Scientific Standards Center
The Science of Precision Wellness
Our approach combines advanced biomarker analysis with expert clinical interpretation to create wellness insights uniquely tailored to your body's needs, every marker benchmarked to what's optimal for women your age.
The 60-Second Version
At SomaFleur, we combine biomarkers, symptoms, and health history to help women better understand their hormonal, metabolic, nutrient, and gut health, professionally interpreted and benchmarked to what's optimal, not just “normal.”
Read the full methodologyWhy This Exists
The gap we are working against
These figures describe the research and diagnostic landscape women navigate. They are not our results — every one is sourced below so you can check it yourself.
1993
The year including women in NIH-funded clinical research became US law rather than policy.[1]
A 1977 FDA policy had recommended excluding women of childbearing potential from Phase I and early Phase II drug trials. Much of the foundational reference data in medicine predates the correction.
7.4 years
Median duration of frequent hot flashes and night sweats across the menopause transition.[2]
From SWAN, which followed 3,302 women at seven US sites; this figure covers the 1,449 who reported frequent symptoms. Women who began experiencing them before their final period had a median duration longer than 11.8 years.
Up to 60%
Of people with thyroid disease are unaware of their condition.[3]
The same association reports women are five to eight times more likely than men to have thyroid problems, and that one woman in eight will develop a thyroid disorder in her lifetime.
4 in 5
People affected by autoimmune disease are women.[4]
Scientists have identified more than 80 autoimmune conditions. Why they affect women so disproportionately is still an open research question.
References
- [1]NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, “History of Women's Participation in Clinical Research.” NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, Public Law 103-43. View source
- [2]Avis NE, Crawford SL, Greendale G, et al. “Duration of menopausal vasomotor symptoms over the menopause transition.” JAMA Internal Medicine. 2015;175(4):531–539. PMID 25686030. View source
- [3]American Thyroid Association, “General Information/Press Room.” View source
- [4]National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH), “Autoimmune Diseases.” View source
Population statistics describe groups, not individuals. Nothing above predicts what any one person will experience, and none of it is a diagnosis.
How It Fits Together
From symptoms to a signal you can track
Most health platforms hand you a pile of pages. Here is the whole path in five steps, and where each one lives.
- StartSymptoms first, then targeted testing.
Women's Health Intelligence
Everything begins with lived experience rather than a lab menu. Your symptoms, history, and goals determine which biomarkers are worth measuring, and those panels run through CLIA-certified laboratories so the numbers underneath everything that follows are defensible.
Start the assessment - MeasureOne number, four pillars, benchmarked.
SomaScore™
A single 0-100 score across energy, hormones, gut, and stress resilience, read across seven interconnected systems by the SomaFleur Intelligence Engine. It gives you a baseline you can track instead of a vague sense of feeling off.
How it is calculated - InterpretWritten, graded, and explained.
SomaFleur Health Intelligence Report™
Your findings become a written report where every recommendation has been graded against the SomaFleur Evidence Framework before it reaches you. A thyroid value means something different depending on what iron and cortisol are doing, and the report reads them together.
See a sample report - ActSequenced, not dumped on you.
Personalized Action Plan
Findings become an ordered plan: what to change first, what to add later, and what to leave alone. Sequenced deliberately, because changing everything at once tells you nothing about what actually worked.
View assessments - RepeatRetest at 3-4 months.
Ongoing Tracking & Reassessment
Retesting turns isolated snapshots into a trend line. Repeat assessments plot on one continuous axis, so you can see whether the plan is working rather than guessing.
Track in your account
Everything works together. Each step feeds the next, and the last one loops back to the first.
Scientific Principles
“Evidence-based” is a claim, not a standard. These are the seven commitments that govern how we interpret data, grade sources, and decide what reaches your report.
Transparency
Every reference range, scoring input, and limitation is disclosed. If we are uncertain, we say so rather than implying precision we do not have.
Reproducibility
The same inputs always produce the same interpretation. Our scoring logic is documented and version-controlled so results can be re-derived, not improvised.
Clinical relevance
We report markers that change decisions. A finding earns its place only if it informs what you or your clinician would actually do next.
Women's physiology
Cycle phase, life stage, and sex-specific reference data are treated as primary variables, never adjustments applied to a male-derived baseline.
Longitudinal interpretation
A single measurement is a snapshot; direction of travel is the signal. We build for repeat testing so change over time carries the interpretive weight.
