RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The associations of sweetened beverages (SBs) and added sugar (AS) intake with adiposity are still debated. Metabolomics could provide insights into the mechanisms linking their intake to adiposity. OBJECTIVES: We aimed (1) to identify metabolomics biomarkers of intake of low and no-calorie sweetened beverages (LNCSB), sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), and AS, and (2) to investigate their associations with body mass index, body fat percentage, and waist circumference. METHODS: We analyzed three datasets from the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) cohort study, of children who provided two urine samples (n = 297), adolescents who provided a single urine sample (n = 339), and young adults who provided a single plasma sample (n = 195). Urine and plasma were analyzed by untargeted metabolomics. Dietary intakes were assessed using 3-day weighed dietary records. The random forest, partial least squares, and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator were jointly employed for metabolite selection. We examined associations of intakes with metabolites and anthropometric measures using linear and mixed-effects regression. RESULTS: In adolescents, LNCSB were positively associated with acesulfame, ß = 0.0012, 95% confidence interval, CI (0.0006, 0.0019) and saccharin ß = 0.0009, 95% CI (0.0002, 0.0015). In children, the association was observed with saccharin ß = 0.0016, 95% CI (0.0005, 0.0027). In urine and plasma, SSB were positively associated with 1-methylxanthine, ß = 0.0005, 95% CI (0.0003, 0.0008), ß = 0.0010, 95% CI (0.0004, 0.0015) and 5-acetylamino-6-amino-3-methyluracil, ß = 0.0005, 95% CI (0.0002, 0.0008), ß = 0.0009, 95% CI (0.0003, 0.0014), respectively. AS was associated with urinary sucrose, ß = 0.0095, 95% CI (0.0069, 0.0121) in adolescents. Some of the food-related metabolic profiles were also associated with adiposity measures. CONCLUSIONS: We identified SBs- and AS-related metabolites, which may be important for understanding the interplay between these intakes and adiposity in young individuals.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: There is emerging evidence that the gut microbiome composition is associated with several human health outcomes, which include cognitive performance. However, only a few prospective epidemiological studies exist and none among young adults. Here we address the gap in the literature by investigating whether the gut microbiome composition is prospectively linked to fluid intelligence among healthy young adults. METHODS: Forty individuals (65% females, 26 years) from the DOrtmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) study provided a fecal sample for gut microbiome composition and subsequently (average of 166 days) completed a cognitive functioning test using the Cattell's Culture Fair Intelligence Test, revised German version (CFT 20-R). The assessment of the gut microbiome at the genera level was by 16S rRNA V3-V4 Illumina sequencing. The relative abundance of 158 genera was summarized into bacterial communities using a novel data-driven dimension reduction, amalgamation. The fluid intelligence score was regressed on the relative abundance of the bacterial communities and adjusted for selected covariates. RESULTS: The 158 genera were amalgamated into 12 amalgams (bacterial communities), which were composed of 18, 6, 10, 14, 8, 10, 16, 13, 12, 12, 3, and 11 genera. Only the 14-genera bacterial community, named the "Ruminococcaceae- and Coriobacteriaceae-dominant community" was positively associated with fluid intelligence score (ß = 7.8; 95% CI: 0.62, 15.65, P = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Among healthy young adults, the abundance of a gut bacterial community was associated with fluid intelligence score. This study suggests that cognitive performance may potentially benefit from gut microbiome-based intervention.