Abstract
Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) influences the perception of taste and texture, features both relevant in acquiring food liking and, with time, food preference. However, no studies have yet investigated the relationship between basal activity levels of sAA and food preference. We collected saliva from 57 volunteers (63% women) who we assessed in terms of their preference for different food items. These items were grouped into four categories according to their nutritional properties: high in starch, high in sugar, high glycaemic index, and high glycaemic load. Anthropometric markers of cardiovascular risk were also calculated. Our findings suggest that sAA influences food preference and body composition in women. Regression analysis showed that basal sAA activity is inversely associated with subjective but not self-reported behavioural preference for foods high in sugar. Additionally, sAA and subjective preference are associated with anthropometric markers of cardiovascular risk. We believe that this pilot study points to this enzyme as an interesting candidate to consider among the physiological factors that modulate eating behaviour.
Highlights
Salivary alpha-amylase hydrolases starch into smaller oligosaccharides as the first step of carbohydrate digestion
We explored the hypothesis of basal levels of Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) being associated with food preference and various body measurements associated with health status, coherent with the evidence presented in recent research [7,30,31]
We found a positive relationship between sAA and body composition, the utility of these procedures is still a matter of debate, with some studies showing no difference between Body Max Index (BMI) and other anthropometric measures [41]
Summary
Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) hydrolases starch into smaller oligosaccharides as the first step of carbohydrate digestion. This enzyme is involved in the perception of taste [1,2] and texture [3]. This property is notably relevant in relation to eating, as physicochemical attributes determine the orosensory response (i.e., palatability) to food [4,5] and can play a key role in modulating motivational (approach, consumption) and affective (hedonic response) constituents of eating behaviour [6]. As the number of copies of AMY1 is directly correlated with the amount of sAA [7], a reasonable question
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