Benefits of saliva in human health and physiology

The Multiple Benefits of Saliva for Humans
Besides the more commonly known benefits of minimizing halitosis, keeping the mouth moist and comfortable,, making food taste better and easier to swallow, there are also a number of other lesser-known but still highly important benefits of saliva for humans as well. These benefits include most especially the ability of scientists to use human saliva to assess individual health status and to identify potential and existing disorders in ways that facilitate efficacious treatments. Given the need for this type of accurate and rapid immunoassay techniques have assumed new importance and relevance today. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of a selected article by Maniga and Golinsky (2001) concerning the benefits of using saliva for health status analyses, followed by a critique of the study’s format. Finally, a summary of the research and key findings concerning the benefits of saliva for humans are presented in the conclusion.
Summary and Critique
Summary
In their study, “Remarkable insights into health and disease are offered through analysis of saliva” (copy attached), Maniga and Golinsky (2001) provide a brief background of their research concerning the use of saliva by laboratories and medical researchers for evaluating future risk, diagnosing and actually preventing a number of medical disorders and diseases.
In this regard, Maniga and Golinsky (2001) advise that, “Physicians experienced in saliva analysis are able to predict, diagnose or prevent many health problems and diseases” (p. 37). The superiority of saliva for these types of applications compared to using blood is due to its specific cellular proprieties. For example, Maniga and Golinsky (2001) point out that, “Unlike blood testing, saliva analysis is looking at the cellular level (the biologically active compounds) and saliva is therefore truly representative of what is clinically relevant -- the compounds in the cells” (p. 37).
There are, in fact, multiple clinical relevant molecular compounds found in human saliva that are valuable indicators of health status, including hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and cortisol, among others. These saliva-borne hormones provide clinicians with a much more accurate assay compared to blood because they are far more detectable. Moreover, unlike blood assays, saliva tests provide specific evidence that when hormonal therapies are used that the hormones are in fact reaching their intended cellular destinations. This phenomenon is due to the polar nature of blood serum versus the nonpolar nature of saliva which means that blood assays typically fail to discern whether hormonal treatments are working.
Notwithstanding the multiple benefits of using saliva for diagnostic applications, the underlying processes are complex and require sophisticated laboratory facilities that have made these types of tests less accessible and more expensive but continuing innovations in hormonal assay technologies are addressing these constraints head-on. Further, there are a number of other constraints that are involved with using conventional blood tests compared to saliva assays, such as the need for clinicians to administer regular tests at odd hours when using hormonal therapies and it is far easier, faster and even more accurate to use saliva test. As Maniga and Golinsky (2001) note, “A saliva assay not only solves this problem but also in many cases provides much more accurate and meaningful information than blood tests” (p. 39).
Finally, Maniga and Golinskey (2001) emphasize that saliva assays represent a major advance in diagnostics since these tests provide clinicians with early indications of medical conditions so that their severity and length of onset can be reduced. In other words, saliva assays provide health care practitioners with far more of the types of information they need to make informed decisions concerning an optimal course of action for patients compared to using blood samples.
Critique
To their credit, the authors get right to their main points concerning the benefits of using saliva for diagnostic testing applications which is clearly an advantage for busy clinicians that may just want the main highlights about this emerging technology. The authors, however, fail to include an abstract which would have been a far more effective communication strategy for this purpose. The authors do provide a sidebar, though, that lists some of the more common health care conditions that can be diagnosed using saliva tests, including acne, high cholesterol levels, cancer and even male pattern baldness. On balance, the authors use an effective approach to presenting the background of their research and the findings that emerged from their analysis of trends in saliva testing technologies.
Conclusion
Although Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vice presidency famously suggested the office was not worth a warm bucket of spit, the value of human saliva has become increasingly recognized over the past half century. The main points that were made by Maniga and Golinskey (2001) concerning the value of using saliva for diagnostic applications have assumed even more importance and relevance as researchers scramble for faster and cheaper ways to test people for the Covid-19 virus. In the final analysis, it is reasonable to conclude that saliva will become the testing substance of choice for a far wider range of disorders as these technologies continue to improve, reducing the time required to obtain results as well as the costs of testing while simultaneously improving their accuracy.
