ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DIETARY BRANCHED-CHAIN AMINO ACIDS INTAKE AND THE RISKS OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

CHEN Yao; LIU Chang-qing; ZHU Qian-rang; LIU Yi-ya; TIAN Mei-na; YU Lian-long

Acta Nutrimenta Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (2) : 110-117.

CHEN Yao¹, LIU Chang-qing², ZHU Qian-rang³, LIU Yi-ya⁴, TIAN Mei-na², YU Lian-long⁵

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Abstract

Objective To explore the association between dietary branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) intake and the risks of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. Methods A total of 12 183 children and adolescents aged 6~18 years were included based on data from the “China Children and Lactating Women Nutrition and Health Surveillance (CCLWNHS)”. Overweight and obesity were defined according to the “Screening for overweight and obesity among school-age children and adolescents” (WS/T 586-2018). Dietary intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire in combination with the 3-day 24-hour dietary recall method, and BCAAs intake was calculated based on the Chinese Food Composition Table. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to analyze the association between different BCAAs intake levels and the risks of overweight and obesity, with further stratified analyses conducted. Restricted cubic spline regression was used to explore the dose-response relationship. The LightGBM machine learning model was applied in combination with the SHAP algorithm to determine the importance ranking of the individual BCAAs components. Results The study included 8974 participants with normal weight (73.7%), overweight (13.5%), and obesity (12.8%). After adjusting for confounders, compared with the low BCAAs intake group, the high-intake group exhibited significantly increased risks of overweight (OR: 1.318, 95%CI: 1.141-1.523), obesity (OR: 1.596, 95%CI: 1.373-1.855), and overweight or obesity combined (OR: 1.442, 95%CI: 1.289-1.612) (all P<0.01). Stratified analyses revealed consistent positive associations between BCAAs intake and risks of overweight and obesity across all subgroups stratified by gender, age, physical activity, and energy intake (all P<0.01), with no significant interaction effects (all P>0.05). Restricted cubic spline analysis identified a nonlinear relationship (P for nonlinearity=0.001), with an inflection point at 8.38g/1000 kcal. Machine learning analysis further revealed that leucine was the primary component among BCAAs driving the risk of overweight and obesity. Conclusion Higher dietary BCAAs intake is an independent risk factor for overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. Optimizing dietary protein sources and limiting high-BCAAs foods may help mitigate the risks of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.

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branched-chain amino acids / overweight / obesity / children and adolescents

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CHEN Yao, LIU Chang-qing, ZHU Qian-rang, LIU Yi-ya, TIAN Mei-na, YU Lian-long. ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DIETARY BRANCHED-CHAIN AMINO ACIDS INTAKE AND THE RISKS OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS[J]. Acta Nutrimenta Sinica. 2026, 48(2): 110-117

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