Best ingredients for women's hormones

Ferrous iron chelated with two glycine molecules, the form most prenatal and gentle-iron products now use.

Typical: 18–30 mg

A cruciferous root grown in the Peruvian Andes, dried and milled into a powder used in libido, energy, and hormone-balance formulas.

Typical: 1,500–3,000 mg

Pyridoxine hydrochloride is the standard, inexpensive, and highly stable form of vitamin B6 used in nearly all multivitamins and B-complex products.

Typical: 1.7–50 mg

The reference iron salt used in most clinical research and public-health programs, inexpensive and reliably absorbed.

Typical: 18–45 mg

The standard iodine source in multivitamins, prenatals, and thyroid-support formulas, about 76.5% iodine by weight and absorbed almost completely.

Typical: 150–300 mcg

Myo-inositol is a sugar alcohol the body makes from glucose and the most abundant inositol isomer in cells, where it forms the backbone of phosphatidylinositol signaling lipids and the second messengers that relay insulin and hormone signals.

Typical: 2–4 g

Black cohosh is a North American herb whose root and rhizome have been studied for decades in women going through menopause.

Typical: 20–40 mg

Boron supplied as a blend of citrate, aspartate, and glycinate complexes, the usual form in bone, joint, and men's-hormone formulas.

Typical: 3–10 mg

Chasteberry is the dried fruit of Vitex agnus-castus, a Mediterranean shrub with a long history in women's health.

Typical: 20–40 mg

An extract of the flowering tops of Hypericum perforatum standardized to hypericin and often hyperforin, the most studied botanical for mood.

Typical: 600–900 mg

A ferrous salt of fumaric acid that carries about 33% elemental iron, the highest of the common iron forms, which keeps tablets small.

Typical: 18–45 mg

Brown seaweed, usually Laminaria or Ascophyllum species, used as a whole-food iodine source in thyroid and multimineral formulas.

Typical: 150–300 mcg

Diindolylmethane is the acid-condensation product of indole-3-carbinol, a compound released when cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage are chewed.

Typical: 100–300 mg

Evening primrose oil is pressed from the seeds of Oenothera biennis and is valued for its gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), an omega-6 fatty acid that usually makes up 8-10% of the oil, with linoleic acid as the bulk.

Typical: 500–1,300 mg

Lactobacillus gasseri is a human-origin lactic acid bacterium found in the gut and vaginal microbiota.

Typical: 1–10 B CFU

Red clover is a legume whose flowering tops contain the isoflavones biochanin A, formononetin, genistein, and daidzein.

Typical: 40–80 mg

An extract of the cone-like flowers of the hop plant, the same botanical used to flavor beer, included in sleep formulas for its sedative tradition.

Typical: 100–300 mg

Sea buckthorn oil is pressed or CO2-extracted from the berries and seeds of Hippophae rhamnoides, a hardy shrub native to Europe and Asia.

Typical: 500–2,000 mg

Fennel seed is the dried fruit of Foeniculum vulgare, a Mediterranean herb used across cuisines and in traditional carminative blends for bloating and gas.

Typical: 500–1,500 mg

D-chiro-inositol is a minor inositol isomer produced from myo-inositol by an insulin-dependent epimerase.

Typical: 100–600 mg