References
Maniga, J. N. & Golinsky, S. (2001, March/April). Remarkable insights into health and disease are offered through analysis of saliva. Total Health, 23(2), 37-41.
COPY OF REFERENCE
Experts agree that diagnosis and prevention of disease using saliva assays is about to enter a period of explosive growth as more and more laboratories and medical practitioners gear up for this new technology.
Unlike blood testing, saliva analysis is looking at the cellular level (the biologically active compounds) and saliva is therefore truly representative of what is clinically relevant--the compounds in the cells. Blood analysis, on the other hand, is looking at compounds as they travel through the blood serum, most of which are protein bound. Physicians experienced in saliva analysis are able to predict, diagnose or prevent many health problems and diseases.
Small molecules freely travel through the cells and into saliva ducts and it is these small molecules that can be assayed in saliva. Hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, DHT, DHEA, androstenedione, etc.) are all very small molecules and all can be tested in saliva. It is hormones that largely determine your health and how you feel. A saliva assay can make information available that may be obscured when looking for information in the blood.
Unlike blood analysis, saliva assays will always report a substantial increase in hormone levels when hormone creams are applied to the skin. This phenomena opens up some serious medical issues and a dilemma for many doctors. There is a common controversy within the medical fraternity when a doctor conducts blood tests both before and after the application of hormone creams to the skin and finds no difference in hormone levels. The obvious but very wrong conclusion is that hormone creams do not work. There are a number of studies that explain this discrepancy. One of the most compelling is a published, double blind, randomized study where 40 women scheduled for breast surgery for the removal of a lump were divided into four groups of 10 to study the effects of topical hormones when applied to the breast. For 10 to 13 days prior to surgery, one group received a placebo, one group received estrogen, one group received both estrogen and natural progesterone and one group received only natural progesterone.( n1) At the time of surgery, a blood sample was taken and a sample of breast tissue was also taken from the breast approximately lcm from the lump. In each case the blood analysis reported hormone levels that were statistically unchanged but amazingly when the tissue was analyzed, there were up to one hundred times more hormones in the tissue of those that used a topical hormone than those that used the placebo. The tissue analysis is telling us that the hormones reached the cells where they are needed whereas the blood analysis offers no evidence of this fact. What this study tells us (as does a saliva assay) is that when a physician claims there is no evidence that the creams are working, they are looking for the evidence in the wrong place--in the blood serum. Serum is polar while most hormones are nonpolar. It is no wonder that blood testing shows little or no change in hormone levels when hormone creams are used.
A factor of significance when assaying saliva is that hormones at the cellular level are found at very low levels; hence results are reported in picograms. Only a small number of medical testing labs have so far developed the technology to assay hormones at these low levels. Usually the labs that have succeeded tend to keep their technology a closely guarded secret. The technology; however, is improving all the time. The new technology test equipment at Life-flo Health Care Product's CLIA registered medical laboratory in Phoenix, for example, is extremely sensitive and easily measures the low levels of hormones found in saliva.
If you do not feel right, then something is wrong. If your hormones are low or out of balance, then you will not feel good. Hormones are needed to keep you happy. Saliva testing will identify hormonal status and hormonal imbalance. Intervention with natural hormones can change a person's feeling of well-being for the better and can substantially reduce the risk of almost all of the diseases of western society. The risk of prostate cancer, breast cancer, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, weight problems and a host of other less serious health conditions can be determined and often prevented when acting on information provided from a saliva assay. Breast cancer, for example, is extremely rare among women who have good levels of progesterone.
A physician, when trying to track down the cause of excess weight or extreme tiredness, may treat the patient for hyperthyroidism, whereas if the physician were to look deeper and study a saliva assay, he may find that the adrenal glands are not producing enough cortisol. Cortisol is a permissive hormone; it gets everything ready for the thyroid hormone at the tissue level so that the thyroid can come in and activate metabolism. The problem that is causing the symptoms of hyperthyroidism may not be thyroid but cortisol at the tissue level.
