Why is there amylase in saliva?

[Iguana]

Well, I've had the opportunity to meet the majority of instinctos in France, and in general, except for young people like the ones you refer to (I was also in good shape at their age with SAD), they don't look healthy to me.  (By the way, I looked like them when I was instincto). I agree that some have saved their life thank's to instincto, but I still think they could do better with more animal products and less fruits and vegetable.

Me too and I don't have the same impression. I cited Monique, Jean-Daniel, GC Burger, Bernard, Herve's father and mother. Most of them eat a lot of animal products. They are not young people although they look younger than their age and they are not thin at all, except perhaps GCB which is tall and slim. Two of GCB children are about your age. Am I right or wrong   ?

Typical example, a certain JC (that you may know and that I've known for 21 years) looked thin after he started eating instincto, when I met him. Some years latter, he has returned to cooked food, taken weight and he looks in good health... small problem, he got Alzheimer ! But he "looks good" 

My sister was too fat but she found almost immediately a normal good and nice weight during the 10 years she ate instincto. In one or two weeks after returning to cooked food for social reasons, she has awfully fatten. She looks now like she's pregnant ... but for some, that's a "healty look" 

Cheers
François   

[PaleoPhil]

Covered before here: http://www.rawpaleoforum.com/general-discussion/to-chew-or-not-to-chew/msg14064/#msg14064

This is an example of where a FAQ section or Pinned threads would be helpful.

Based on the posts, it appears most people ignored the link I provided, so I'll excerpt the relevant part:

"Many people (non-RPD) would undoubtedly point to the presence of amylase in saliva as prima facie evidence that man is meant to eat starchy vegetables. Else, they would argue, why would we have this adaptation if it served no use? Its a good argument. Indeed the presence of ptyalin in saliva appears to be a digestive adaptation to eating something starchy, on the basis that the resultant sugars are needed by some metabolic processes. However, it falls short in assuming that only starchy veggies have starch, which many here know to be false, as certain organs (liver) are relatively high in glycogen, an animal starch. ..." --sanilbd

6% of calories in liver come from carbs. This doesn't eliminate the possibility that the ptyalin is in human saliva to digest plants, but it does undercut the veg claim that humans aren't designed to eat meats because they have amylase in their saliva.