Are elevated plasma amino acids causally linked to type 2 diabetes, or are they rather innocent bystanders?

It is generally known that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is increasing tremendously, reaching pandemic proportions. Most research to date is focussed on identifying therapeutic targets as well as predictive measures for T2D. Recently, Wang et al. have shown by metabolic profiling that elevated plasma amino acid concentrations (in particular the branched-chain amino acids [BCAAs] isoleucine, leucine and valine and the two aromatic amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine) are predictive for developing T2D [1].

Source: Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Diseases : NMCD - April 11, 2016 Category: Nutrition Authors: C.H. Oudt, R. Noordam, D. van Heemst Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research