Normal Levels of Plasma Amino Acids among Sudanese Adults: The Effect of Gender

For an accurate interpretation of amino acids results, well-documented amino acids reference values are required. To our knowledge, no reference values for plasma free amino acids have been published for Sudanese or neighbouring African countries. In this study, we intended to set reference values for fasting levels of plasma free amino acids among Sudanese males and females. Results obtained showed that out of the 22 studied amino acids, the males showed significantly higher mean values in 14 amino acids compared to the females including all Large Neutral Amino Acids (LNAA). However, only lysine and ornithine were significantly higher among the females compared to the males. Of notice, our results showed significantly higher level of tryptophan among the males, not only compared to the female group in this study but even to that reported among Western populations. In conclusion, our study confirmed that gender clearly affects plasma free amino acids levels among Sudanese. This should be taken into consideration when establishing base line values or interpreting results of amino acids profile.