Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Language

English

Publication Date

8-1-2024

Journal

Clinical Nutrition

DOI

10.1016/j.clnu.2024.07.005

PMID

39018652

PMCID

PMC11342917

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

8-1-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Author MSS

Abstract

Background & aims: Plant-based diets are associated with a lower risk of chronic diseases. Large-scale proteomics can identify objective biomarkers of plant-based diets, and improve our understanding of the pathways that link plant-based diets to health outcomes. This study investigated the plasma proteome of four different plant-based diets [overall plant-based diet (PDI), provegetarian diet, healthful plant-based diet (hPDI), and unhealthful plant-based diet (uPDI)] in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study and replicated the findings in the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) Offspring cohort.

Methods: ARIC Study participants at visit 3 (1993-1995) with completed food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) data and proteomics data were divided into internal discovery (n = 7690) and replication (n = 2543) data sets. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine associations between plant-based diet indices (PDIs) and 4955 individual proteins in the discovery sample. Then, proteins that were internally replicated in the ARIC Study were tested for external replication in FHS (n = 1358). Pathway overrepresentation analysis was conducted for diet-related proteins. C-statistics were used to predict if the proteins improved prediction of plant-based diet indices beyond participant characteristics.

Results: In ARIC discovery, a total of 837 diet-protein associations (PDI = 233; provegetarian = 182; hPDI = 406; uPDI = 16) were observed at false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05. Of these, 453 diet-protein associations (PDI = 132; provegetarian = 104; hPDI = 208; uPDI = 9) were internally replicated. In FHS, 167/453 diet-protein associations were available for external replication, of which 8 proteins (PDI = 1; provegetarian = 0; hPDI = 8; uPDI = 0) replicated. Complement and coagulation cascades, cell adhesion molecules, and retinol metabolism were over-represented. C-C motif chemokine 25 for PDI and 8 proteins for hPDI modestly but significantly improved the prediction of these indices individually and collectively (P value for difference in C-statistics< 0.05 for all tests).

Conclusions: Using large-scale proteomics, we identified potential candidate biomarkers of plant-based diets, and pathways that may partially explain the associations between plant-based diets and chronic conditions.

Keywords

Aged, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Atherosclerosis, Biomarkers, Blood Proteins, Cohort Studies, Diet, Healthy, Diet, Plant-Based, Prospective Studies, Proteomics, Risk Factors, plant-based diets, large-scale proteomics, biomarkers, US adults, discovery, replication

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