If your doctor thinks something could be wrong with your pancreas-- the organ in your belly that helps you digest food -- they may do an amylase test. Amylase is a protein made by your pancreas and by ...

The amylase gene family, particularly AMY1, exhibits extensive copy number variation (CNV) that modulates salivary amylase production and, consequently, the efficiency of dietary starch digestion.

Two new studies found that ancient human ancestors carried a surprising diversity of genes for amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starch. By Carl Zimmer As soon as you put starch in your mouth — ...