Analysing postprandial amino acid responses in crossover studies with the aaresponse package for R Analysing postprandial amino acid responses in crossover

• Published in: Amino acids Vol. 56; no. 1
• Main Authors: Wehrens, Ron, Engel, Jasper, Mes, Jurriaan, de Jong, Aard, Esser, Diederik
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 21.03.2024
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Biochemical Engineering; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Life Sciences; Neurobiology; Original Article; Proteomics; Blood samples; Data analysis; Protein digestibility; Statistical software; Amino acid levels
• ISSN: 1438-2199
• DOI: 10.1007/s00726-024-03386-6

Nowadays, a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle is the subject of much research. One example is the use of crossover trials to investigate the uptake of proteins, usually from alternatives to animal-based sources, by healthy volunteers. The data analysis is complex and requires many decisions on the part of the scientists involved. Such a process can be streamlined and made more objective and reproducible through bespoke software. This paper describes such a software package, aaresponse , for the R environment, available as open source. It features ample visualization functions, supports consistent curation strategies, and compares amino acid uptake of different protein meals (interventions) through the use of mixed models analysing parameters of interest like the area under the curve (AUC). The defining feature is the use of parametric curves to fit the amino acid levels over time, increasing the robustness of the approach and allowing for more strict quality control strategies.