to me because none of the specific ingredients have that effect in clinical studies. So, you know, do we want to take a look at, see, you know, are there, are there benefits for our products that people are getting out of them that we can, you know, back up and support with some science and, you know, expand the, expand the scientific literature at the same time. Oh, so do— what do you think that is then? Do you think that's psychological? Um, I think that there's something to it. Um, with that product in particular, we've got, uh, chlorella and spirulina. It helps with absorbing, um, like impurities in the body, things that naturally occur, even not just, you know, kind of like environmental contaminants and toxins, but even, you know, naturally occurring things. Is, and then it excretes— that kind of absorbs these contaminants, toxins, and then excretes it from your body. So I think that there's probably something going on there where then, you know, with these specific ingredients in the body and absorbing this, that the body then wants to, to get it out. Yeah, but you just want— that's my hunch. Just do the research, um, just to, to prove that. Is that what you're saying? So Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's my, you know, the scientist in me goes, well, people are saying that they're feeling this way and stuff, but is it, you know, if we compare it to a placebo and put it in a controlled situation and can evaluate it, is it, you know, is it still an effect that people are getting? And if it is, you know, maybe that there's something to that. And it's an interesting thing that we could then publish and show to the scientific community as well. As well. Oh, amazing. So, um, Dr. Jennifer, can people get your products in the UK? Yes, yeah, so we do, um, on the website. We have a UK website. We also have a lot of products at Cult Beauty as well. Yeah, and I know Selfridges, I think— I don't think all— and there's one in Selfridges in London that has a lot of our products at it too. Okay, okay. Um, well, and do you ship from— you do, apart from that, the UK, I mean, do you ship worldwide or— um, there are some places that we don't ship to because of, uh, customs issues that, you know, we, we just, we just can't do it. But we do ship, I would say, majority, um, around the world. So yeah, people can can reach out on our website if they live in a country and they're interested to know if HUM will ship to them. Okay, okay, well, that's amazing. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing about HUM and what it does and all of your things. And I'd just like to say thanks for coming on, and I'm gonna talk us out now, and it's been really lovely to talk to you. Yes, thank you, Sue. Same with you, and hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. It was great to meet and talk to you as well. Thank you very much. Thank you. So I see you— I'll speak to you another time, hopefully. Yes, yes, I would love that. Okay, okay, bye-bye then. And so this is Sue Moxley. This is Women's Radio Show. And my show is The Menopause Show, and today we've been talking to Dr. Jennifer, and there will be information on our website to link up to HUM and all of their products. So lovely to speak to you, everybody. See you soon. Bye.