title: Imbalance of Individual Plasma Amino acids Relative to Valine and Taurine as Potential Markers of Childhood Malnutrition.
abstract: In the present study a typical plasma amino acid profile for a defined population of healthy Venezuelan children was established and, further, the possibility was examined that deviations from such normalized amino acid patterns can be of use to warn of an impending nutritional deficiency, caused, in part, by adverse socio-economic conditions. This study comprised 152 children of both sexes ranging in age from 1 to 6 years. Classification into different socio-economic strata, ranging from impoverished to privileged, was evaluated by Graffar's method, as previously adapted by Mendez Castellano for Venezuela. The results of clinical and anthropometric examinations were used to group these children into 5 classes of nutritional sufficiency, ranging from adequate nutrition to severe undemutrition. The present data indicate that deviations in the plasma amino acid concentration profile, standardized for a defined population, can be used in combination with clinical evaluations to determine the type as well as the severity of inadequate nutrition. Abnormal ratios of several individual amino acids relative to Val and Tau may serve as early signs of (impending) undemutrition or malnutrition in children; the amino acid changes are detectable even in groups of children without any clinical signs but where sociological circumstances suggest a possibility of inadequate nutrition. Other uses for such plasma amino acid profiles may be to distinguish whether the detected amino acid abnormalities are of dietary or genetic origin, provided that the selected groups or individuals studied derive from a population with more or less the same genetic homogeneity and similar dietary customs.
authors.affiliation: a Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas , Maracaibo 4002 , Venezuela.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.affiliation: c Department of Chemistry , Queen's University , Kingston , Canada.
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: van Gelder
authors.affiliation: a Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas , Maracaibo 4002 , Venezuela.
authors.forename: H V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Castejón
authors.affiliation: b Escuela de Nutrición y Dietética, Facultad de Medicina , Universidad del Zulia , Apartado 526, Maracaibo 4002 , Venezuela.
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.affiliation: a Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas , Maracaibo 4002 , Venezuela.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Urrieta
keywords: Anthropometry; Children; Malnutrition; Nutrition status; Plasma amino acids; Socio-economic status