A test detecting Alzheimer’s disease early may become easily available thanks to one plentiful bodily substance: saliva, a recently released study shows.
The saliva test was presented at the 2015 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Washington this week. Though research is still in its infancy, the saliva test represents the exciting future of diagnostic tools in development for the detection of the neurodegenerative disease.
Researchers presented a new study which show biomarkers in saliva may indicate early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.
While doctors are currently able to see the difference between a healthy brain and one affected by Alzheimer’s, the study emphasizes the importance of detecting Alzheimer’s-like changes early.
“As the field has continued to mature over the last decade or so, we now have research and evidence that suggests that the underlying biology of Alzheimer’s disease is changing a decade or more before someone experiences the memory or function changes associated with Alzheimer’s,” said Heather Snyder, director of medical and scientific operations at the Alzheimer’s Association.
This test examines saliva samples and looks at changes in saliva as the potential way to detect changes in Alzheimer’s, Snyder said.