Evidence hierarchy
Systematic reviews and controlled trials outrank observational data, which outranks mechanism and expert opinion. We grade our sources and cite the tier.
Shared decision-making
Intelligence is meant to be discussed, not obeyed. Our reports are written to be brought to your clinician and to make you a more informed participant in your own care.
SomaFleur Intelligence Engine™
Seven interconnected health domains.
Most panels look at one system in isolation. We assess 60+ biomarkers across the seven systems that shape how women feel day to day, then read them together, not in silos.
Estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, how they're produced and metabolized, interpreted against your cycle and life stage.
A full thyroid picture behind weight, temperature, and fatigue, not just a single TSH value.
Glucose, insulin, and how your body manages and stores energy day to day.
Iron and ferritin, vitamin D, and B12, the foundations that quietly drive energy, mood, and hair health.
Low-grade inflammatory signals that shape how you feel before they show up as anything else.
ApoB, lipids, and the markers that matter for the long game, benchmarked to what's optimal.
The microbiome and the gut–hormone axis that connects back to every other system above.
How we turn data into answers
Testing is only the beginning. Our method rests on three principles that separate a pile of numbers from a picture you can actually act on.
What we measure
Comprehensive testing across seven systems (hormones, gut, metabolic, nutrients, thyroid, inflammation, and cardiovascular) so nothing important is missed.
Our testing philosophy
Every marker is benchmarked against what's optimal for women your age, not just the broad 'normal' range, and read with your cycle in mind.
How we interpret
A specialist clinician interprets your results together and writes a signed SomaFleur Health Intelligence Report with clear, personalized next steps.
Our Comprehensive Testing Methods
SomaFleur combines a comprehensive blood panel with two gold-standard functional medicine tests to provide the most complete view of your health, with hormone and gut samples collected at home and your bloodwork done at a partner lab near you.
What We Analyze:
- Beneficial Bacteria: Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and other protective microbes
- Pathogenic Bacteria: H. pylori, C. difficile, and other harmful organisms
- Parasites & Fungi: Comprehensive screening for intestinal parasites and yeast
- Digestive Function: Pancreatic enzymes, bile acids, and inflammation markers
- Intestinal Health: Leaky gut markers, immune function, and gut barrier integrity
Perfect For:
Digestive issues, bloating, IBS, food sensitivities, autoimmune conditions, mood disorders, and anyone wanting to optimize gut health.
What We Analyze:
- Sex Hormones: Estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and their metabolites
- Adrenal Function: Cortisol patterns, cortisone, and stress response
- Melatonin Production: Sleep hormone and circadian rhythm assessment
- Neurotransmitters: Dopamine and norepinephrine metabolites
- Nutritional Markers: B12, B6, glutathione, and oxidative stress indicators
Perfect For:
Hormone imbalances, menopause, PCOS, fertility issues, fatigue, sleep problems, mood swings, and metabolic concerns.
Convenient Collection
Hormone and gut samples are collected at home, while your bloodwork is done with a quick draw at a partner lab near you, coordinated for you.
Trusted by Practitioners
Used by functional medicine practitioners worldwide. Learn about DUTCH validation
Comprehensive Analysis
Together, these tests provide a complete picture of your gut and hormone health.
SomaScore™
One number that carries through every part of the platform. The SomaScore™ is how your symptoms, biomarkers, and progress over time are expressed in a single, comparable measure, so nothing is interpreted in isolation.
How it works
Inputs
Structured symptom responses across four pillars, plus biomarker values and health history when testing is included.
Scoring
Each pillar is scored independently on a 0-100 scale, where symptom burden is inverted so a higher score always means better function.
Banding
Your composite score maps to a defined band, giving the number plain-language meaning instead of a decontextualized figure.
Benchmarking
Your score is compared against the aggregate of women who have completed the assessment, expressed as a percentile.
What the number means
Scores are reported on a fixed 0-100 scale with published thresholds. The bands are constant, so the same score always carries the same interpretation.
- 80-100
- ThrivingSignals look strong
- 60-79
- Mostly balancedA few areas to watch
- 40-59
- Some imbalanceMultiple systems involved
- 0-39
- Running on emptySeveral areas flagging
One score, four surfaces
The same metric governs every stage, which is what makes the platform cumulative rather than a series of disconnected results.
Assessments
The free assessment produces your first SomaScore in minutes, establishing a directional baseline before any testing.
Reports
Lab results are interpreted against the same four pillars, so biomarker findings resolve into the score you already understand.