In fact, it is hormone supplementation that has become the centerpiece of the growing number of doctors who have joined the emerging science of anti-aging medicine.
Starting about six years ago, the revolution of natural progesterone began to gain momentum and women around the world are now experiencing remarkable changes to their lives when they use natural progesterone cream to balance their hormones to offset the problems of estrogen dominance. Harvard-trained Dr. John R. Lee, through his books, lectures and unselfish dedication, started this revolution. Now women and their doctors are realizing the benefits of natural hormones, especially progesterone and the use of saliva assays to get to the truth of what is going on in a person's body.
The levels of some hormones, especially those that effect energy and sleep, vary throughout the day (a consequence of the circadian rhythm). Important information about what is going on in the human body can only be determined by checking such hormone levels at certain times of the day. Melatonin, for example, should be checked at about 3 A.M., cortisol should be checked at about 7 A.M. and possibly at other times throughout the day as well. In the case of premenopausal women, progesterone should be checked on about the 21st day of their cycle. It would not be an easy task to find a doctor who can make himself available to draw blood samples at these odd times and hours so as to create a valid health profile to act upon. A saliva assay not only solves this problem but also in many cases provides much more accurate and meaningful information than blood tests.
Individuals will often order a saliva assay to establish a baseline before embarking on hormone supplements. More frequently, however, a saliva assay is ordered to pinpoint the cause of a problem. While saliva kits can be ordered direct, we encourage individuals to work with their doctors. A growing number of doctors are gaining experience with analysis of saliva results but to many it is still a new science.
It is very helpful to both the laboratory and the doctor if along with the saliva sample the patient provides details of his or her problems, a statement of what is bothering them. This information can be reviewed by the laboratory against actual results. It is often very clear from saliva results why the patient is experiencing the problems s/he is reporting. Saliva analysis is a diagnostic tool that will often enable the doctor to identify the actual cause of many health problems and diseases. While allopathic doctors are more likely to treat (and suppress) symptoms with drugs and not investigate the actual cause, saliva analysis helps the doctor to recommend a course of action to correct the root cause of a problem. Resolving the root cause will usually involve a natural solution. It is those doctors who either have an open mind or who have converted to alternative medicine who are usually best able to work with the patient to address the cause and not just the symptoms.
The cost of testing saliva is typically less than a blood analysis, about $30 per hormone. Saliva testing offers convenience and is non-invasive. There is no pain and an individual can draw the sample at the correct time, in the privacy of his or her own home, a service and convenience not available through a physician.
The saliva test kit comprises a collection tube, instructions, a requisition form and a prepaid mailing tube (for private individuals) or a prepaid FedEx LabPak when the kit is sent to physicians. The steps required include rinsing the mouth with water and collecting the sample before the mouth is contaminated with toothpaste and food. It is simply a case of removing the cap from the tube and providing spit. Once the sample is collected and the paperwork is filled out, it can be dropped into the mail and the results will be available in seven to 10 days. Actual laboratory turnaround time is 72 hours or less. If the saliva sample is not sent immediately to the lab, keep it in a refrigerator. Saliva, nevertheless, is very stable at room temperature and will last for many weeks.
JUST A FEW OF THE THOUSANDS OF HEALTH ISSUES AND DISEASES THAT CAN BE DIAGNOSED THROUGH SALIVA AND HELPED, RESOLVED OR PREVENTED THROUGH HORMONE SUPPLEMENTATION INCLUDE:
acne
cholesterol
male pattern baldness
cancer
fibroids
stress
weight problems
sexual dysfunction
headaches
heart problems
heart palpitations
allergies
cold body temperature
sleep problems
thinning skin
PMS
menopause problems
hypoglycemia
mood imbalance or swings
inability to absorb calcium
difficulties in conceiving
Editor's note: Life-flo Health Care Products makes test kits available to medical practitioners free of charge. Individuals can also order test kits directly at a cost of $9.95. The $9.95 is fully rebated by deducting this amount from the test fee when the saliva sample is sent to the laboratory. Kits can be ordered by calling Life-flo at 866-238-2588. International callers 602-995-8715.