Abstract
Diet may modify metabolomic profiles towards higher or lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. We aimed to identify metabolite profiles associated with high adherence to dietary recommendations - the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) - and the extent to which metabolites associated with AHEI also predict incident CVD. Relations between AHEI score and 80 circulating lipids and metabolites, quantified by nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics, were examined using linear regression models in the Whitehall II study (n = 4824, 55.9 ± 6.1 years, 28.0% women) and were replicated in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (n = 1716, 37.7 ± 5.0 years, 56.3% women). We used Cox models to study associations between metabolites and incident CVD over the 15.8-year follow-up in the Whitehall II study. After adjustment for confounders, higher AHEI score (indicating healthier diet) was associated with higher degree of unsaturation of fatty acids (FA) and higher ratios of polyunsaturated FA, omega-3 and docosahexaenoic acid relative to total FA in both Whitehall II and Young Finns studies. A concordance of associations of metabolites with higher AHEI score and lower CVD risk was observed in Whitehall II. Adherence to healthy diet seems to be associated with specific FA that reduce risk of CVD.
Highlights
IntroductionWe sought to identify metabolites associated with adherence to a healthy diet and to determine the extent to which these metabolites are related to reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD)
Results of the associations between Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) z-score and 80 metabolites in Whitehall II study are shown in Fig. 1
Our study highlights the concordance between metabolites profile associated with low adherence to healthy diet and the metabolites profile associated with 15.8-year risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in Whitehall II participants by showing that an increased risk of CVD onset was associated with high levels of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids and a decreased risk of CVD was associated with a higher ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids, omega-3 and docosahexaenoic acid relative to total fatty acids concentrations (Fig. 4)
Summary
We sought to identify metabolites associated with adherence to a healthy diet and to determine the extent to which these metabolites are related to reduced risk of CVD. We assessed adherence to dietary guidelines in a large cohort of British middle-aged men and women from the Whitehall II study[10] using the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) – a dietary index whose high scores have been shown to be associated with reduced risk of CVD morbidity[11] and mortality[12]. We examined associations of healthy diet with metabolites quantified using a serum NMR metabolomics and replicated the results in an independent cohort, the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study[13]. We determined the extent to which metabolites associated with AHEI were associated with the risk of developing CVD over 15.8 years of follow-up in the Whitehall II study
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
