New Ovulation Test Uses Saliva

These days with women often putting off having babies until later in life, many couples want more control over exactly when they are going to get pregnant.

You can not do that very well without knowing when you are ovulating.

Now there is a Federal Drug Administration-approved ovulation predictor that works using a woman's saliva.

Debbie Zucker will be expanding her family five months from now. She is thrilled because her 4-year-old son Renny will have a playmate.

But this pregnancy is different from her first, because she had a lot more control over when she got pregnant this time.

"I looked at the calendar, but I really wanted a little more assurance than just going by the numbers, cause (the cycles) could vary from month to month.

Instead, Zucker licked a little plastic disk, put it into a lipstick-sized holder and waited a few minutes. The test is called the Donna.

When the saliva is dry, Zucker just has to look through the lighted microscope lens in the holder and look for a distinctive fern pattern.

"As you approach ovulation, the estrogen level in your body increases. This then increases the salt content in the saliva. So when you place the saliva on the microscope slide under the microscope and it dries you can see a crystallized salt pattern called a fern pattern," said Dr. Anita Sadaty, an obstetrician and gynecologist.

In addition to being somewhat more convenient than the urine needed for other ovulation predictors, the Donna gives women a three- to four-day advance notice of ovulation, an advantage when trying to plan a family.

The Donna sells for about $60, but it is reusable for up to nine months.

Officials said if you have to test yourself often, it may actually be cheaper than other ovulation predictors on the market.

For information on the product, visit its Web site.