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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pediatr.

Sec. Pediatric Obesity

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1631302

This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Research and Prevention of Overweight and Obesity in YouthView all 8 articles

Plasma Amino Acid Profiles in Pediatric Obesity: Potential Biomarkers for the Early Assessment of Metabolic Risk

Provisionally accepted
Ece  Öge EnverEce Öge Enver1*Aydın  DuyguAydın Duygu2Pınar  VatanseverPınar Vatansever1Bilal  YılmazBilal Yılmaz1Yasemin  AkınYasemin Akın1
  • 1Istanbul Kartal Dr.Lutfi Kirdar Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye
  • 2amino acid science clinic, london, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Introduction: Childhood obesity is among the most serious and rapidly growing public health issues globally. Although body mass index (BMI) is commonly used to evaluate obesity, it does not always reflect early metabolic disturbances. Recent studies have emphasized the importance of metabolomics, particularly plasma amino acid profiling, in detecting subclinical metabolic risk. In this context, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) have emerged as potential early biomarkers for insulin resistance and cardiometabolic risk. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 97 participants aged 5–18 years, including 56 children with obesity (BMI ≥ 95th percentile) and 41 healthy controls. Anthropometric measurements, fasting glucose, insulin, lipid profile, and HbA1c were recorded. Plasma concentrations of 44 amino acids were measured using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with a commercial kit (JASEM®, Agilent Ultivo Triple Quadrupole LC/MS). BCAA levels and relevant ratios, such as glycine/BCAA and glutamic acid/glutamine, were calculated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of key variables. Results: Children with obesity had significantly higher levels of BCAAs and other amino acids, including phenylalanine, tyrosine, alanine, and glutamic acid (all p < 0.05). Conversely, glycine, serine, and asparagine levels were significantly lower in children with obesity. Fasting insulin emerged as a strong predictor of obesity (area under the ROC curve [AUC] = 0.87) whereas total BCAAs also displayed strong predictive performance (AUC = 0.78). Reduced glycine/BCAA and increased glutamic acid/glutamine ratios were associated with early metabolic dysregulation. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the potential of plasma amino acid profiling as a supportive tool in the early assessment of metabolic risk in children with obesity. The integration of amino acid-based indices could improve risk classification and support personalized preventive strategies in pediatric populations.

Keywords: Pediatric Obesity, Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), Metabolic risk, Amino acid profiling, Insulin Resistance

Received: 19 May 2025; Accepted: 05 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Öge Enver, Duygu, Vatansever, Yılmaz and Akın. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Ece Öge Enver, Istanbul Kartal Dr.Lutfi Kirdar Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye

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