(P02-053-23) Dietary Taurine Intake Reduces Hemoglobin A1c Levels in Korean Patients With Diabetes

Objectives: Amino acids are needed for general bodily function and well-being. Despite their importance, augmentation in their serum concentration is closely related to metabolic disorder, insulin resistance (IR), diabetes mellitus. Taurine is a non-essential amino acid that is naturally produced by the body and found in certain foods. Many studies suggest that taurine may have a beneficial effect on diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity and reducing insulin resistance. Current studies regarding the relationship between dietary AAs and T2DM have been inconsistent in Korean. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare levels of dietary AA’s intake and biochemical parameters among the Korean with type 2 diabetes patients.

Methods: For this study KNDP cohort database was used, a total of 3554 patients with T2DM were selected. The KNDP is a widespread, broad, prospective, multicenter cohort study consisting of data about Korean type 2 diabetic patients and those at high risk for developing diabetes. This data collected different university hospitals in Korea. Baseline clinical characteristics such as gender, age, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, smoking and drinking practices, glucose levels, HbA1c levels, lipid profile, and liver function indices (BUN, blood urea nitrogen; AST, ALT, and ᵞGTP; gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase) were provided by KNDP cohort data. The food intake was analyzed by using a computerized program CAN-Pro. Statistical analyses were performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows ver. 28. Significant differences among means were considered at values of P < 0.05.

Results: We performed correlation test between the dietary AA and blood biochemical parameters using Pearson’s correlation. Taurine showed a negative correlation with fasting glucose levels, whereas dietary leucine, valine, isoleucine, glutamine, tyrosine and another AAs showed a no significant association with parameters.

Conclusions: We identified that dietary taurine was found to have a negative correlation with glucose levels and lipid profiles in Korean diabetes patients. Therefore, dietary taurine could be suggested as therapeutic targets to improve T2D management and prevent associated cardiovascular complications.

Funding Sources: This work was supported by the BK21 Program Korea.