The use of saliva for testing hormones has increased dramatically as more and more research has shown its efficacy. More than 2500 papers and research articles have been published since 1983. Natural medicine practitioners have been using saliva testing for two decades but now even mainstream medicine practitioners can see how the use of saliva testing could be an important adjunct to patient care.
When you measure a hormone in saliva, you’re actually measuring the bio-available hormone. A blood test for hormones measure hormones that are tightly bound to plasma proteins – usually, less than 1% of what is in the blood actually enters the tissues. Recent research has shown that saliva testing is accurate, often paralleling blood testing but with more correlation to hormone levels from day to day and during the course of the day. In certain instances, it shows to be superior to blood testing, and it has many advantages in convenience and cost.
Saliva testing is an uncomplicated way to help diagnose problems in millions of people accurately and easily. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has found saliva testing for adrenal hormones (cortisol, DHEA, pregnenelone) more useful than blood tests. With an Adrenal Fatigue test kit, for example – the patient is instructed to collect saliva on a cotton swab 4 different times during the day to accurately assess cortisol (stress hormone) levels throughout the day. Both patients and practitioners appreciate saliva test kits because the samples are easy to collect (non-invasive), store and ship – from the comfort of your own home.
We use Diagnos-techs and ZRT labs for our salivary hormone testing for:
- Male and female hormone testing (fertility, perimenopausal, menopausal)
- Adrenal fatigue (cortisol, DHEA, pregnenolone)
- Gluten sensitivities
- Food sensitivities (dairy, wheat, eggs, soy)
