Table 3.

Levels of plasma amino acids (µmol/L) and statistical analysis between combined group (CG = malnourished-MNA Group 1 + at risk of malnutrition-MNA Group 2) and normonourished-MNA Group 3 patients according to Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA).

Amino Acids	CG (N = 26)	MNA Group 3 (N = 28)	p Value
Aspartic acid	7.69 ± 3.83	8.86 ± 6.80	0.63
Glutamic acid	61.65 ± 17.64	68.68 ± 17.70	0.09
Histidine	67.92 ± 11.99	71.39 ± 14.14	0.16
Asparagine	39.62 ± 5.87	42.71 ± 6.51	0.10
Serine	98.27 ± 21.51	110.00 ± 48.16	0.39
Glutamine	504.42 ± 81.73	511.07 ± 82.65	0.67
3-methyl-histidine	3.53 ± 1.95	3.88 ± 1.30	0.37
Arginine	66.31 ± 22.10	63.79 ± 22.33	0.59
Citrulline	34.19 ± 9.09	35.32 ± 11.75	0.94
Glycine	242.65 ± 80.24	232.79 ± 81.78	0.47
Threonine	119.42 ± 26.99	118.07 ± 28.58	0.56
Alanine	356.23 ± 81.66	344.14 ± 74.21	0.64
Taurine	74.96 ± 43.53	64.39 ± 15.10	0.50
Tyrosine	53.85 ± 12.85	53.21 ± 12.47	0.92
Tryptophan	43.58 ± 10.72	46.11 ± 8.36	0.25
Phenylalanine	54.88 ± 15.89	53.11 ± 10.19	0.73
Isoleucine	55.15 ± 18.60	60.00 ± 14.70	0.30
Leucine	103.23 ± 31.54	116.79 ± 24.39	0.047
Lysine	202.58 ± 49.50	205.21 ± 28.65	0.48
Valine	201.30 ± 61.51	227.73 ± 47.55	0.047
TAAs	2400.22 ± 400.28	2446.96 ± 308.65	0.72
BCAAs	359.68 ± 110.39	404.52 ± 84.87	0.060
EAAs	851.60 ± 202.24	902.29 ± 145.03	0.17
EAAs/TAAs	0.35 ± 0.04	0.37 ± 0.02	0.023 ^
BCAAs/TAAs	0.15 ± 0.03	0.16 ± 0.02	0.009 ^
BCAAs/EAAs	0.42 ± 0.04	0.45 ± 0.03	0.002 ^

Data are expressed as mean values ± standard deviation. Reported p values are for between group comparisons (Kruskal–Wallis test). Only p values followed by the symbol ^{^} remained significant after control for false discovery rate. Abbreviations: MNA, mini nutritional assessment; TAAs, total amino acids; BCAAs, branched chain amino acids; EAAs, essential amino acids.