If you’re health conscious, chances are your feed over the last year has been flooded with influencers evangelizing hormonal balance as a way to easily lose weight, reduce stress levels, and even reverse the symptoms of hormonal diseases like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). . So it’s not at all surprising to see Eli Health announce Hormometer, an at-home hormone testing system that uses your spit and your smartphone’s camera to measure hormone levels.
Like many at-home tests, Hormometer requires you to collect a sample of body fluid. In this case, it’s saliva. It’s a thin cartridge that you put in your mouth for 60 seconds. It looks like a pregnancy test, with a window where you can view the results. Once collected, the Eli app uses your phone’s camera to evaluate the test results based on criteria such as color intensity and sample patterns. Based on the test and results, Eli Health says the app will then provide personalized trends and recommendations related to stress, sleep, sports performance and fertility.
To start, Eli Health says it offers two types of hormone tests: cortisol and progesterone. Cortisol is commonly known as the stress hormone and plays a vital role in regulating the fight or flight response, blood pressure, blood sugar, metabolism and sleep cycles. Long-term imbalances, whether high or low, are often linked to health problems, including Cushing’s syndrome, unintentional weight gain/loss, fatigue, type 2 diabetes, and abnormal blood pressure . Meanwhile, progesterone is a reproductive hormone. Abnormal levels can lead to irregular periods, fertility problems and depression.
Eli Health’s tests reflect recent trends in health and wellness. Connected at-home testing kits, for example, saw a surge in popularity during the height of the covid-19 pandemic. Although expensive and smart, over-the-counter PCR tests like Cue Health have become a major part of some tech companies’ return-to-office plans, thanks to their convenience and accuracy.
Likewise, much of Hormometer’s appeal lies in its portability and accessibility. Traditionally, hormone tests must be sent to a laboratory and are often done at a doctor’s office. This may take several days or weeks. They can also be messy if they are urine based or invasive if they are blood based. The advantage of this type of test is that it does not require third-party intervention and allows results to be obtained more quickly. As for cost, Eli Health says Hormometer will come with a subscription plan, starting at $8 per month with a 12-month commitment. It’s competitive with other at-home hormone tests, which can range from about $30 to $250 and require people to mail in samples.
Meanwhile, balancing hormone levels, particularly cortisol, has become a viral wellness trend. Tips for fixing the “cortisol face,” for example, have been prevalent on TikTok throughout 2024. However, experts have decried hormone balancing as both misleading and potentially harmful – hormones cannot truly be balanced, because they are dynamic and naturally fluctuate. throughout the day. That said, these tests could help people with a formal diagnosis of chronic hormonal or reproductive health issues monitor their health.
Much of this will depend on accuracy. According to Eli Health, the hormonometer is FDA registered. To be clear, this is different from authorization or approval. This does not mean that the FDA has reviewed or co-signed Eli Health’s claims. That said, the company claims that its cortisol and progesterone tests had 97% and 94% agreement, respectively, with FDA-approved, third-party reference laboratory tests.
Eli Health says Hormometer will begin beta access this month in the United States and Canada. A full release is expected later this year. And although Hormometer is currently limited to cortisol and progesterone, the company says it is already developing testosterone and estradiol tests for the future.
