You can still digest it, you still get the calories.” This is thanks to AMY2, a gene expressed in the pancreas: This version ...

In other studies, Ruhl has investigated the evolutionary history of important salivary proteins. This work has led to important advances in the field, such as the identification of a starch-digesting ...

When you chew carbohydrate-rich foods, carbohydrase enzymes, such as amylase in your saliva, break down starch into sugar to give us the energy we need. Then protease enzymes in your stomach break ...

When you chew carbohydrate-rich foods, carbohydrase enzymes, such as amylase in your saliva, break down starch into sugar to give us the energy we need. Then protease enzymes in your stomach break ...

Humans today have several versions of a gene which gives saliva the ability to break down starch thanks to the enzyme amylase, and this allows us to get energy from carbohydrate-rich food.

Amylase, which is produced in the salivary glands and the pancreas, is also the reason why even non-sugary carbs like bread sometimes taste sweet. Today’s modern humans have varying numbers of ...