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 that 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. Data are currently being analyzed for this 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. As of July 1997 all lipid analyses had been completed. Data from the salivary component presently are being 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.
