FemTech Startups Want To Unlock The Potential Of Menstrual Blood

Blood tests have the possibility of providing us with detailed analysis of our health and are since long well established in the healthcare system. They can provide information about infections and your genetic composition, give insights into the functioning of certain organs, screen for certain genetic conditions, and much more. However, it requires pricking your finger or sticking a needle in your arm, which many people can find unpleasant, and it has to be performed in a healthcare establishment.

Menstrual blood, on the other hand, is easily available several days a month and requires no intervention to extract. How come this is not used for the same purpose? Menstrual blood is normally just considered a waste product, but this is slowly about to change. I recently spoke to Isabelle Guenou, the CEO and co-founder of the German startup theblood (which is on Forbes 30 Under 30 list). Theblood is analyzing women’s menstrual blood that they have collected at home using a menstrual cup. Based on the blood sample, women receive a report to understand their menstrual health based on the color, viscosity, amounts of clots and flow of their blood. The participants can also choose to contribute their sample to the science about menstrual health, which most of them chose to do.

Using menstrual blood as a diagnostic tool is still in its infancy, but things are starting to happen in this area. Theblood is working closely together with Charité in Berlin, one of Europe’s largest research hospitals, to push research on menstrual blood. Guenou explained that Charité has been interested in menstrual blood for a long time, but it is only recently, with more widespread use of the menstrual cup, that the door for this kind of research has truly opened. The menstrual blood contains many biomarkers with clues of your health, including hormones, minerals and vitamins. You can also find 300 different proteins in menstrual blood, and although the importance of all of them are not yet known, it is a great opportunity to learn about the female body.

Since menstrual fluid is not only blood, but also contains tissue and other fluids from the inside of the uterus, an important question remains: Do the measures in traditional blood tests correlate with those obtained from menstrual blood? To address this, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the School of Medicine, Stanford University, has been conducting extensive studies. They have discovered correlations for certain biomarkers, such as cholesterol and creatinine (an indicator of kidney function). They have also shown promising results in measuring HbA1c, which reflects average plasma glucose levels over the previous weeks and is crucial in assessing long term regulation of blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. Additionally, they have explored inflammation markers with encouraging outcomes. The group from Stanford have founded a company, Qvin, that will start producing a menstrual pad that will collect and analyze many of those biomarkers.

Looking ahead, there is immense potential for using menstrual blood to gain insights into various health conditions. For example, it could provide valuable information on infertility, endometrial immune cells, which play a role in the implantation of embryos, and factors influencing premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Furthermore, menstrual blood has shown promising in detecting human papillomavirus (HPV) and studying and diagnosing endometriosis, a painful condition affecting many women.

The utilization of menstrual blood as a diagnostic tool has immense potential for advancing our understanding of women’s health. In the future, instead of feeling disgust towards the menstrual blood, we may be grateful for its ability to inform us about our hormonal health, our minerals, vitamins, glucose levels and inflammation markers.