title: Relationship between endogenous 3-methylhistidine excretion and body composition.
abstract: Fourteen healthy men (aged 20-30 yr) consumed two isocaloric, isonitrogenous diets in the sequence of a 4-day meat diet (MD) followed by a 7-day meal-free diet (MFD). Urinary 3-methylhistidine (3MH) excretion during the MD (513 +/- 21 mumol . day-1, mean +/- SE) was significantly higher (P less than 0.01) than day 3 of the MFD (230 +/- 10 mumol . day-1), after which the mean daily 3MH output was constant with a mean coefficient of variation of 4.5%. There was no change in fat-free body mass (FFBM) determined by densitometry at the start (62.3 +/- 1.8 kg) and the end (62.2 +/- 1.9 kg) of the 11-day dietary period. Mean muscle mass (MM) calculated from measurements of total-body potassium and nitrogen was 23.4 +/- 1.3 kg. Endogenous 3MH excretion was related more closely to MM (r = 0.91, P less than 0.001) than to FFBM measured by densitometry (r = 0.81, P less than 0.001). Only a low correlation coefficient (r = 0.33, P less than 0.05) was observed between 3MH and the nonmuscle component of FFBM. Urinary creatinine output also was correlated significantly with 3MH (r = 0.87; P less than 0.001) and MM (r = 0.79; P less than 0.01). It is concluded that because endogenous 3MH is significantly related to MM in man, it can be used as a marker to study in vivo total-body muscle protein degradation provided that the necessary dietary restrictions are observed.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001823:Body Composition; D003720:Densitometry; D004032:Diet; D006639:Histidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat; D008762:Methylhistidines / Q000652:urine*; D009132:Muscles / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011188:Potassium / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008762:Methylhistidines; D006639:Histidine; D009584:Nitrogen; D011188:Potassium