ArticlePloS one2013
Serum glycine is associated with regional body fat and insulin resistance in functionally-limited older adults.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 69 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing the causal association of glycine with risk of cardio-metabolic diseases.Nature communications · 2019Pooled it
- Association of Plasma Small-Molecule Intermediate Metabolites With Age and Body Mass Index Across Six Diverse Study Populations.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2016Pooled it
- Effects of breaking up prolonged sitting via exercise snacks intervention on the body composition and plasma metabolomics of sedentary obese adults: a randomized controlled trial.Endocrine journal · 2025Trial
- Subchronic Tolerance Trials of Graded Oral Supplementation with Phenylalanine or Serine in Healthy Adults.Nutrients · 2021Trial
- Comparative effects of light or heavy resistance power training for improving lower extremity power and physical performance in mobility-limited older adults.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2015Trial
- Effects of fecal microbiota transplant on DNA methylation in subjects with metabolic syndrome.Gut microbesTrial
- Current Evidence-Based Clinical Nutritional Approaches in Lipedema: A Scoping Review.Nutrition reviews · 2026Article
- Long-term metabolically unhealthy aging, its underlying molecular underpinnings, and association with cognitive impairment: a 12.4-year longitudinal cohort study.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Metabolomic Signature of Visceral Adiposity: Insights from a Population-Based Cohort.Metabolites · 2026Article
- Blood Focused-Metabolomics and Transcriptomics Uncover Non-Linear Risk Association of Inadequate Dietary Choline Intake-Linked Metabolic Stress with MASLD Through Amino Acid Biomarkers,International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Glycine and N-acetylcysteine supplementation, with or without exercise, in brain health and functional aging: implications for sarcopenia and frailty in older adults.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Metabolic reprogramming in Fanconi anemia: Evidence of compromised glucose oxidation, enhanced ketogenesis, and metabolic inflexibility.Science advances · 2025Article
- Glycine receptor activation promotes pancreatic islet cell proliferation via the PI3K/mTORC1/p70S6K pathway.JCI insight · 2025Article
- A gut pathobiont regulates circulating glycine and host metabolism in a twin study comparing vegan and omnivorous diets.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Clinical effectiveness of fecal microbial transplantation for metabolic syndrome: Advances in clinical efficacy and multi-omics research.Current research in microbial sciences · 2025Review
- Review
- Serum dysregulation of serine and glycine metabolism as predictive biomarker for cognitive decline in frail elderly subjects.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- Reduced plasma glycine concentration in healthy and chronically diseased older adults: a marker of visceral adiposity?The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2024Article
- Metabolic signatures and potential biomarkers of sarcopenia in suburb-dwelling older Chinese: based on untargeted GC-MS and LC-MS.Skeletal muscle · 2024Article
- Glycine homeostasis requires reverse SHMT flux.Cell metabolism · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMetabolic profiling may provide insight into biologic mechanisms related to age-related increases in regional adiposity and insulin resistance.
objectivesThe objectives of the current study were to characterize the association between mid-thigh intermuscular and subcutaneous adipose tissue (IMAT, SCAT, respectively) and, abdominal adiposity with the serum metabolite profile, to identify significant metabolites as further associated with the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and, to develop a HOMA-IR associated metabolite predictor set representative of regional adiposity, in 73 functionally-limited (short physical performance battery ≤10; SPPB) older adults (age range, 70-85 y).
methodsFasting levels of 181 total metabolites, including amino acids, fatty acids and acylcarnitines were measured with use of an untargeted mass spectrometry-based metabolomic approach. Multivariable-adjusted linear regression was used in all analyses.
resultsThirty-two, seven and one metabolite(s) were found to be associated with IMAT, abdominal adiposity and, SCAT, respectively, including the amino acid glycine, which was positively associated with SCAT and, negatively associated with both IMAT and abdominal adiposity. Glycine and four metabolites found to be significantly associated with regional adiposity were additionally associated with HOMA-IR. Separate stepwise regression models identified glycine as a HOMA-IR associated marker of both IMAT (model R(2) = 0.51, p<0.0001) and abdominal adiposity (model R(2) = 0.41, p<0.0001).
conclusionOur findings for a positive association between glycine with SCAT but, a negative association between glycine with IMAT and abdominal adiposity supports the hypothesis that SCAT metabolic processes are different from that found in other fat depots. In addition, because of the significant associations found between glycine with HOMA-IR, IMAT, SCAT and abdominal adiposity, our results suggest glycine as a serum biomarker of both insulin sensitivity and regional fat mass in functionally-limited older adults.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.