In recent years epidemiologists and other medical researchers have become increasingly interested in the effects that diet may have on health and disease. The chief impediment to research on nutritional causes of disease has been uncertainty about the validity of existing dietary assessment methods and the consequent uncertainty about the results obtained from them. Ascertainment of fat intake by means of salivary analyses affords an attractive alternative to more conventional procedures which are either subjective or invasive. Positive outcomes along this line of investigative research will facilitate the conduct of valid and useful research on various chronic diseases, including cancer and heart disease. This is a prospective study exploring the utility of salivary lipid profiles as an adjunct to more traditional dietary assessment methods among women enrolled in the Women's Health Trial (WHT) Feasibility Study in Minority Populations. Study volunteers were followed in the central study but in addition donated saliva at baseline, 3 month and 6 month follow-up. The collected saliva specimens were stored and shipped to the analytic laboratory at Texas A & M University for lipid analyses. All data from the salivary component will be collated with pertinent data from the Women's Health Trial in order to evaluate the associations among salivary lipids, blood lipids, dietary intake data, and other pertinent variables. The role of nutrition on health and risk of chronic diseases is gaining increasing attention as a potential modality for the prevention of disease. Currently available techniques for assessing dietary intake have major limitations: reliance on self-reported data, inaccuracies in reported food portion, content and preparation methods. The use of salivary lipids to assess dietary intake and adherence to low-fat diets would greatly aid the conduct and interpretation of clinical trials involving fat intake.
