Hormone levels can be easily tested and monitored at home using the Hormometer, an instant testing kit created by Canadian start-up Eli Health and launched this week at tech fair CES.
The Hormometer is a monitoring system that combines a thermometer-like single-use testing cartridge with an AI-powered mobile app that can analyse the results in real-time.
Eli Health claims it is the first to develop a portable and instant saliva-based testing product that gives precise readings across multiple hormones.
At launch, the company is offering testing kits for cortisol, often dubbed the "stress hormone", and progesterone, a hormone that is sometimes tracked in relation to fertility, menopause and menstrual health.
While these hormones can already be tested for at home using saliva, urine or finger-prick tests, the samples generally have to be sent to a lab for analysis with results taking a few days or a couple of weeks.
Eli Health envisages that its Hormometer system will do for hormone-related health conditions what the glucose meter did for diabetes care, enabling users to manage their wellbeing on a much more informed and personalised basis.
"We are creating unprecedented access to hormone health insights, providing individuals with the tools they need to better understand and support their wellness – every day and across life," said Eli Health co-founder and CEO Marina Pavlovic Rivas.
"We are making hormone monitoring as simple and accessible as checking your heart rate, helping people proactively manage their health."
Testing with the Hormometer cartridge, topped with a pastel-hued circular tab that is colour-coded to the hormone being tested.
At the other end of the cartridge is the collection pad, which the user holds in their mouth to gather a saliva sample as if measuring their temperature with a thermometer.
After a minute, they can remove the tester from their mouth, pull on the circular tab to retract the collection pad into the base of the cartridge and wait for the sample to mix with reagents.
The results are presented as a series of lines, similar to a pregnancy or covid test, which users can interpret with the help of the accompanying app.
Using the phone's camera and a custom AI algorithm, the app analyses elements such as the test's colour intensity and pattern to provide an instant reading of the hormone level, according to Eli Health.
The app also offers trend reports and recommendations for how to manage hormones and their related health conditions.
The Hormometer debuted this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where it won a 2025 Best of Innovation award in Digital Health at the CES Innovation Awards.
While it is launching with tests for cortisol and progesterone, Eli Health is also developing versions for testosterone and estradiol – a type of oestrogen that declines during menopause.
Hormone levels have been a trending topic in online wellness communities in the past year.
This is especially true of cortisol, which is linked to energy, metabolism, inflammation and sleep, and has been pinpointed by content creators as a possible culprit for fatigue, weight gain and puffy "cortisol face". However, medical experts advise that significant issues with cortisol imbalance are rare.
Eli Health says beta access to the Hormometer will begin in the US and Canada this month.
Other recent innovations in the health tech space include the Athena helmet that prevents chemo-related hair loss and an at-home HPV test designed to be as easy to use as toilet paper.
CES 2025 takes place at various locations in Las Vegas from 7 to 10 January 2025. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
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