Plasma branched-chain amino acids are associated with greater fasting and postprandial insulin secretion in non-diabetic Chinese adults

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Documents

  • Cherlyn Ding
  • Leonie Egli
  • Nabil Bosco
  • Lijuan Sun
  • Hui Jen Goh
  • Khung Keong Yeo
  • Jonathan Jiunn Liang Yap
  • Lucas Actis-Goretta
  • Melvin Khee-Shing Leow
  • Magkos, Faidon

Background: Plasma branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) are consistently elevated in subjects with obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and correlate with insulin resistance. The association of BCAA with insulin secretion and clearance rates has not been adequately described. 

Objective: To evaluate the relationships between fasting and postprandial plasma BCAA, insulin secretion and insulin clearance. 

Design: Ninety-five non-diabetic Chinese subjects (43 females) underwent a mixed-meal tolerance test; blood biomarkers including BCAAs (leucine, isoleucine, valine) were measured for 6 h. Fasting and postprandial insulin secretion rates (ISR) and insulin clearance were determined by oral minimal modeling of glucose and C-peptide. 

Results: Fasting and postprandial plasma BCAA correlated strongly with each other (ρ = 0.796, P < 0.001), and both were positively associated with basal ISR (ρ = 0.45/0.36, P < 0.001), total postprandial ISR AUC (ρ = 0.37/0.45, P < 0.001), and negatively with insulin clearance (ρ = -0.29/-0.29, P < 0.01), after adjusting for sex and body mass index. These relationships largely persisted after adjusting further for insulin resistance and postprandial glucose. Compared with subjects in the middle and lowest tertiles for fasting or postprandial plasma BCAA, subjects in the highest tertile had significantly greater postprandial glucose (by 7-10%) and insulin (by 74-98%) concentrations, basal ISRs (by 34-53%), postprandial ISR AUCs (by 41-49%), and lower insulin clearance rates (by 17-22%) (all P < 0.05). 

Conclusions: Fasting and postprandial plasma BCAA levels are associated with greater fasting and postprandial insulin secretion and reduced insulin clearance in healthy Chinese subjects. These observations potentially highlight an additional layer of involvement of BCAA in the regulation of glucose homeostasis.

Original languageEnglish
Article number664939
JournalFrontiers in Nutrition
Volume8
Number of pages13
ISSN2296-861X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2021 Ding, Egli, Bosco, Sun, Goh, Yeo, Yap, Actis-Goretta, Leow and Magkos.

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Science - BCAA, Insulin resistance, Insulin metabolism, Glucose homeostasis, Insulin clearance

Number of downloads are based on statistics from Google Scholar and www.ku.dk


No data available

ID: 269507146