Plasma branched-chain and aromatic amino acid concentration after ingestion of an urban or rural diet in rural Mexican women

BACKGROUND People living in rural areas are prone to move to urban cities experiencing a dramatic change in the type of protein consumed. However, it is not know if those changes are associated with changes in the plasma amino acid concentration, especially the branched chain amino acids. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate, in a rural Mexican population, the plasma amino acid profile after consumption of typical Mexican rural or urban diet. RESULTS We evaluated the plasma amino acid concentrations of women from a rural population at 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 180 and 240 min after ingestion of a typical Mexican rural or urban diet. Ingestion of a Mexican urban diet induced a higher increase in leucine, isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine, tyrosine and proline than ingestion of a Mexican rural diet in women from a Mexican rural population. Arginine, histidine, lysine, threonine, alanine, glycine and serine had the same area under the curve regardless of the experimental diet. CONCLUSIONS Ingestion of a Mexican urban diet induced a higher increase in leucine, isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine, tyrosine and proline than ingestion of a Mexican rural diet in women from a Mexican rural area.