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Epidemiology

Variation of serum metabolites related to habitual diet: a targeted metabolomic approach in EPIC-Potsdam

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 67, pages 1100–1108 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objective:

Serum metabolites have been linked to higher risk of chronic diseases but determinants of serum metabolites are not clear. We aimed to investigate the association between habitual diet as a modifiable risk factor and relevant serum metabolites.

Subjects/methods:

This cross-sectional study comprised 2380 EPIC-Potsdam participants. Intake of 45 food groups was assessed by food frequency questionnaire and concentrations of 127 serum metabolites were measured by targeted metabolomics. Reduced rank regression was used to find dietary patterns that explain the maximum variation of metabolites.

Results:

In the multivariable-adjusted model, the proportion of explained variation by habitual diet was ranked as follows: acyl-alkyl-phosphatidylcholines (5.7%), sphingomyelins (5.1%), diacyl-phosphatidylcholines (4.4%), lyso-phosphatidylcholines (4.1%), acylcarnitines (3.5%), amino acids (2.2%) and hexose (1.6%). A pattern with high intake of butter and low intake of margarine was related to acylcarnitines, acyl-alkyl-phosphatidylcholines, lyso-phosphatidylcholines and hydroxy-sphingomyelins, particularly with saturated and monounsaturated fatty acid side chains. A pattern with high intake of red meat and fish and low intake of whole-grain bread and tea was related to hexose and phosphatidylcholines. A pattern consisting of high intake of potatoes, dairy products and cornflakes particularly explained methionine and branched chain amino acids. Dietary patterns related to type 2 diabetes-relevant metabolites included high intake of red meat and low intake of whole-grain bread, tea, coffee, cake and cookies, canned fruits and fish.

Conclusions:

Dietary patterns characterized by intakes of red meat, whole-grain bread, tea and coffee were linked to relevant metabolites and could be potential targets for chronic disease prevention.

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Acknowledgements

We specially thank Ellen Kohlsdorf and Wolfgang Bernigau for data management. We also thank Werner Römisch-Margl, Julia Scarpa, and Arsin Sabunchi for metabolomics measurements performed at the Helmholtz Centrum München, Genome Analysis Center, Metabolomics Core Facility. We are thankful to all the EPIC-Potsdam study participants for their devoted participation in the study. This study was supported by the Federal Ministry of Science, Germany (grant no. 01 EA 9401), the European Union (grant no. SOC 95 201408 05F02) and the German Cancer Aid (grant no. 70-2201-Bo2), and by a grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD eV) (Förderkennzeichen: 01G10922).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Nuthetal, Germany

    A Floegel, A von Ruesten, D Drogan & H Boeing

  2. Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    A von Ruesten

  3. Department of Molecular Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Nuthetal, Germany

    M B Schulze

  4. Institute of Experimental Genetics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany

    C Prehn & J Adamski

  5. Molecular Epidemiology Group, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Berlin-Buch, Germany

    T Pischon

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Correspondence to A Floegel.

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Contributors: AF designed the research, conducted the data analysis, interpreted the data, wrote the manuscript and had primary responsibility for data integrity and the final content; AvR, DD, MBS contributed to the conception of this study, helped with the interpretation of the results and provided critical comments on the manuscript; CP and JA conducted metabolomics measurements and provided critical comments on the manuscript; TP and HB obtained funding, designed the research, helped with the interpretation of the results and provided critical comments on the manuscript.

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Floegel, A., von Ruesten, A., Drogan, D. et al. Variation of serum metabolites related to habitual diet: a targeted metabolomic approach in EPIC-Potsdam. Eur J Clin Nutr 67, 1100–1108 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.147

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