When you consider getting tested for an illness, blood draws, urine tests, and nose swabs may come to mind first. Period blood does not conjure images of the 1.8 billion or so people who menstruate worldwide.
However, that can soon alter. This year, earlier, the U.S. For the first time, a health test based on menstrual blood was approved by the Food and Drug Administration. An alternative to the blood draws usually needed to diagnose diabetes is the at-home test that looks for a biomarker for the condition. For researcher Sara Naseri, CEO and cofounder of Qvin, the San Francisco Bay Area-based firm that creates the test, it’s also a first step toward a long-term goal.
“Why squander the monthly bleeding that women experience?As a medical student ten years ago, Naseri recalls wondering. She reasoned that, without the need for needles, period blood might be a practical approach to learn about someone’s health. She made the decision to do her own research on the method after finding little of it in the literature.
She then claims that after conducting research at Stanford University School of Medicine, “menstrual blood is in fact blood” and that “essential health information can be gleaned from it.”
The exploratory study, published in 2019, compared blood samples from 20 women’s two-month period with blood that circulates throughout their bodies. The researchers came to the conclusion that menstrual blood could be a useful alternative source for diagnosis and health monitoring because it could accurately assess levels of various biomarkers, such as those for diabetes, inflammation, and reproductive hormones.
Since then, Naseri and colleagues have investigated whether human papillomavirus types that increase a person’s risk of cervical cancer can be found in the blood and have particularly analyzed menstrual blood for diabetes diagnosis.
However, anthropologist Kathryn Clancy asserts that it is premature to launch goods that rely on menstrual blood testing. She is the author of Period: The Real Story of Menstruation and a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she focuses on endometrial function, women’s health, and evolutionary medicine. The average blood glucose level (A1C) test appears to be the only one that can be performed on menstrual blood, despite the fact that it is a very fascinating test. Furthermore, the test “is very easily done with a regular [blood] test,” she notes.
Because it is still in its early stages, Clancy believes that investing more time and resources in this research will best meet the requirements of the public. She finds the concept of using menstrual blood for medical testing intriguing at the same time.
One smart place to start is with a diabetes test.
Q-Pad: What is it?
An estimated 40 million Americans are estimated to have diabetes, with less than 9 million going undiagnosed. Physician Kathleen Jordan, who specializes in women’s health care, believes that many more have raised blood sugar levels that are just below the threshold for diabetes diagnosis but are unaware of it. She is the chief medical officer of Menlo Park, California-based Midi Health, a telemedicine company.
Each year, diabetes claims the lives of over 100,000 people in the US and about 1.5 million worldwide. Diabetes can cause problems with the eyes, kidneys, heart, neurological system, and higher risk of stroke. All of these complications can be avoided with early detection and treatment. Jordan states, “I think more people need to get tested, period.”
The hemoglobin A1C test, which measures the average blood sugar level during the two to three months prior to the test, is a simple way to identify diabetes. It doesn’t require the patient to fast or take any other preparations; only a skilled technician can take their blood.
The Q-Pad test kit, Qvin’s do-it-yourself option, comes with two unique menstruation pads that have detachable collecting strips. Each strip is collected during one menstrual cycle, and then it is submitted to an approved laboratory for analysis. Results are sent by email or app.
“It correlates with serum blood testing, and the reliability is excellent,” states Jordan. Additionally, there is a strong link between diabetes and PCOS, or polycystic ovarian syndrome, which results in infertility and irregular periods. According to Jordan, the A1C biomarker may help in the diagnosis of both. “It provides a solution for individuals whose needle phobia may be a barrier to testing.”
However, there are some drawbacks. The test costs $49. Not everyone can afford it. Additionally, its reported results are not yet included into the current medical record systems (it doesn’t require a prescription, but insurance doesn’t pay for it). Clinicians would likely retest using a conventional blood draw to confirm a diagnosis because it’s new, according to Jordan.
What distinguishes regular blood from period blood?
