World’s first SPIT-based pregnancy test goes on sale on the high street

For decades, women wanting to find out if they are pregnant have needed to take a discrete visit to the bathroom to carry out a ‘pee on a stick’ test.

But those days are now over. 

High street pharmacy chain Superdrug is, from today, selling the world’s first saliva-based pregnancy test.

The £9.99 Salistick shows results within as little as three minutes.

Its makers also insist it is highly accurate. 

For the test to work, a woman must place a foam-tipped stick in her mouth for a few moments, much as one would do with a thermometer. This collects a sample of saliva.

Then she transfers it to a plastic tube, where a biochemical reaction takes place.

It looks for the presence of hCG, a hormone specific to pregnancy which helps prepare the uterus for the developing embryo.

Abingdon Health, the manufacturer, said as opposed to 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 levels of hormone the female body creates in the early stages of pregnancy

Superdrug’s healthcare director, Caris Newson, said the pharmacy was proud to offer a new way for women to test of they are expecting. 

‘The first at-home urine pregnancy test was launched nearly 50 years ago and until now there haven’t been many advancements 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 novel technology provides women with an enhanced user-experience; offering the ability to test anywhere, anytime, and for the testing experience to be shared 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, however people will need to 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 dubbed ‘the pregnancy hormone’, is created as a fertilized egg attaches itself to the wall of the uterus. 

While rates vary depending on age, general health, and other factors, most couples actively trying for a baby will get pregnant 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 enabled 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 divining pregnancy. Ancient Egyptians recommended urinating over barley and wheat seeds, according to a papyrus text dating from 1350 BC.

If the barley seeds germinated it was meant to herald a boy; wheat a girl. If neither sprouted, the woman was not pregnant.

Scientist believe that there might have been a grain of truth in what might be dismissed as an old wives’ tale: a pregnant woman’s urine contains high levels of various hormones which could help to trigger germination.

In the 1920s, reliable tests were devised, although these involved injecting the woman’s urine into a range of small animals – mice, rabbits and frogs.

If hCG was present, it would make them ovulate.

On-the-shelf tests appeared in the 1970s but were convoluted, with women having to combine their urine with dried sheep’s blood.