LAUSR

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.