In 2019 Eve Wellness opened the Eve hormone testing lab. We tested 18 different hormone markers and metabolites via urine samples from over 2,500 women, aged 14 to 60, using dried urine testing, a method increasingly used by nutritionists and functional health practitioners to look at hormone metabolites, cycle patterns and adrenal output.
Women received their results in easy to understand graphs and language, explaining their hormones and cycle to them. These results were paired with diet, lifestyle and supplement recommendations crafted by our team of Clinical Nutritionists.
This is our own data, from our own customers. It’s not an independent or peer-reviewed study. But it's a real, sizable dataset, and the patterns uncovered across thousands of women is worth treating with curiosity.
We weren't looking to tell a story; we just wanted to help women feel better and more empowered around their bodies and experiences. However, we ended up seeing a story emerge from the data anyway, as we learned what women's hormones actually looked like, at scale, in real life.
Most women aren't producing enough progesterone, even when they've ovulated
The biggest surprise was that women, en masse, are often reaching lower progesterone levels than typical population benchmark ranges* suggest we should.
Among women in their 20s, who tested on day 21 of a 28-day cycle (or the equivalent point for longer, shorter, or irregular cycles), 7 in 10 came back with progesterone below the expected range for that phase.
In women in their 30s, it was just over half. Day 21 is meant to be progesterone's moment to shine. This is the week after ovulation when the body should be producing plenty of it to support a possible pregnancy and keep the rest of the cycle steady. But the reality for most women Eve tested, it was tracking much lower than we’d expected.
Low progesterone in the second half of the cycle is relevant for fertility and those trying to conceive, but is also linked to low or nervous moods (hello PMS), disrupted sleep, and heavier or more painful periods. These types of things are signs the second half of the cycle isn't getting the hormonal support it needs from progesterone.
It’s worth noting that most people who chose to do a hormone test were experiencing something that prompted them to do so: tricky periods, period pain, irregular periods, mood swings, hormonal acne, fertility worries, or fatigue. So this is a sample of women, it's a sample of women who suspected their hormones might be playing a role in their day to day health picture.
We're absolutely not saying every one of these women has a problem. But when the majority of a 1,600+ woman sample shows the same gap, we believe that it's worth paying attention.
Testosterone drops with age, but that's not a failing on women
Testosterone is part of what gives us drive, motivation, and physical stamina. Testing showed that this hormone falls steadily in women from the teenage years onward.
However, that's expected. It's meant to happen.
Our levels of this hormone naturally relax over time. But the fact that women are still sold the message that we need to be just as energised, bubbly, and driven as when we were 25, is the opposite of helpful.
It’s yet another example of us putting unrealistic expectations on women, and then telling us we’re not enough when we don’t achieve those lofty heights.
So if you've got less energy for the gym, less patience, or less appetite for pushing through on four hours' sleep than you did a decade ago, that might not be something you need to ‘fix’ about yourself. It might be your hormones doing exactly what they're supposed to do, and nobody telling you that was ok.
Our adrenal systems are working overtime
We also looked at the byproducts of adrenal hormone processing: markers (such as etiocholanolone) that show how hard the adrenal glands are working to keep up with androgen and stress-hormone demand.
Etiocholanolone isn't cortisol itself, and we didn't measure cortisol directly in this dataset, but it's produced via the same enzyme pathways the body uses to clear cortisol, so it's the clearest window to reference around how hard our stress-response systems are working.
Roughly a quarter to a third of women across every age group showed elevated adrenal output. This ramps up when our bodies are under sustained pressure, and can’t effectively tell the difference between a genuine threat and a decade of back-to-back deadlines, broken sleep, and never quite switching off.
What this means is that the ‘machinery’ that processes our stress-related hormones is visibly busier than you'd expect in a population that isn't “unwell”.
Our findings aren’t a conclusion, but rather an invitation to get curious
A single dried urine test is a handy snapshot, but our customer testing data shows us scale. When patterns repeat across thousands of women, it’s worth taking a moment to pause and consider.
The story behind the stats
Ultimately, this isn’t really about progesterone or testosterone or adrenal metabolites. Those are the proofpoints, sure, but to us it’s really about the picture of women’s health that is painted through these details.
The story we see is this:
The lives we’re living today are not supportive of our hormonal systems.
I hear you saying: ‘tell me something I don’t know!’. But when you see the actual data, at scale, it hits different. It hits deeper.
Our bodies and systems are built for a slower, less relentless kind of life.
Life and its demands and expectations on us have accelerated increasingly over the past 200 years or so, but our genetics don’t evolve at the same rate.
In a world telling you that you’re not enough, this story actually says otherwise. It says that if you’re finding life a bit challenging and you’re not feeling your best, it’s not your fault. You’re not actually supposed to be finding it all easy-breezy.
We don’t need to judge ourselves for not being a perfect unwrinkled, toned picture of health and vitality. Sure, we can strive to be the best version of ourselves, but we should do it with compassion. No one is finding it easy.
We’re all climbing our own mountains and that’s ok. The wellness industry should be here to give you a helping hand when you need it. Not to be another thing telling you you’re not enough.
That’s the space Eve aims to occupy, coming from a true, data-backed understanding of women and what we’re up against.
*The reference ranges used were developed from generalised published ranges, not ranges built specifically from this population, so "below range" basically means "outside a typical benchmark".