Salivary Hormone Testing

Let’s talk about Salivary Hormone Testing.

Hormones will pass into the saliva from the cell membranes of the salivary glands. This means that the hormones move from the salivary gland tissues into the saliva. This means that the saliva hormone levels measure the delivery of the hormones to the tissues from various reservoirs of the blood. In comparison to blood hormone levels which measure hormones that have not been delivered to the tissues.

Therefore salivary hormones reflect the hormones that actually get delivered to the tissues. Salivary hormones are a reflection of bioavailable tissue hormone levels.

Free hormone levels that are measured in the blood have been shown to underestimate the amount of bioavailable hormone levels that are measured through the saliva. Free hormone levels measured in the blood may not accurately indicate the amount of hormones that are delivered to the tissues.