van den Broek Tim J, Kremer Bas H A, Marcondes Rezende Marisa, Hoevenaars Femke P M, Weber Peter, Hoeller Ulrich, van Ommen Ben, Wopereis Suzan
Netherlands Institute for Applied Science (TNO), Research Group Microbiology & Systems Biology, Zeist, The Netherlands.
DSM Nutritional Products, Analytical Research Centre and Human Nutrition and Health Department, Basel, Switzerland.
Genes Nutr. 2017 Feb 8;12:5. doi: 10.1186/s12263-017-0553-7. eCollection 2017.
Vitamins and carotenoids are key micronutrients facilitating the maintenance of health, as evidenced by the increased risk of disease with low intake. Optimal phenotypic flexibility, i.e., the ability to respond to a physiological challenge, is an essential indicator of health status. Therefore, health can be measured by applying a challenge test and monitoring the response of relevant phenotypic processes. In this study, we assessed the correlation of three fat-soluble vitamins, (i.e., vitamin A or retinol, vitamin D, two homologues of vitamin E) and four carotenoids (i.e., α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, and lycopene), with characteristics of metabolic and inflammatory parameters at baseline and in response to a nutritional challenge test (NCT) in a group of 36 overweight and obese male subjects, using proteomics and metabolomics platforms. The phenotypic flexibility concept implies that health can be measured by the ability to adapt to a NCT, which may offer a more sensitive way to assess changes in health status of healthy subjects.
Correlation analyses of results after overnight fasting revealed a rather evenly distributed network in a number of relatively strong correlations per micronutrient, with minor overlap between correlation profiles of each compound. Correlation analyses of challenge response profiles for metabolite and protein parameters with micronutrient status revealed a network that is more skewed towards α-carotene and γ-tocopherol suggesting a more prominent role for these micronutrients in the maintenance of phenotypic flexibility. Comparison of the networks revealed that there is merely overlap of two parameters (inositol and oleic acid (C18:1)) affirming that there is a specific biomarker response profile upon NCT.
Our study shows that applying the challenge test concept is able to reveal previously unidentified correlations between specific micronutrients and health-related processes, with potential relevance for maintenance of health that were not observed by correlating homeostatic measurements. This approach will contribute to insights on the influence of micronutrients on health and help to create efficient micronutrient intervention programs.
维生素和类胡萝卜素是促进健康维持的关键微量营养素，低摄入量会增加患病风险这一事实就证明了这一点。最佳表型灵活性，即对生理挑战作出反应的能力，是健康状况的重要指标。因此，可以通过进行挑战测试并监测相关表型过程的反应来衡量健康状况。在本研究中，我们使用蛋白质组学和代谢组学平台，评估了36名超重和肥胖男性受试者中三种脂溶性维生素（即维生素A或视黄醇、维生素D、两种维生素E同系物）和四种类胡萝卜素（即α-胡萝卜素、β-胡萝卜素、β-隐黄质和番茄红素）与基线时以及对营养挑战测试（NCT）反应时的代谢和炎症参数特征之间的相关性。表型灵活性概念意味着可以通过适应NCT的能力来衡量健康状况，这可能为评估健康受试者健康状况的变化提供一种更敏感的方法。
空腹过夜后结果的相关性分析显示，每种微量营养素在许多相对较强的相关性中呈现出分布较为均匀的网络，各化合物的相关性图谱之间有少量重叠。代谢物和蛋白质参数的挑战反应图谱与微量营养素状态的相关性分析显示，该网络更偏向于α-胡萝卜素和γ-生育酚，表明这些微量营养素在维持表型灵活性方面发挥着更突出的作用。对这些网络的比较表明，只有两个参数（肌醇和油酸（C18:1））存在重叠，这证实了NCT时有特定的生物标志物反应图谱。
我们的研究表明，应用挑战测试概念能够揭示特定微量营养素与健康相关过程之间以前未被发现的相关性，这些相关性对于健康维持具有潜在意义，而通过稳态测量的相关性分析并未观察到这些意义。这种方法将有助于深入了解微量营养素对健康的影响，并有助于制定有效的微量营养素干预方案。
