A gene that expresses a salivary enzyme that breaks down starch can protect people from developing type 2 diabetes “later in life”, recent research has demonstrated.
Academics have suggested that people with the AMY1 gene are at lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Although more testing is needed, researchers believe that this finding could lead to genetically testing people at birth to predict their susceptibility.
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First author Professor Angela Poole said: “If you knew you had an increased risk of type 2 diabetes from day one, it may affect your daily choices, your life choices earlier on where you could prevent it from developing later in life.
“This is a big deal because diabetes is very prevalent and its prevalence is increasing,” Poole said.
Duplicating over time, people can have between two and 20 copies of the AMY1 gene. Starches are broken down into sugar as a result of salivary amylase.
Throughout the trial, the team of scientists assessed the unique genetic make-up of more than 100 human samples.
In addition, the academics analysed the amylase activity of each participant, both early in the morning and in the evening. Readings were significantly lower in the evenings, the research has shown.
Professor Poole stated: “We looked into the literature and there is a diurnal effect. Regardless of copy number, amylase activity differs throughout the day.”
According to the study, the salivary amylase activity was greater for each additional copy of AMY1 in people with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes compared to those with neither of these conditions.
“If you have two people with a copy number of 10, and one of them has diabetes and one of them doesn’t, the person with diabetes will have higher readings, even with the same copy number,” said Professor Poole.
AMY1 protects people from type 2 diabetes because during the chewing of starch, the body senses the glucose, and it causes people with a higher AMY1 copy number to release insulin, the researchers believe.
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Professor Poole concluded: “I suspect that people with a lower copy number are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes. But it also depends on how much starch they eat.
“To fully answer these questions, future studies will need to control diet, follow people over a long time and have a large number of participants.”
Read the study in the journal PLOS One.
