Abstract
Bubble tea drinks contained tapioca pearls, that can stimulate mastication. Chewing tapioca pearls may stimulate saliva production. Increased salivary secretion is thought to be correlated with an increase in inorganic components and salivary α-amylase (SAA). This study aimed to evaluate the effect of bubble tea on SAA and salivary phosphate (PO43-) levels. Subjects were 15 people with a total sample of 60. Each subject drank bubble tea with tapioca pearl for 3 days in the first week as the intervention group. In the second week the subjects drank tea without bubble for 3 days as a control group. Saliva samples were taken on day 1 before treatment and day 3 after treatment. Saliva was collected in the morning 09:00 am–12:00 pm for 1 minute. SAA levels were measured using an ELISA kit with Optical Density (OD) at 405 nm. Phosphate levels were measured using a semi-quantitative test kit. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, Kruskal Wallis, t-test, and Pearson test (p < 0.05). The results of ANOVA and Kruskall-Wallis showed that there was a significant difference in the effect of consumption of bubble tea and tea without bubble (p < 0.005) on SAA and phosphate levels. SAA and phosphate levels increased significantly after drinking bubble tea and tea without bubble (p < 0.05). SAA levels after drinking bubble tea were significantly higher than after drinking tea without bubble. Comparison between phosphate levels after drinking bubble tea and tea without bubble were not significantly different (p > 0.05). Correlation between SAA and phosphate level was a significant different (p < 0.05) and r was moderate category. It was concluded that the consumption of drinking bubble tea and tea without bubbles could increase salivary α-amylase (SAA) also phosphate level and may improve quality of saliva through a salivary buffer mechanism.
Highlights
Saliva is as one of the body fluids that is important for maintaining oral health
The results showed an increase in salivary Į-amylase (SAA) and salivary phosphate levels on the 3rd day after drinking bubble tea and tea without bubble
The comparison was not significant on the 3rd day of the control group with the intervention group indicating that the increase in phosphate levels after drinking bubble tea and tea without bubble tea was the same from Figure 1 it can be seen that the phosphate level on 3rd day of the intervention group was higher than the control but not statistically significant
Summary
Saliva is as one of the body fluids that is important for maintaining oral health. Saliva has been known to have various functions including lubrication, helping the taste of food, moisturizing and protecting tissues in the oral cavity against infection and protecting teeth against abrasion. Saliva plays an important role in transporting food into the oesophagus, acting as a buffer, and maintain the water in the oral cavity. This protective function is strongly influenced by changes related to composition as well as viscosity, degree, ionic and protein composition [1]. Many stimuli can stimulate salivary secretion i.e., pain, mechanical, chemical, and neuronal stimuli; olfactory stimuli; seeing and thinking about food [1,2]. Chewing food is included as a mechanical stimulus while chemical stimulation can be in the form of tasting sweet, sour, salty, bitter and spicy foods. Stress and psychological conditions are things that affect salivary secretion [2]
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