Table 2 Plasma concentrations of amino acids by habitual diet groupa

From: Plasma concentrations and intakes of amino acids in male meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans: a cross-sectional analysis in the EPIC-Oxford cohort

 

Geometric mean concentration (95% confidence interval), μmol/l % mean difference compared with meat-eaters

Pdifferenceb

 

Meat-eaters

Fish-eaters

Vegetarians

Vegans

 
 

(n=98)

(n=98)

(n=98)

(n=98)

 

Branched-chain essential amino acids

 Isoleucine

99 (94, 103)

99 (95, 103)

102 (97, 106)

96 (92, 100)

0.3

 

Ref.

0

+3

−3

 

 Leucine

205 (197, 214)

208 (200, 216)

210 (202, 218)

191 (184, 199)

0.005

 

Ref.

+1

+2

−7

 

 Valine

230 (221, 239)

233 (225, 242)

233 (225, 242)

217 (209, 225)

0.02

 

Ref.

+1

+1

−6

 

Other essential amino acids

 Histidine

114 (110, 118)

122 (118, 126)

119 (115, 122)

117 (113, 120)

0.04

 

Ref.

+7

+4

+2

 

 Lysinec

241 (230, 253)

242 (232, 253)

234 (224, 245)

210 (201, 219)

<0.0001

 

Ref.

+1

−3

−13

 

 Methionine

29 (28, 31)

30 (29, 31)

31 (30, 32)

27 (26, 28)

0.0001

 

Ref.

+2

+5

−8

 

 Phenylalaninec

95 (92, 99)

101 (97, 105)

100 (97, 104)

97 (93, 101)

0.1

 

Ref.

+6

+5

+2

 

 Threonine

164 (158, 170)

168 (163, 174)

167 (162, 173)

165 (159, 171)

0.7

 

Ref.

+3

+2

+1

 

 Tryptophanc,d

69 (67, 72)

71 (68, 73)

72 (70, 74)

65 (63, 68)

0.001

 

Ref.

+2

+4

−6

 

Non-essential amino acids

 Alanine

564 (540, 590)

644 (618, 671)

627 (602, 654)

621 (595, 648)

0.0004

 

Ref.

+14

+11

+10

 

 Arginine

51 (46, 57)

44 (40, 49)

44 (40, 49)

44 (39, 48)

0.1

 

Ref.

−14

−14

−15

 

 Asparagine

92 (89, 95)

97 (94, 101)

96 (92, 99)

98 (95, 102)

0.07

 

Ref.

+6

+4

+7

 

 Aspartated

66 (62, 69)

64 (61, 67)

69 (66, 72)

69 (66, 72)

0.04

 

Ref.

−3

+5

+5

 

 Glutamate

261 (247, 277)

296 (281, 312)

277 (263, 292)

262 (248, 277)

0.004

 

Ref.

+13

+6

0

 

 Glutaminec,d

517 (497, 536)

506 (488, 525)

525 (507, 544)

547 (529, 566)

0.02

 

Ref.

−2

+2

+6

 

 Glycine

390 (375, 407)

422 (406, 439)

411 (395, 427)

452 (434, 470)

<0.0001

 

Ref.

+8

+5

+16

 

 Prolinec

245 (233, 258)

255 (243, 268)

265 (253, 278)

244 (233, 256)

0.06

 

Ref.

+4

+8

−1

 

 Serine

191 (183, 198)

201 (194, 208)

197 (190, 204)

197 (190, 205)

0.3

 

Ref.

+5

+3

+3

 

 Tyrosine

77 (74, 81)

83 (80, 86)

83 (80, 86)

73 (70, 76)

<0.0001

 

Ref.

+7

+7

−5

 

Non-standard amino acids

 Citrulline

37 (35, 39)

37 (36, 39)

41 (39, 43)

40 (38, 42)

0.02

 

Ref.

+1

+10

+8

 

 Ornithinec

182 (174, 191)

195 (187, 203)

191 (184, 200)

205 (197, 215)

0.005

 

Ref.

+7

+5

+13

 
  1. Abbreviation: Ref., reference.
  2. aAdjusted for age (30–34; 35–39; 40–44; 45–49 years), body mass index (<22.5; 22.5–24.9; ⩾25 kg/m2; unknown), smoking status (never; former; current), alcohol intake (<1; 1–7; 8–15; ⩾16 g/d), time since last food or drink at blood collection (<1.5; 1.5–2.9; 3.0–4.4; ⩾4.5 h; unknown) and time between blood collection and processing (fourths of the distribution; unknown).
  3. bP-values refer to P for the difference across all four diet groups calculated by analysis of variance. Conventional P-values are shown, and those marked in bold were significant after Bonferroni correction (P<0.0024).
  4. cMissing concentration of amino acid for some participants.
  5. dNon-transformed data were used, and arithmetic means are displayed.
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