Amino acid intakes are inversely associated with arterial stiffness and central blood pressure in women

Jennings, Amy, MacGregor, Alexander ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2163-2325, Welch, Ailsa, Chowienczyk, Phil, Spector, Tim and Cassidy, Aedin (2015) Amino acid intakes are inversely associated with arterial stiffness and central blood pressure in women. The Journal of Nutrition, 145 (9). pp. 2130-2138. ISSN 0022-3166

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Abstract

Background: Although data suggest that intake of total protein and specific amino acids (AAs) reduces blood pressure, data on other cardiovascular disease risk factors are limited. Objective: We examined associations between intake of AAs with known mechanistic links to cardiovascular health and direct measures of arterial stiffness, central blood pressure, and atherosclerosis. Methods: In a cross-sectional study of 1898 female twins aged 18–75 y from the TwinsUK registry, intake of 7 cardioprotective AAs (arginine, cysteine, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, leucine, and tyrosine) was calculated from food-frequency questionnaires. Direct measures of arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis included central systolic blood pressure (cSBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), augmentation index (AI), pulse wave velocity (PWV), and intima–media thickness (IMT). ANCOVA was used to assess the associations between endpoints of arterial stiffness and intake (per quintile), adjusting for potential confounders. Results: In multivariable analyses, higher intake of total protein and 7 potentially cardioprotective AAs was associated with lower cSBP, MAP, and PWV. Higher intake of glutamic acid, leucine, and tyrosine was most strongly associated with PWV, with respective differences of -0.4 ± 0.2 m/s (P-trend = 0.02),-0.4 ± 0.2 m/s (P-trend = 0.03), and -0.4 ± 0.2 m/s (P-trend = 0.03), comparing extreme quintiles. There was a significant interaction between AA intake and protein source, and higher intake of AAs from vegetable sources was associated with lower central blood pressure and AI. Higher intake of glutamic acid, leucine, and tyrosine from animal sources was associated with lower PWV. Conclusions: These data provide evidence to suggest that intake of several AAs is associated with cardiovascular benefits beyond blood pressure reduction in healthy women. The magnitude of the observed associations was similar to those previously reported for other lifestyle factors. Increasing intake of these AAs could be an important and readily achievable way to reduce cardiovascular disease risk.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: This is an open access article distributed under the CC-BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
Uncontrolled Keywords: protein,amino acids,blood pressure,arterial stiffness,cardiovascular,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Nutrition and Preventive Medicine
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Epidemiology and Public Health
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Musculoskeletal Medicine
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023)
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health
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Depositing User: Pure Connector
Date Deposited: 30 Jul 2015 10:02
Last Modified: 19 Oct 2023 01:28
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/53842
DOI: 10.3945/jn.115.214700

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