MTOR and diabetes mellitus: One leading hypothesis suggests that BCAAs, or their breakdown products (branched-chain keto acids), have a direct influence on key factors involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes through their interaction with the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway [3, 12] and through induction of oxidative stress [13–16], mitochondrial dysfunction [17, 18], apoptosis [19, 20], and IR and/or impaired glucose metabolism [3, 21–28].