Yesterday I attended a presentation by a local Ph.D in Biochemistry regarding balancing women’s hormones and mood, and while she has great success treating her clients with blood analysis only, she states that saliva testing is never appropriate. Unfortunately, this blanket-type statement may not be fully correct, as there is documented validity of salivary testing in certain circumstances, and this discrepancy in understanding further illustrates the misunderstandings of functional vs. traditional allopathic medicine.

While blood (serum) testing has long been the “gold standard” for traditionally accepted medical testing and medical disease, recent developments, technology and understanding have brought other testing methods to the playing field.  These include urinary metabolites and salivary testing.  This testing is not intended to be a replacement or substitute for serum (blood) testing, but rather that it allows for the assessment of different functionality, for different criteria.