The association of nine amino acids with cardiovascular events in Finnish men in a 12-year follow-up study

Abstract

Background and Aims: To investigate the significance of nine amino acids as risk factors for incident cardiovascular disease events in 9,584 Finnish men.

Materials and Methods: A total of 9,584 men (age 57.4±7.0 years, body mass index 27.2±4.2 kg/m2) from the METSIM study without cardiovascular disease and type 1 diabetes at baseline were included in this study. A total of 662 coronary artery disease (CAD) events, 394 ischemic stroke events, and 966 cardiovascular disease (CVD, CAD and stroke combined) events were recorded in a 12.3-year follow-up. Amino acids were measured using nuclear magnetic resonance platform.

Results: In Cox regression analysis phenylalanine and tyrosine were significantly associated with increased risk of CAD and CVD events, and phenylalanine with increased risk of ischemic stroke after the adjustment for confounding factors. Glutamine was significantly associated with decreased risk of stroke and CVD events and nominally with CAD events. Alanine was nominally associated with CAD events.

Conclusion: We identified alanine as a new amino acid associated with increased risk of CAD and glutamine as a new amino acid associated with decreased risk of ischemic stroke. We also confirmed that phenylalanine and tyrosine were associated with CAD, ischemic stroke, and CVD events.