Tags: Saliva | test | risk | death | cancer

Can Your Saliva Reveal Your Risk of Death?

Can Your Saliva Reveal Your Risk of Death?
(Copyright DPC)

By    |   Wednesday, 23 December 2015 02:18 PM EST

Measuring the level of a particular antibody in your saliva could reveal your risk of death, a new preliminary study finds.

Secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA) is a common antibody, or blood protein, that is found in saliva. The job of IgA is to recognize and eliminate harmful pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses.

Researchers from the UK performed a study using 639 adults from Scotland, who were 63 years old at the time the study began. They took saliva sampling and then tracked their mortality rates over the following 19 years.

They found that those people who had lower amount of IgA in their saliva were more likely to die. Also, upon further analysis, they found that these people were more likely to die from cancer, particularly non-lung cancer.

“There are a number of factors that can affect how well we produce antibodies and maintain their levels. There are some that we have no control over, such as age, heritability or illness, but our general state of health can also affect their levels,” says Dr. Anna Phillips, one of the researchers involved in the study.

Such a saliva test could be a less invasive way of determining health status than a blood test but more research needs to be done to determine its usefulness in a general check-up, the researchers note in the study, which appears in PLOS One.


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Health-News
A test that could measure the level of a certain antibody in your saliva could become a means of determining your risk of death, a new study finds.
Saliva, test, risk, death, cancer
230
2015-18-23
Wednesday, 23 December 2015 02:18 PM
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