A specific amino acid-defined diet prevents and reverses obesity and diabetes by increasing energy expenditure

Long-term exposure to diets containing high ratios of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids (SFA diets) leads to obesity, glucose intolerance, and early mortality. Here we show that an isocaloric, isolipidic, and isonitrogenous SFA diet, whose casein content was almost completely substituted with a specific mixture of soluble essential amino acids (SFA-EAA diet), promoted thermogenic energy expenditure, preventing and reversing obesity and dysregulated glucose metabolism, and thus extended survival of mice when compared to the SFA-containing protein diet. We also explored the impact of SFA-EAA diet in modulating the gut microbiota.