not all humans have the same number of copies of the amy1 gene. populations which rely on carbohydrates have a higher number of amy1 copies than populations that eat little starch. the number of amy1 gene copies in humans can range from six copies in agricultural groups such as european-american and japanese (two high starch populations) to only 2-3 copies in hunter-gatherer societies such as the biaka, datog, and yakuts.