Why are you drooling?

See a picture of a golden fried chicken thigh, or a delicious cream cake, do you have saliva?

All the saliva in your mouth is not only a sign that you have discovered an interesting dish, but it is also an important step in the process of digesting that dish.

(Photo: Jupiterimages.com) The digestion begins as soon as you put the chicken thigh into your mouth, or put the cream spoon in your mouth and chew. Your mouth will secrete saliva (about 1.4 liters / day) to soften food and also contain enzymes that help break down food before it enters the abdomen.

One of these enzymes functions to break down starch, and a new study found that humans have many versions of the gene that decode this enzyme compared to other monkey relatives. The study also found a correlation between the number of gene versions and the amount of starch in the diet of the general population.

The results support the hypothesis that some of the early human dietary changes prompted the simultaneous increase in human body and brain size, as well as the expansion of the geographical scope of Our ancestors. So the ability to be ready to digest the cake may be a reason for our creation today.

MT