Reliability of Salivary Alpha Amylase as a Biomarker of Obesity

Obesity is generally defined as a condition of body fat accumulation in adipose tissue in excessive manner that may lead to impaired health. Saliva is an easy collected noninvasive biofluid, which contains various components like hormones and enzymes. The researches correlated to salivary α-amylase (sAA) and obesity are quite limited and not fully examined. This study aimed at finding out the reliability of salivary amylase as a biomarker to obesity. The study results showed a significant increase in anthropometric measurements (BMI, NC, WC, HC and WHR) and salivary α-amylase concentration and activity in obese subjects when compared with normal ones. In conclusion, salivary α-amylase activity was increased in obese subjects and could be an indicator to obesity. Further studies should be carried out to confirm that the salivary amylase to be a biomarker of obesity.