Laboratory of Food Oral Processing, School of Food Science and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China.
College of Food Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China.
Food Res Int. 2020 Oct;136:109465. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2020.109465. Epub 2020 Jun 20.
Saliva is an important component of food oral processing affecting the initial digestion and the formation of food bolus. It has been speculated that salivary biochemical properties could directly influence one's dietary habits, and vice versa. To date, there are few studies that investigate the possible relationships between dietary habits and salivary biochemical properties in Chinese participants from different dietary background. This study examined two Chinese ethnical groups of very different culture of food consumption, Han and Mongolian healthy young participants, as research participants to explore the differences in salivary biochemical properties and possible associations with dietary preferences. Chinese Mongolians tend to consume more red meat and dairy products, and Chinese Han tend to consume more carbohydrates as suggested by official data; therefore, a total of 304 healthy participants (200 Han and 104 Mongolian) were recruited for salivary compositional analysis. Results showed that for Mongolian participants' unstimulated salivary lipolytic activity (0.10 U/mL) and stimulated salivary lipolytic activity (0.09 U/mL) are significantly higher than those of the Han (0.03 U/mL, 0.04 U/mL) (p < 0.01), but their stimulated salivary α-amylase activity (2733 U/mL) was significantly lower than that of Han (3596 U/mL) (p < 0.01). Unstimulated and stimulated salivary total protein content of Chinese Han participants were significantly higher than those of Mongolian participants (p < 0.0001, p = 0.043). These findings have showed our initial hypothesis of possible associations between dietary habits and salivary biochemical properties.
唾液是食物口腔加工的一个重要组成部分，影响食物的初始消化和食团的形成。有人推测，唾液的生化特性可能直接影响一个人的饮食习惯，反之亦然。迄今为止，很少有研究调查来自不同饮食背景的中国参与者的饮食习惯和唾液生化特性之间的可能关系。本研究选择了两个具有不同饮食文化的中国民族群体（汉族和蒙古族）作为研究对象，研究了两组人群唾液生化特性的差异以及与饮食偏好的可能联系。中国蒙古族的人往往会消费更多的红肉类和乳制品，而汉族的人往往会消费更多的碳水化合物，这是由官方数据表明的；因此，共招募了 304 名健康参与者（200 名汉族人和 104 名蒙古族）进行唾液成分分析。结果表明，蒙古族参与者的非刺激唾液脂解活性（0.10 U/mL）和刺激唾液脂解活性（0.09 U/mL）明显高于汉族参与者（0.03 U/mL，0.04 U/mL）（p<0.01），但他们的刺激唾液α-淀粉酶活性（2733 U/mL）明显低于汉族参与者（3596 U/mL）（p<0.01）。汉族参与者的非刺激和刺激唾液总蛋白含量明显高于蒙古族参与者（p<0.0001，p=0.043）。这些发现证实了我们关于饮食习惯和唾液生化特性之间可能存在关联的初步假设。
