BCAA was more closely associated with visceral fat area than subcutaneous fat area in patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study

Background: Branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) has been reported to be associated with obesity, the association of BCAA with visceral fat area (VFA) and subcutaneous fat area (SFA) remained unclear in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 284 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Enzyme-linked immunospecific assay was used to measure levels of serum BCAA and branched-chain keto acid (BCKA). VFA and SFA were measured with bio-impedance analysis method. The association between BCAA and VFA was calculated using Pearson correlation and multivariable linear regression analysis.

Results: There were significant differences in the means of body mass index, waist circumstance, SFA and VFA among the three groups divided by total BCAA tertiles (all p < 0.05). Compared to patients with lower levels of serum BCAA (the lower tertile group), the means of VFA and SFA were significantly larger in the middle and upper tertile groups (all p < 0.05). However, the differences in above obesity parameters were nonsignificant according to various BCKA tertiles. Pearson correlation analysis also demonstrated that BCAA levels were positive associated with each obesity parameter (p < 0.05). Nevertheless, multivariable linear regression analysis showed that levels of serum BCAA were correlated with VFA, BMI and WC (all p < 0.05) rather than SFA after adjusted for other confounders.

Conclusions: levels of serum BCAA were more closely correlated with VFA than SFA, prospective studies should be warranted to further explore the mechanism mediating BCAA and visceral fat accumulation in Human beings.

Clinical trial number: Not applicable.