ALB and malnutrition: Albumin (Alb) is synthesized in the liver and secreted into the circulation (2), where it plays many important roles, including maintenance of appropriate osmotic pressure (3), ligand binding and transportation of bilirubin (4), amino acids (5), fatty acids (6), hormones (7), metal ions (8) and various drugs (9), it also acts as a radical scavenger (10), and a source of amino acids during malnutrition (11).