A credit rating for your health spend – proof over promise, in five simple letters.
Health is wealth.
And no longer is it a nice-to-have but a serious investment – and one of the fastest growing on earth. The Global Wellness Institute reports that the industry is on track to approach $10 trillion by 2029.
But scratch the surface and there is a contradiction which sits at the heart of this trend when it comes to women.
LYMA’s proprietary research has found nearly three quarters of women aged 35-54 say health is their highest priority and the most powerful asset in their portfolio – then treat it as the first thing to cut the moment life gets full.
A woman can rank her health above her career or her holidays and still not believe it’s where her money is best spent – not because she’s wrong about its value, but because no one has ever shown her the return.
“The women’s health conversation has expanded, but people recognise they don’t know what they don’t know. They want answers, yes, but increasingly they don’t know who to trust.”
Dr Florence Comite, endocrinologist and clinician-scientist
It is this sentiment which sits at the core of LYMA’s POWER Index.
The more health information that exists, the more women demand: clinical proof matters more than brand cachet across every age group, rising to 86% among women over 55. That diligence carries a measurable premium – consumers with a stronger preference for science-led beauty and wellness report an average maximum spend of $284 on a single product in the past 12 months, versus $234 among more lifestyle-led consumers (source: Future:Poll™).
Women are seeking better signposts and proof points when it comes to health: a way to tell a genuine return from an expensive story. Crowded with supplements, diagnostics, wearables, clinics, influencers and protocols, the market has matured faster than the ability of women to evaluate it.
“Women already know the foundations of good health. The real opportunity is helping them turn that knowledge into sustainable action, doing the due diligence in a crowded market.”
Dr Stephanie Kuku, senior adviser, World Health Organization Department of Digital Health and Innovation
More than half (56%) say they find it hard to distinguish products with real science behind them from those that simply borrow scientific language.
This creates the need for something new: the LYMA POWER Index.
What P.O.W.E.R. stands for
A framework for deciding whether an investment, action or behaviour change is actually meaningful for health and wellbeing. Just as a credit rating doesn’t describe how healthy a company is, but judges whether one decision – lending it money – is sound, P.O.W.E.R. asks the equivalent of an action or spend: not how healthy are you, but what does this specific investment change about your health – does it give you more power over your long-term outcomes?
Proven. Outcomes. Whole-system. Empowering. Return.
P: Proven
Is it backed by credible science and measurable evidence?
Health and beauty marketing has spent decades sounding like science without ever being required to prove it – science-washing, where the language of research is borrowed to imply rigour a product was never asked to demonstrate. Women pay the price unevenly: 57% say they have to work harder than they should just to find health information that’s actually relevant to them. But that confusion won’t hold much longer – among early adopters, nine in ten now expect beauty products to deliver proven benefits, and 86% expect the same scientific rigour as healthcare (source: Future:Poll™).
Proven means a claim that survives one question: backed by what, exactly? If a brand can’t answer that clearly, the investment fails before anything else is even considered. It’s the same standard behind the science behind LYMA.
O: Outcomes
Does it improve meaningful long-term health outcomes, not just promises?
Outcomes asks a sharper question: not whether a claim has evidence behind it, but whether that evidence is for the result actually being sold – and whether it meaningfully changes long-term health, however modest the change.
“The biggest thing missing from the longevity conversation is what it really means to have your health... what does this specific intervention mean for my body?”
Dr Florence Comite
Meaningful doesn’t have to mean dramatic – asked to choose between a treatment that changes how others see them and one that changes how they see themselves, 72% choose the latter. Outcomes asks a brand to name, in advance, exactly what it expects to change, and holds the investment to that specific claim, not a nearby one that sounds better.
W: Whole-system
Does it understand the interconnected biology of women’s health, rather than treating isolated symptoms?
For most of medical history, female biology has been read symptom-by-symptom, as though the body were a collection of departments, when a change in one system rarely stays contained to it.
“Our hormones make it so: oestrogen is connected to every part of the body. If women understood their health in terms of a systems view, they’d be able to do far better due diligence.”
Dr Stephanie Kuku
Women already intrinsically think this way: given a choice between confidence from how they look and confidence from knowing their body is healthy, over two-thirds (67%) choose the latter – rising to 73% among Gen X. Whole-System asks whether an investment treats one signal as the whole story, or recognises that a change is rarely confined to a single system.
For more on the science of interconnected women’s health, explore the LYMA Journal.
E: Empowering
Does it increase understanding, confidence and agency over your own health?
This is what separates a product from a relationship with one’s own biology. When women feel anxious about ageing, almost half (42%) actively research treatments themselves and 24% go on to invest in a new health routine – the instinct isn’t to defer, it’s to act.
“Women are getting together and pooling their knowledge... the knowledge they’re getting is often flawed. The part that’s missing is something to connect the dots.”
Dr Florence Comite
Empowering asks whether an investment leaves a woman better equipped to understand her own health – increasing her confidence and agency – or whether it simply adds to the noise.
R: Return
Does it create lasting value for your future health, or simply short-term optimisation?
A single facial, supplement cycle or LYMA Laser PRO treatment can satisfy every other letter of P.O.W.E.R. and still only be the beginning of its value – because Return is a property of what happens when it’s repeated, consistently, over time.
Tellingly, 37% of women name financial security as their single biggest priority for the next five years, more than three times the number who name physical appearance – a generation already fluent in the idea that value builds gradually, not in a single transaction.
“I believe there are atomic habits of longevity, where you compound change over time. Just like a 401(k), you can build your own health portfolio – making small, consistent investments that ultimately help you live a better quality life.”
Dr Florence Comite
Five letters. One question worth asking before every health investment: does this give you more power over your future?
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