Correlations (r) of amino acids with cIMT and other CAD risk factors.

*, P<0.05; **, P<0.01; ***, P<0.001.
CAD, coronary artery disease; cIMT, carotid intima-media thickness; BMI, body mass index; WC, waist circumference; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; TC, total cholesterol; TG, triglycerides; HDL-C, high density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low density lipoprotein cholesterol; hs-CRP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; FBG, fasting blood glucose. Apo AI, B, CII and CIII represent apolipoprotein AI, B, CII and CIII, respectively. Val, valine; Ile, isoleucine; Leu, leucine; Tyr, tyrosine; Phe, phenylalanine. BCAA represents the sum of the concentrations of Val, Ile and Leu; AAA represents the sum of the concentrations of Tyr and Phe.