For nearly 75 years, physicians have used blood tests to evaluate the health of their patients. These days, the blood’s hundreds of biomarkers provide a window into our health, revealing anything from nutritional inadequacies to cancerous symptoms.
Blood from the veins or arteries is significantly less complex than menstrual effluent, which is made up of the cells and tissue from the uterus’s thicker endometrial lining that are shed every cycle. In addition to the blood from other regions of the body that would be obtained during a blood sample, it also contains germs, hormones, and proteins unique to the uterus. More than a thousand proteins were found in menstrual effluent according to one investigation. Of those, 385 are only detected in period blood—not in vaginal fluid or blood in circulation.
Furthermore, Clancy believes, there might be more information that we are unaware of. She claims that because the field of menstrual blood research is “so young,” “we’ve barely characterized everything that’s in it.”
What potential does blood testing for periods have?
The period blood test is currently only authorized for use in cases of diabetes. However, Naseri sees much more promise. Testing for c-reactive protein, an indicator of inflammation, reproductive hormones, which can suggest menopause or fertility, thyroid hormones, which can reveal thyroid function, and even antibodies that show an immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are among the things on her list. Blood in circulation has already been examined and evaluated for all of these markers.
Period blood’s other components offer even more chances. In the same study that examined the proteins in menstrual blood, indicators of uterine infertility were also found. In any other case, uterine flushes, X-rays, or other imaging procedures would be necessary to find those markers. Menstrual wastewater cell populations may be able to assist in the diagnosis of endometriosis, which is typically made by physical examination, MRI, ultrasound, and occasionally more intrusive techniques like biopsy or surgery. Comparable to the classic pap smear, human papillomavirus types associated with an increased risk of cervical cancer can also be found in period blood.
Cofounded by German entrepreneurs Miriam Santer and Isabelle Guenou, theblood aims to provide a menstrual blood collection and testing product that covers a broader range of health indicators, such as biomarkers for endometriosis, PCOS, and early cancer detection. Together with those biomarkers, it would also consider a person’s cycle, diet, lifestyle, and any documented physical or mental complaints before making any health suggestions. Santer describes it as “more like a holistic health approach, but with a very specific blood analysis.”
Zyklus-Check, sometimes known as Cycle-Check, is an early version of the product that is currently available on the market but lacks biomarker analyses. Santer is hoping that by year’s end, the necessary approvals and certifications for biomarker analyses will be obtained. It assesses the color, viscosity, and other physical properties of period blood, and the company claims that this “helps you to understand how to optimize your diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices to increase your menstrual health and well-being.”
Santer states, “On the side, we’re [also] investing in research for novel biomarker detection.” This includes carrying out clinical trials that contrast vitamins, reproductive hormones, and biomarkers in menstrual blood with blood in circulation. Theblood is also investigating the possibility of stem cells in menstrual secretions.
What difficulties exist?
According to Naseri and her colleagues’ 2019 study, one of the major difficulties with using menstrual blood is that it hasn’t been examined and assessed for diagnostics and therapies in the same way that other blood has.
According to Clancy, a lot more fundamental science is required. Whether a certain menstrual blood result indicates a point in time or an accumulation is one unanswered question. She continues, “It has not yet been thoroughly studied how period blood might vary at different points during menses or between individuals.” (There are hints that blood biomarkers in circulation may change throughout the menstrual cycle.)
Preserving samples of menstrual discharge from deteriorating is another challenge. Microbes begin to act on blood when it comes into contact with air. Although methods for stabilizing samples taken from arteries or veins have been devised, menstrual blood degrades more quickly.
The answer is straightforward, according to Santer. Simply put, women’s health hasn’t received enough attention lately. Basic knowledge of a woman’s biology, how certain diseases affect us, how we respond to treatments and medications, and other topics is lacking.
For example, period goods like cups, discs, pads, and undergarments were not tested with real blood—not even menstrual blood—until the previous year. In order to more accurately quantify excessive menstrual bleeding, the absorbency and red blood cell capacity of period products were examined.
According to Santer, “many people still find it taboo to talk openly about their periods.”
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