Associations between dietary amino acid intakes and blood concentration levels

Isabel Iguacel; Julie A Schmidt; Aurora Perez-Cornago; Heleen Van Puyvelde; Ruth Travis; Magdalena Stepien; Augustin Scalbert; Corinne Casagrande; Elisabete Weiderpass; Elio Riboli; Matthias B Schulze; Guri Skeie; Stina Bodén; Heiner Boeing; Amanda J Cross; Sophia Harlid; Torill Enget Jensen; José M Huerta; Verena Katzke; Tilman Kühn; Leila Lujan-Barroso; Giovanna Masala; Miguel Rodriguez-Barranco; Agnetha Linn Rostgaard-Hansen; Yvonne T van der Schouw; Roel Vermeulen; Giovanna Tagliabue; Anne Tjønneland; Morena Trevisan; Pietro Ferrari; Marc J Gunter; Inge Huybrechts

doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2021.04.036

Associations between dietary amino acid intakes and blood concentration levels

Clin Nutr. 2021 Jun;40(6):3772-3779. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2021.04.036. Epub 2021 Apr 27.

Authors

Isabel Iguacel¹, Julie A Schmidt², Aurora Perez-Cornago², Heleen Van Puyvelde³, Ruth Travis², Magdalena Stepien⁴, Augustin Scalbert⁴, Corinne Casagrande⁴, Elisabete Weiderpass⁴, Elio Riboli⁵, Matthias B Schulze⁶, Guri Skeie⁷, Stina Bodén⁸, Heiner Boeing⁹, Amanda J Cross⁵, Sophia Harlid⁸, Torill Enget Jensen⁷, José M Huerta¹⁰, Verena Katzke¹¹, Tilman Kühn¹¹, Leila Lujan-Barroso¹², Giovanna Masala¹³, Miguel Rodriguez-Barranco¹⁴, Agnetha Linn Rostgaard-Hansen¹⁵, Yvonne T van der Schouw¹⁶, Roel Vermeulen¹⁷, Giovanna Tagliabue¹⁸, Anne Tjønneland¹⁵, Morena Trevisan¹⁹, Pietro Ferrari⁴, Marc J Gunter⁴, Inge Huybrechts²⁰

Affiliations

¹ International Agency for Research on Cancer, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, 69372, Lyon CEDEX 08, France; Department of Physiatry and Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain; Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón, Zaragoza, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón, Zaragoza, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, Zaragoza, Spain.
² Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
³ International Agency for Research on Cancer, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, 69372, Lyon CEDEX 08, France; Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
⁴ International Agency for Research on Cancer, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, 69372, Lyon CEDEX 08, France.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁶ Department of Molecular Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Nuthetal, Germany; Institute of Nutritional Sciences, University of Potsdam, Nuthetal, Germany.
⁷ Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
⁸ Department of Radiation Sciences, Oncology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
⁹ Department of Epidemiology, German Institute for Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Nuthetal, Germany.
¹⁰ Department of Epidemiology, Murcia Regional Health Council, IMIB-Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain.
¹¹ Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
¹² Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, Catalan Institute of Oncology - ICO, Nutrition and Cancer Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute -IDIBELL, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
¹³ Cancer Risk Factors and Life-Style Epidemiology Unit, Institute for Cancer Research, Prevention and Clinical Network - ISPRO, Florence, Italy.
¹⁴ Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública (EASP), Granada, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
¹⁵ Department of Public Health, Danish Cancer Society Research Center Diet, Genes and Environment, Strandboulevarden 49, DK-2100, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁶ Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
¹⁷ Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium; Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
¹⁸ Lombardy Cancer Registry Unit Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Milano, Italy.
¹⁹ Unit of Cancer Epidemiology- CeRMS, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
²⁰ International Agency for Research on Cancer, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, 69372, Lyon CEDEX 08, France. Electronic address: huybrechtsi@iarc.fr.

PMID: 34130023
DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2021.04.036

Abstract

Background and aims: Emerging evidence suggests a role of amino acids (AAs) in the development of various diseases including renal failure, liver cirrhosis, diabetes and cancer. However, mechanistic pathways and the effects of dietary AA intakes on circulating levels and disease outcomes are unclear. We aimed to compare protein and AA intakes, with their respective blood concentrations in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort.

Methods: Dietary protein and AA intakes were assessed via the EPIC dietary questionnaires (DQ) and 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDR). A subsample of 3768 EPIC participants who were free of cancer had blood AA concentrations measured. To investigate how circulating levels relate to their respective intakes, dietary AA intake was examined in quintiles and ANOVA tests were run. Pearson correlations were examined for continous associations between intakes and blood concentrations.

Results: Dietary AA intakes (assessed with the DQ) and blood AA concentrations were not strongly correlated (-0.15 ≤ r ≤ 0.17) and the direction of the correlations depended on AA class: weak positive correlations were found for most essential AAs (isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine) and conditionally essential AAs (arginine and tyrosine), while negative associations were found for non-essential AAs. Similar results were found when using the 24-HDR. When conducting ANOVA tests for essential AAs, higher intake quintiles were linked to higher blood AA concentrations, except for histidine and phenylalanine. For non-essential AAs and glycine, an inverse relationship was observed. Conditionally-essential AAs showed mixed results.

Conclusions: Weak positive correlations and dose responses were found between most essential and conditionally essential AA intakes, and blood concentrations, but not for the non-essential AAs. These results suggest that intake of dietary AA might be related to physiological AA status, particularly for the essential AAs. However, these results should be further evaluated and confirmed in large-scale prospective studies.

Keywords: 24-H dietary recall; Amino acids; Blood levels; Dietary intake; Dietary questionnaire.

Publication types

Multicenter Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Amino Acids / administration & dosage*
Amino Acids / blood*
Amino Acids, Essential / administration & dosage*
Amino Acids, Essential / blood*
Cohort Studies
Diet
Diet Surveys / methods
Eating
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged

Substances

Amino Acids
Amino Acids, Essential

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding