
Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Publication Date
4-1-2023
Journal
Current Developments in Nutrition
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Dietary consumption has traditionally been studied through food intake questionnaires. Metabolomics can be used to identify blood markers of dietary protein that may complement existing dietary assessment tools.
OBJECTIVES: We aimed to identify associations between 3 dietary protein sources (total protein, animal protein, and plant protein) and serum metabolites using data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.
METHODS: Participants' dietary protein intake was derived from a food frequency questionnaire administered by an interviewer, and fasting serum samples were collected at study visit 1 (1987-1989). Untargeted metabolomic profiling was performed in 2 subgroups (subgroup 1:
RESULTS: In this study of 3914 middle-aged adults, the mean (SD) age was 54 (6) y, 60% were women, and 61% were Black. We identified 41 metabolites significantly associated with dietary protein intake. Twenty-six metabolite associations overlapped between total protein and animal protein, such as pyroglutamine, creatine, 3-methylhistidine, and 3-carboxy-4-methyl-5-propyl-2-furanpropanoic acid. Plant protein was uniquely associated with 11 metabolites, such as tryptophan betaine, 4-vinylphenol sulfate,
CONCLUSIONS: The results of 17 of the 41 metabolites (41%) were consistent with those of previous nutritional metabolomic studies and specific protein-rich food items. We discovered 24 metabolites that had not been previously associated with dietary protein intake. These results enhance the validity of candidate markers of dietary protein intake and introduce novel metabolomic markers of dietary protein intake.
Keywords
animal protein, dietary protein, metabolomics, nutrition, plant protein, total protein
DOI
10.1016/j.cdnut.2023.100067
PMID
37304852
PMCID
PMC10257224
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
3-24-2023
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Published Open-Access
yes