So there were lots of women that were buffering pregnancies and perimenopause.

Yeah, I think that's exactly right, is that, you know, I think it can actually be quite hard to know are you in perimenopause to begin with, and I think, you know, the, like, old school way of thinking about these life stages are that they are very distinct phases in a woman's life.

And w- I think what we're finding more and more is that they are overlapping, and they always have been, but we haven't...

You know, I mean, my grandmother was born in 1924, and she had her sixth baby when she was 41, and at the time, that was like, you know, oh, they were, it was always an oops baby, you know, if you're having a baby in your 40s.

But it happened because women are still fertile.

You know, many women are still fer- fertile and capable of carrying a child in their early 40s and, you know, many women in, in, you know, in the last, you know, 20, 30 years, it's become much more common to start your family in your 30s or, you know, or even in your 40s, and so it's hard to know.

A lot of the signs and symptoms of perimenopause are very overlapping with some of the signs and symptoms of chronic stress, for example, or postpartum depletion.

For some of them, it can be very stimulating, and so I think there's very much a bio-individual aspect to this as well.

But before we jump in, just to give people context into the brand Needed and why you started it, 'cause I think that's such an important part of the story and your drive for women's health, but also the deficiencies that women are experiencing in life with their health, but also in pregnancy and postpartum is insane.

So my co-founder Ryan and I started Needed really out of a personal insight.

We are both trained nutritionists.

We both have been studying aspects of nutrition and the food system for most of our adult lives, and we tested our nutrient levels and found that we were-- really tested them for fun at the time, the same way we wear an Oura Ring to see that you slept well at night, 'cause it's gratifying to see that you're doing a good job.

And instead, what we found is that we were massively nutritionally depleted.

Every single nutrient on the panel for me was in the red zone, and it was, it was so shocking and confronting because we were doing what we thought were the right things.

We were shopping at the farmers market and preparing our own food and being really intentional about nutrition, and it was an eye-opening experience.

I mean, since starting your company, what has been the biggest or most interesting feedback that you've received or discovered in this space of moms trying to understand their nutrition, trying to understand what they need, when they need it, and how to manage to get it in with life? [chuckles]

the basic stuff first.

So many women, we're either guided there by practitioners or we find this through our own research, are focused on, you know, moving immediately to a solution and sometimes that solution is medication.

It's going on a, you know, hormone replacement therapy in midlife, or even earlier.

Think about how many of us when we were teens started on hormonal birth control and, you know, a lot of times it was used to regulate cycles or to, you know, and, or for its intended usage.

But o- one of the things that I think is concerning to me as someone with a background in nutrition is that so often we're focused on intermediating, not through nutrition, not by focusing on the foundation, but on going to a solution like medication that is a major, it's a major intervention.

And it can be awesome.

It can be so helpful and so therapeutic.

... tell us what you're seeing with omega-3?

And

we have a very choosy consumer.

rightfully so.

Women are becoming more aware of the issue of heavy metals, and they're concerned about microplastics, and they want to know if our supplements are safe.

And not only are we rigorously testing and qualifying ingredients across over 2,000 quality checkpoints, including testing for microplastics and heavy metals, but dosing optimally in our supplements actually can be supportive of the body's natural detox pathway.

It's really good to look for high quality supplements because it can be a hidden source like pea protein, for example, that can be a real challenge or chocolate proteins if they're using cacao.

A lot of them don't pass Prop 65, which is a state of California requirement.

There is