We evaluate the mass polarization term of the kinetic-energy operator for different three-body nuclear AAB systems by employing the method of Faddeev equations in configuration space. For a three-boson system this term is determined by the difference of the doubled binding energy of the AB subsystem 2E 2 and the three-body binding energy E 3 (V AA = 0) when the interaction between the identical particles is omitted. In this case: |E 3 (V AA = 0)| > 2 |E 2 |. In the case of a system complicated by isospins(spins), such as the kaonic clusters K − K − p and ppK − , the similar evaluation is impossible. For these systems it is found thatA model with an AB potential averaged over spin(isospin) variables transforms the later case to the first one. The mass polarization effect calculated within this model is essential for the kaonic clusters. Besides we have obtained the relation |E 3 | ≤ |2E 2 | for the binding energy of the kaonic clusters.Keywords Mesic nuclei · Mass polarization · Faddeev equation · Nucleon-kaon interactions 1 IntroductionThe mass polarization effect of the kinetic-energy operator is well known in atomic physics [1,2]. The kinetic energy operator in the Schrödinger equation for an Nelectron atomic system with a finite nuclear mass M in the centre-of-mass coordinate system is comprised of two parts: the kinetic energy term related to the introduction of the reduced mass and the mass polarization term (MPT) −h 2 M i