Late evening snacks with branched-chain amino acids improve the Fischer ratio with patients liver cirrhosis at fasting in the next morning

Abstract

Background & aims: A late evening snack (LES) is recommended as a nutritional therapy for liver cirrhosis to minimize early starvation. In patients with liver cirrhosis, the maintenance of the branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) levels is important during muscle synthesis at night. Therefore, we investigated the effects of a LES with BCAAs on the Fischer ratio in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Methods: This study included 10 outpatients with liver cirrhosis who did not consume a LES. Regarding the patient characteristics, the mean age was 73.1 ± 8.9 years, the male:female ratio was 5:5, and the mean body mass index was 23.3 ± 2.4 kg/m². The etiology was hepatitis C virus in eight patients and alcoholism in two patients. Amino acid levels were measured in all 10 patients at four time points: before LES (control) and 1 month after the administration of each BCAA. The administration levels included 1) LES: BCAA-enriched enteral nutrition (BCAA-EN) containing BCAAs 6.1 g as a LES; 2) GP-no LES: BCAA-enriched granule product (BCAA-GP) containing 4 g BCAAs per pack, two packs per day, and BCAA-EN until dinner containing BCAAs in total 14.1 g per day; and 3) GP-LES: BCAA-GP, two packs per day, and BCAA-EN as a LES containing BCAAs in total 14.1 g per day. The Friedman nonparametric test with a post-hoc Dunn's multiple comparison was used for statistical analyses.

Results: There were no significant changes in body weight and serum albumin levels between the three types of BCAA administration. Valine significantly increased following LES and GP-LES, isoleucine significantly increased following GP-LES, and tyrosine significantly decreased following LES and GP-LES compared with those in the control. There was no significant difference in the leucine and phenylalanine levels among the groups. The Fischer ratio in the LES (2.2 ± 0.8) and GP-LES (2.3 ± 0.8) groups were significantly higher than that in the control (1.8 ± 0.6), but there was no significant difference compared with the Fischer ratio in the GP-no LES (1.8 ± 0.7) group. Furthermore, the Fischer ratio was significantly higher in the GP-LES group than in the GP-no LES group.

Conclusion: These results suggested that it is not only the amount of BCAAs, but also LES with BCAAs, which is needed to improve the Fischer ratio at fasting.

Keywords: Branched-chain amino acid (BCAA); Fischer ratio; Late evening snack; Liver cirrhosis; Nutritional therapy.