Table 2.
Differences in metabolic characteristics of obese volunteers before and after supplementation with glutamine or alanine.
| Obese Volunteers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ala Suppl Difference between After and Before (n = 7) | p-Value | Gln Supplemented Difference between After and Before (n = 13) | p-Value | |
| Height (m) | ||||
| Weight (kg) | 0.3 ± 1.02 | 0.46 | −0.21 ± 0.76 | 0.34 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 0.12 ± 0.39 | 0.44 | −0.08 ± 0.30 | 0.37 |
| Serum amino acid levels (µmol/L) | 110.97 ± 15.53 | 0.0001 | 105.99 ± 14.99 | 0.0001 |
| WC (cm) | 0.0 ± 1.19 | >0.99 | −2.61 ± 2.21 | 0.002 * |
| Glucose (mmol/L) | 0.25 ± 0.28 | 0.06 | 0.03 ± 0.41 | 0.84 |
| Insulin (μU/mL) | 0.34 ± 0.94 | 0.27 | −1.15 ± 1.7 | 0.037 * |
| TNF-α (pg/mL) | 0.11 ± 0.63 | 0.67 | −2.65 ± 4.18 | 0.09 |
| IL-1β (pg/mL) | 0.06 ± 0.45 | 0.74 | −0.24 ± 0.74 | 0.41 |
| IL-6 (pg/mL) | 0.07 ± 0.21 | 0.37 | −0.27 ± 0.74 | 0.22 |
| LPS (EU/mL) | −0.001 ± 0.01 | 0.78 | −0.08 ± 0.12 | 0.08 |
Gln suppl, L-glutamine supplementation. Ala suppl, alanine supplementation. BMI, body mass index. WC, waist circumference. TNF-α, tumor necrosis alpha. IL-1β, interleukin-1 beta. IL6, interleukin 6. LPS, lipopolysaccharide. Data were expressed as the difference between before and after 14 days of supplementation with either Ala or Gln. Serum parameters were obtained from volunteers who fasted overnight. Data were expressed as mean ± SD. The p-value indicates the difference between before and after glutamine or alanine supplementation obtained by paired Student’s t test under normality and Wilcoxon Mann–Whitney test otherwise. * p indicates a significant difference before the same amino acid supplementation.