Sucrose consumption and salivary sucrase activity in a 2-year longitudinal study.

Sucrose consumption data of the sucrose group (n = 33) of a 2-yr longitudinal study was plotted against salivary sucrase activity values obtained during this 2-yr period. The correlation coefficients varied between 0.194 and 0.551. The subjects were divided into high (greater than or equal to 10 mumol x min-1 x (10(-3)) and low (less than 10) sucrase activity subgroups. There were significant differences in the sucrose consumption and in intake frequency between these two subgroups. These findings give further support for the possibility of using sucrase activity for the estimation of the level of individual sugar consumption.