(P10-010-23) Essential Amino Acid Dietary Intake Comparison Between Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Subjects and Healthy Controls

Objectives: A comparison of the dietary intake of protein and the constituent amino acids between ME/CFS subjects and healthy controls (HC) was undertaken on secondary data collected from an IRB approved cross-sectional pilot study in ME/CFS patients.

Methods: ME/CFS participants were recruited per the 2018 revised Canadian Clinical Case Definition for ME/CFS along with age matched HCs. Self-reported information on demographics and supplement use was collected, and body mass index calculated. Dietary intake values were calculated from Willet FFQ data, and severity of fatigue measured by Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI). A series of two-tailed Mann-Whitney U tests (ɑ= 0.05) were performed for the non-parametric data expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean. All statistical analyses were conducted in IBM SPSS Statistics version 25 (Armonk, NY).

Results: Out of the 21 participants (11 ME/CFS and 10 HC), 82% of ME/CFS and 50% of HC were female, with no significant difference in BMI. Higher fatigue scores were observed in ME/CFS (16.64 ± 1.36) than HC (10.78 ± 2.14). The mean intake of total protein was 38.62% lower in ME/CFS group than healthy controls (P=0.006) with no significant difference in intake of plant protein but significantly lower animal protein consumption in ME/CFS than HCs (P=0.006). The percent difference of individual Essential Fatty Acids (EAAs), especially the Branched Chain Amino acids (BCAAs; Val (39.26%), Leu (41%) and Iso (40.70%)), intake was also significantly (P < 0.005) lower in ME/CFS than HC.

Conclusions: ME/CFS dysregulated mitochondria is now known to heavily utilize glycolysis alternatives preferentially to provide the mitochondria with oxidizable substrates, evidenced by reduced urinary BCAA excretion and altered serum BCAAs in ME/CFS. The intake must satisfy the increased demand of protein (especially, EAAs/BCAAs), contrary of which was observed in this study. Insufficient EAA/BCAAs intake could aid in the fatigue, a hallmark symptom of mitochondrial dysfunction and hence ME/CFS.

Funding Sources: NSU Presidential Faculty Research and Development Grant