Cited by 1,461Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic DiseasesDiabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and LipoproteinsDiet, Metabolism, and Disease

Branched-chain amino acids in metabolic signalling and insulin resistance

Open access
Lynch, Christopher J., Adams, Sean H.·2014·Nature Reviews Endocrinology

Abstract

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are important nutrient signals that have direct and indirect effects. Frequently, BCAAs have been reported to mediate antiobesity effects, especially in rodent models. However, circulating levels of BCAAs tend to be increased in individuals with obesity and are associated with worse metabolic health and future insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A hypothesized mechanism linking increased levels of BCAAs and T2DM involves leucine-mediated activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), which results in uncoupling of insulin signalling at an early stage. A BCAA dysmetabolism model proposes that the accumulation of mitotoxic metabolites (and not BCAAs per se) promotes β-cell mitochondrial dysfunction, stress signalling and apoptosis associated with T2DM. Alternatively, insulin resistance might promote aminoacidaemia by increasing the protein degradation that insulin normally suppresses, and/or by eliciting an impairment of efficient BCAA oxidative metabolism in some tissues. Whether and how impaired BCAA metabolism might occur in obesity is discussed in this Review. Research on the role of individual and model-dependent differences in BCAA metabolism is needed, as several genes (BCKDHA, PPM1K, IVD and KLF15) have been designated as candidate genes for obesity and/or T2DM in humans, and distinct phenotypes of tissue-specific branched chain ketoacid dehydrogenase complex activity have been detected in animal models of obesity and T2DM.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nrendo.2014.171

Cites

214 of 214 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Metabolomic studies of GDM consistently report alterations in circulating metabolites, particularly branched-chain amino acids.

    “Metabolomic studies of GDM have consistently reported alterations in circulating metabolites, particularly branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs).”

    From Maternal Overnutrition and Fetal Programming: Long-Term Metabolic, Cognitive, and Epigenetic Consequences (2026) · cites this paper as [42]

    The “BCAA dysmetabolism” section reports increased circulating BCAAs in people with insulin-resistant obesity or untreated type 2 diabetes. That supports a related metabolite finding, but the passages do not establish that metabolomic studies of gestational diabetes (GDM) consistently report it. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Elevated BCAA levels are associated with insulin resistance, mitochondrial stress, and dysregulated mTOR signaling.

    “Elevated BCAA levels are associated with insulin resistance, mitochondrial stress, and dysregulated mTOR signaling, pathways that are critically involved in placental nutrient sensing and fetal metabolic programming.”

    From Maternal Overnutrition and Fetal Programming: Long-Term Metabolic, Cognitive, and Epigenetic Consequences (2026) · cites this paper as [42]

    The Conclusions associate elevated circulating BCAAs with insulin resistance, but describe mTORC1 activation as a proposed mechanism that is not necessary or sufficient to cause it. The Abstract and BCAA dysmetabolism section attribute mitochondrial dysfunction to accumulated BCAA metabolites, not elevated BCAAs themselves. The paper therefore supports the broad association but not the unqualified linkage to all three outcomes. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The branched-chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine, and valine play a key role in modulating insulin sensitivity.

    “Interestingly, accumulating data indicate that the branched-chain amino acids, leucine, isoleucine, and valine, play a key role in modulating insulin sensitivity (81).”
  • High consumption of leucine, isoleucine, and valine is associated with an 11-13% increased risk of type 2 diabetes in three large prospective cohort studies.

    “The circulating concentrations of branched-chain amino acids are elevated in insulin resistant humans and rodents, and high consumption of leucine, isoleucine, valine is associated with a 11–13% increased risk of type 2 diabetes in three large prospective cohort studies (81).”
  • Circulating concentrations of branched-chain amino acids are elevated in insulin-resistant humans and rodents.

    “The circulating concentrations of branched-chain amino acids are elevated in insulin resistant humans and rodents, and high consumption of leucine, isoleucine, valine is associated with a 11–13% increased risk of type 2 diabetes in three large prospective cohort studies (81).”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [39]Yamaoka I Modification of core body temperature by amino acid administration Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 17 Suppl 1 309 311 2008 18296365
  2. [159]Wolfe RR Chinkes DL Isotope Tracers in Metabolic Research 299 323 Wiley 2005
  3. [204]Harris RA Patel MS Packer L Lipoic Acid: Energy Production, Antioxidant Activity and Health Effects 101 148 CRC Press 2008

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Lynch, C. J., & Adams, S. H.
Affiliations
  • Pennsylvania State University (US)
  • Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center (US)
Corresponding author
Lynch, Christopher J.
Venue
Nature Reviews Endocrinology
Published
2014-10-07
Volume
10
Issue
12
Pages
723-736
ISSN
  • 1759-5029 (ISSN-L)
  • 1759-5037
OpenAlex
W2002364623
Cited by
1,461
References
214
Citations by year
2026: 152 · 2025: 143 · 2024: 141 · 2023: 147 · 2022: 154 · 2021: 183 · 2020: 108 · 2019: 112 · 2018: 130 · 2017: 81 · 2016: 74 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 2
FWCI
8.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Reviews Endocrinology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R21DK091784, R01DK084428, R01DK078328)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diet, Metabolism, and Disease
Keywords
branched-chain amino acids, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, obesity, branched-chain amino acid metabolism, leucine, mTORC1, aminoacidemia, BCKDHA, PPM1K, KLF15, metabolic signalling
MeSH terms
Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1, Amino Acids, Branched-Chain, Animals, Blood Glucose, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Humans, Insulin, Insulin Resistance, Obesity, Signal Transduction, Multiprotein Complexes, TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review