Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Mar 25, 2016; 7(6): 112-121
Published online Mar 25, 2016. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v7.i6.112
Low serum amylase and obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome: A novel interpretation
Kei Nakajima
Kei Nakajima, Department of Metabolism, Kuki General Hospital, Saitama 346-8530, Japan
Kei Nakajima, Division of Clinical Nutrition, Department of Medical Dietetics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Josai University, Saitama 350-0295, Japan
Author contributions: Nakajima K conceived, designed and wrote this article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Kei Nakajima, MD, PhD, Department of Metabolism, Kuki General Hospital, 418-1 Kamihayami, Kuki, Saitama 346-8530, Japan. keinaka@josai.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-480-260033 Fax: +81-480-260033
Received: October 28, 2015
Peer-review started: November 3, 2015
First decision: November 30, 2015
Revised: December 13, 2015
Accepted: January 27, 2016
Article in press: January 29, 2016
Published online: March 25, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: Low serum amylase was believed to occur in uncommon conditions such as type 1 diabetes, advanced chronic pancreatitis, and cystic fibrosis. However, in the last decade, low serum amylase has been observed in more common conditions related with insulin resistance than was previously believed. In this review, a novel interpretation for low serum, salivary, and pancreatic amylase is discussed, particularly in terms of the cardiometabolic conditions of obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.