Science and Education Publishing Journal of Food and Nutrition Research 2333-1240 3 8 2015 11 3 Glycemic Response after Starch Consumption in Relation to Salivary Amylase Activity and Copy-number Variation of AMY1 Gene 558 563 EN Gigliola Alberti Javier Parada L. Rodrigo Cataldo Javier Vega Concepción M. Aguilera Ana I. Alvarez-Mercado M. Isabel Hodgson Alberto López Isidora Angellotti Angel Gil José L. Santos Department of Nutrition, Diabetes and Metabolism, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile JFNR20153811 10.12691/jfnr-3-8-11 2015 7 17 2015 10 3 2015 11 1 Salivary amylase activity is partially determined by genetic factors and is possibly related with postprandial plasma glucose levels. The aim of this study is to evaluate the association of salivary amylase activity with plasma glucose and insulin levels after consumption of a gelatinized starchy model food (80% amylopectin; 70% gelatinization), as well as to assess the influence of the salivary amylase gene (AMY1) copy-number variation in amylase activity and concentration. Our results show a strong and significant relation between copy-number variation of AMY1 gene measured through qPCR with salivary amylase concentration, with an enhanced correlation with amylase activity when corrected by salivary flow (r = 0.83, P-value = 0.003). Subjects with high salivary amylase activity tend to have a higher early increase in plasma insulin concentration and a lower glycemic response after starch ingestion compared to subjects with low salivary amylase activity, although these observations did not achieve statistical significance (r = 0.41; P-value = 0.23). In conclusion, we found a strong association between copy-number of AMY1 gene with salivary amylase activity and concentration. However, we did not find evidences for a major role of salivary amylase activity on glycemic response after starch consumption.