Hormonal Update Volume 2 Number 2

The Saliva Story - Part 2

In the last Hormonal Update we discussed many of the new areas of science that saliva testing is helping advance. Great strides are being made in drug testing, forensics, genetics, diagnostics, clinical medicine and hormone research. Because hormones play such an active and vital role in our physiology and an integral role in our health, this Hormonal Update will focus on salivary hormone research.

To fully understand the role hormones play in our lives, we must understand what actually happens to hormone levels in our body - what makes them go up, what makes them come down and what happens to our health and behavior when they do. Saliva research allows the scientific investigation of hormones in ways never before possible. It provides valuable windows into hormone actions that yield a better understanding of the hormonal differences among individuals. This has helped further our knowledge of the interplay between our daily lives and habits and our hormonal balance and ratios. As a result, we now know that not only do our hormones influence us, we also have an effect on our hormones...sometimes by the very way we live our lives. 

The ease with which a saliva test can be done is of enormous importance to the advancement of salivary hormone research. For example, it doesn’t matter whether you are in the kitchen or the bedroom, or in a boardroom or on an athletic field, a saliva sample is easily collected. It is a very simple process - chew a piece of sugar free gum then spit in a little tube. This allows samples to be gathered before and after meals, sexual intercourse, exercise, work, even before, during and after a Space Shuttle flight. Saliva hormone testing enables us to do field research among many different groups of people, in a variety of locations and at all times of day or night.

Important New Discoveries about Stress

Cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands, is commonly known as the “fight or flight hormone.” Helping us cope with the stresses of life, cortisol is released into our body in a rhythmic pattern, with levels higher in the morning and lower in the evening. In the past, studies of the effects of cortisol and stress on health have been controversial and inconclusive because blood samples taken in the morning could tell a different story than samples taken in the afternoon. However, salivary cortisol testing has changed that. 

In a recent study of the effects of stress on cortisol levels, saliva samples were collected 10 times a day for five days, giving researchers a comprehensive view of the participants’ responses to stress. Monitoring cortisol-releasing patterns over an entire week demonstrated that many variables can elevate cortisol levels. Interestingly, this study found that not only do major life stresses, like the death of a loved or loss of a job, increase cortisol production, but those seemingly inconsequential little daily hassles like long lines at the bank or a fight with your spouse do as well. Since it is well known that chronically high cortisol levels can negatively impact our health, this information is extremely valuable.

Critical new salivary research in breast cancer has revealed that the state of a woman’s diurnal cortisol rhythm may be a predictor for breast cancer survival. Flattened daily cortisol patterns were linked with low counts and suppression of natural killer cells. Up to 70% of patients with advanced breast cancer had either flattened, consistently high or wildly erratic cortisol patterns. Salivary cortisol studies suggest that patients with abnormal rhythms in their cortisol levels have decreased survival time. Those with normal cortisol patterns lived longer.

Most cancer patients experience physical and emotional stress. Just receiving a cancer diagnosis and prognosis can cause both a psychological and hormonal response. Cancer treatment options are often difficult and stressful as well. In time, salivary research may help us better understand the hormonal stress responses of all cancer patients. The more we understand the effects of stress on the body, the more protection we will be able to give.

Cortisol and Food

Saliva hormone studies have now linked eating, stress and cortisol levels. In one study, a group of healthy women ranging between 30 and 45 years were given a variety of stress inducing tasks to perform - counting backwards, giving a speech and working a puzzle that could not be solved. Adding to the challenge, they had to perform the tasks in an unreasonably short amount of time. During these tests their cortisol levels were measured frequently. After testing the women were allowed to snack freely on either high or low fat snacks. The study showed that there was a direct correlation between high fat snacking and elevated cortisol levels. The combination of high cortisol and high insulin during times of stress sends a message to the body to shore up its resources and store fat for the difficult times ahead. Perhaps this helps explain why some people gain weight when they are under a lot of stress.

In another investigation where women ate high and low protein meals, saliva cortisol testing showed that the high protein meals elevated cortisol levels while low protein meals did not. The high protein meal cortisol increase correlated with significantly poorer psychological well-being. What we have learned from studying the cortisol response to meals may tell us that the composition of our meals can affect our health and physiology, our mood, our cognitive function, and our food choices. 

From Conception through Childhood

The evaluation of salivary reproductive hormone levels is being used to study many aspects of fertility and pregnancy, from ovarian and testicular function to risk of premature birth and progesterone output throughout pregnancy. Salivary hormone levels may help couples determine optimum fertility times, as well as serve as a predictor for the onset of labor. Studies have shown that continually elevated levels of cortisol can prevent a woman from ovulating. 

The ease with which a saliva test can be done has made it possible to better understand the hormonal fluctuations of infants and children. One study compared the hormonal stress response of neonates listening to their mother’s heartbeat with those listening to the recorded sound of a Japanese drum with the same rhythm. The study found that mom’s heartbeat, not the drum, significantly reduced their stress response. Another study of 264 infants, children, adolescents and young adults aged 2 months to 18 years showed that social relationships and family environment do play a role in children’s stress response and, ultimately, their health. 

Hormone and Exercise

A group of French sportswomen, who competed in handball or swimming at the national level, gave six saliva samples a day which were compared to the samples from a group of sedentary women. Differences were seen between the testosterone and DHEA levels of the two groups, as well as in their cortisol levels. This study demonstrated that exercise alone, as well as type of exercise a woman does, influences her hormone levels. Physical activity not only affects the hormone levels of the person performing it, it can also affect the person observing it. One study demonstrated that the testosterone levels of fans whose team won a game were markedly higher than those of the fans whose team lost. 

Sociology and Biology

Testosterone helps build strong muscles, bones, and ligaments, as well as increasing energy and libido, and enhancing a person’s sense of well-being. But, in addition to daily and monthly fluctuations and natural physiologic rhythms, testosterone also rises and falls in response to feelings of success and failure. Elevated testosterone levels can cause feelings of anxiety and aggression. Tracking salivary testosterone levels is an invaluable tool for studying human behavior. Research studies are now being conducted to better understand violence, anxiety, aggression and antisocial behavior in prison inmates, veterans and college students.

People who work the nightshift, or who work long 18 to 24 hours shifts, have been shown to have impaired performance and mood, and to experience drowsiness, fatigue and sleep disturbance. Melatonin, the hormone that governs our sleep patterns, rises and falls synchronistically with the light and dark cycles in our lives. Salivary melatonin and cortisol tests help expand our understanding of the relationship between daylight, darkness, stress and sleep. Salivary testing is being used to assess both melatonin and cortisol levels in astronauts. Recently, researchers found that it took four to six days for astronauts on the U.S. Space Shuttle to adjust to a twelve-hour shift in their sleep cycle.