Dashboard
Repeat assessments and retests plot on one continuous axis, turning isolated results into a trend line you can act on.
Recommendations
Your lowest-scoring pillar determines what we suggest next, so guidance is derived from your score rather than sold against it.
Scope and limitations. The assessment-based SomaScore™ is a directional, educational measure of symptom burden. It is not a diagnostic instrument and does not replace clinical evaluation or laboratory testing.
Get your SomaScoreEvidence Library
Not all evidence carries equal weight. This is the grading system we apply to every source and the measurement standards behind every number we report.
How we grade evidence
- Tier 1
Systematic reviews & meta-analyses
Pooled analyses of multiple trials. Carries the most weight and is where we look first when forming a position.
- Tier 2
Randomized controlled trials
Individual controlled trials. Strong causal evidence, weighted by sample size and study quality.
- Tier 3
Cohort & observational studies
Population and longitudinal data. Useful for associations and real-world patterns, but never treated as causal.
- Tier 4
Mechanistic & expert consensus
Physiological rationale and clinical opinion. Informs hypotheses and framing, never the sole basis for a recommendation.
Every recommendation is evaluated using the SomaFleur Evidence Framework™.
No suggestion reaches your report without being graded against these four tiers first.
Where evidence is genuinely mixed or a question remains open, we report it as unsettled rather than choosing the more marketable interpretation.
Measurement standards
Accredited laboratory methods
Bloodwork is processed through CLIA-certified clinical laboratories. Functional panels use validated methods, including qPCR for the GI-MAP.
Optimal, not just normal, ranges
We report against optimal ranges alongside standard laboratory reference intervals, and we disclose which is being applied.
Sex- and age-specific intervals
Reference data is selected for women in your age range and life stage rather than inherited from mixed-sex populations.
Traceable citations
Claims that shape interpretation link to the primary source, so any statement we make can be checked against the literature.
Latest Research & Findings
Stay updated with the latest scientific discoveries in personalized wellness and functional medicine.
Gut-Hormone Connection
Key Findings:
- • Gut microbiome directly influences mental health outcomes
- • Metabolomics reveals hormone-gut interactions
- • Stress pathways mediated through gut-brain connection
Key Findings:
- • Women-specific mental health improvements documented
- • Hormonal life stages influence intervention efficacy
- • Gut microbiome interventions show significant benefits
Estrobolome Studies
Key Findings:
- • Gut microbiome regulates circulating estrogen levels
- • Links to obesity, PCOS, and metabolic syndrome
- • Implications for cardiovascular and cognitive health
Key Findings:
- • Beta-glucuronidases regulate estrogen reactivation
- • Gut microbiota alterations linked to breast and endometrial cancer
- • PCOS associations with estrobolome function
LP299V Probiotic Research
Key Findings:
- • 170+ scientific publications
- • 60+ human clinical studies
- • Reduced flatulence and abdominal pain in IBS patients
Reported findings:
- • 40 participants total: 20 received LP299V, 20 received placebo, over 4 weeks
- • Resolution of abdominal pain in 20 of 20 LP299V participants versus 11 of 20 on placebo (p = 0.0012)
- • Improvement across all IBS symptoms in 95% versus 15% on placebo (p < 0.0001)
How to read this study
Forty participants over four weeks is a small, short trial. Results this strong from a sample this size carry wide margins of error, and the authors themselves concluded that larger and longer studies are required before establishing the place of L. plantarum in IBS treatment. We cite this as early supporting evidence for a mechanism, not as proof of a treatment effect, and it does not predict what any individual will experience.
Transparency
What Testing Can and Cannot Tell You
Scientific credibility requires stating limits as clearly as capabilities. Here is where our methods are strong, and where they are not.
What our testing can do
- Measure validated biomarkers in CLIA-certified laboratories
- Interpret results against female-specific reference ranges
- Track how your patterns change across cycles and over time
- Translate findings into structured, prioritized guidance
- Show you the evidence behind every recommendation
What it cannot do
- Diagnose disease — testing informs care, it does not replace a clinician
- Replace your physician, specialist, or prescribed treatment plan
- Guarantee outcomes; biology varies between individuals
- Detect every condition — no single panel is comprehensive
SomaFleur assessments are wellness and educational tools. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before making medical decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about our testing methods and scientific approach
See the Complete Picture
The Complete Women's Health Blueprint connects foundational bloodwork, hormones, and gut health into one interpreted report, so you understand how your systems work together, not in isolation.