The test makers say the results are “highly accurate” and can be read within three minutes of testing
For decades, women who want to find out if they are pregnant have had to make a discreet visit to the bathroom to take a “pee on a stick” test.
But those days are over now.
Pharmacy chain Superdrug is selling the world’s first saliva-based pregnancy test from today.
The £9.99 Salistick shows results in just three minutes.
The makers also claim that it is very accurate.
For the test to work, a woman must hold a foam-tipped stick in her mouth for a few moments, much as one would with a thermometer. This collects a sample of saliva.
Then she transfers it into a plastic tube, where a biochemical reaction takes place.
It looks for the presence of hCG, a hormone specific to pregnancy that helps prepare the uterus for the developing embryo.
Abingdon Health, the manufacturer, said that unlike more traditional urine-based tests, Salistick allows women to test anywhere on the go and even share the moment with their partner or family.
The Salistick test works by tracking the hormone levels that the female body produces in the early stages of pregnancy
Caris Newson, Superdrug’s director of health care, said the pharmacy is proud to offer a new way for women to test whether they are pregnant.
“The first home urine pregnancy test was launched almost 50 years ago and so far there hasn’t been much progress in this category,” she said.
“We are proud to help our customers by bringing them this new, innovative product.”
Abingdon Health chief executive officer Chris Yates added: ‘This new technology offers women an improved user experience; offering the opportunity to test anywhere, anytime, and to share the testing experience with a partner and other loved ones.”
Salistick will be available at 400 Superdrug outlets and online.
The test is quick and easy to use, but people must wait 30 minutes after eating or drinking before using it.
It can be used to test for pregnancy from the first day of a missed period.
Human chorionic gonadotropin, often referred to as “the pregnancy hormone,” is produced when a fertilized egg attaches to the wall of the uterus.
While rates vary depending on age, general health, and other factors, most couples who are actively trying for a baby will conceive within a year.
Urine-based pregnancy tests have been around for about 50 years, but Abingdon Health, the company that makes Salistick, said their test allowed women to “test anywhere” and share the experience with loved ones
The saliva test is the latest method in the long – and bizarre – history of predicting pregnancy. According to a papyrus text from 1350 BC.
If the barley seeds germinated, it was meant to announce a boy; wheat a girl. If neither germinated, the woman was not pregnant.
Scientists believe there may be some truth to what could be dismissed as an old wives’ tale: A pregnant woman’s urine contains high levels of several hormones that could aid germination.
Reliable tests were devised in the 1920s, although they involved injecting the woman’s urine into a range of small animals – mice, rabbits and frogs.
If hCG was present, they would ovulate.
Shelf tests appeared in the 1970s but were complicated, requiring women to combine their urine with dried sheep’s blood.