During CES 2025, startup Eli Health showcased a stress-measuring device called Hormometer, which analyzes saliva composition to make it easier for users to understand whether they are experiencing stress.
Compared to other wearable devices that boast about their ability to measure body stress, Hormometer focuses on analyzing the user's body stress levels through non-puncture measurement. This includes analyzing cortisol, a stress hormone, and progesterone, a hormone that affects women's bodies, to determine the user's physical condition.
For example, when the cortisol ratio in the user's body increases, the body's blood sugar will increase, which means that the user may be under potential or significant emotional stress. Excessive cortisol can weaken the immune system, cause muscle loss, or affect bone growth.
As for women, although progesterone (i.e., lutein) is an important hormone in the body that promotes the development of female sexual characteristics, an excessively high proportion can cause body temperature to rise, affect mood, and even cause a decrease in fertility (the working principle of some female contraceptives).
Eli Health explains that by holding the Hormometer measuring tip in your mouth for about 60 seconds, it can analyze the composition of your saliva to display colored lines. The mobile app can then analyze the analysis results represented by the colored lines, and the app will provide health management-related suggestions.
Over time, Eli Health anticipates building a more comprehensive database using Hormometer measurement data, enabling more accurate health status analysis and providing more appropriate advice. At the same time, Eli Health emphasizes that Hormometer measurement data will be stored anonymously to ensure user privacy.
Hormometer testing is expected to begin in North America in January of this year, with plans to offer a subscription model. A year's subscription will cost an average of $1 per test. In terms of practical applications, Hormometer will not only allow individuals to measure their own health at home, but may also be introduced through collaborations with medical institutions, allowing more physicians to assess their patients' health.
In addition to cortisol and progesterone measurements, Eli Health plans to add testosterone measurements for male users (high levels may lead to impulsive and aggressive behavior, while low levels may cause physical weakness, body fat accumulation, anxiety, depression, and other problems), as well as estradiol measurement for female users to analyze their physical condition.
