Objectives: Appetite and carbohydrate metabolism are important contributors to the development of obesity. Recently, low serum amylase was shown to be associated with obesity and metabolic disorder. We investigated the relationship between amylase and ghrelin or peptide YY (PYY) levels in healthy men.
Methods: Twenty-one men were enrolled in this cross-sectional study; all subjects were asymptomatic with no medical history. Fasting serum amylase, ghrelin, PYY3-36, anthropometry, and nutritional intake were measured. Linear regression analyses were performed to examine associations between amylase and ghrelin or PYY3-36.
Results: The mean (SD) age and waist circumference of the subjects were 51.5 (10.9) years and 87.0 (4.4) cm, respectively. Amylase was found to be correlated with waist circumference (r = -0.438, P = 0.054), ghrelin (r = 0.533, P = 0.015), and PYY3-36 (r = -0.511, P = 0.021). Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed a negative association between amylase and PYY3-36 (β = -0.428, P = 0.045) but a nonsignificantly positive association between amylase and ghrelin (β = 0.260, P = 0.146).
Conclusions: Amylase levels were found to be associated with ghrelin and PYY3-36 in healthy men. Amylase, ghrelin, and PYY3-36 may play a role in obesity; further research is required to identify the underlying mechanism.