Drool Test Shows Social Stressors

Four U.S. studies of mothers and their infants, preschoolers, children and teens show a test of drool can indicate social stressors.

The test monitors alpha amylase, an enzyme secreted by the salivary glands that has been linked in adults to the sympathetic nervous system’s fight-or-flight response. The studies show alpha amylase is a marker for the SNS response in children as well, according to first author Dr. Douglas A. Granger of Pennsylvania State University.

Being able to monitor alpha amylase via a salivary test may open new opportunities to characterize individual differences in response to stress that we weren’t able to see before, said Granger.

The four studies appear in a special issue of the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

The associations revealed between alpha amylase and illness susceptibility are particularly robust and worthy of comment, the authors wrote. The finding is unique and is consistent with volumes of research on the linkages between the brain, behavior and immunity.