Metabolomic signature of the postprandial experience.

BACKGROUND

Ingestion of a meal up to maximal tolerance induces unpleasant fullness sensation and changes in circulating metabolites. Our aim was to evaluate the relation between postprandial sensations and the metabolomic responses to a comfort meal.

METHODS

In 32 non-obese healthy men, homeostatic sensations (hunger/satiety, fullness), hedonic sensations (digestive well-being, mood), and the metabolomic profile in plasma (low-molecular weight metabolites and lipoprotein profiles) were measured before and 20 minutes after a comfort meal (warm ham and cheese sandwich and juice; total 300 mL; 425 kcal). Perception was measured on 10 cm scales and the metabolomic response by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

KEY RESULTS

The comfort meal induced homeostatic sensations (satiety and fullness) associated with a positive hedonic reward (enhanced digestive well-being and mood) and a clear change in the metabolomic profile with a sharp discrimination between the pre and postprandial state by a non-supervised principal component analysis. The change in circulating metabolites correlated with the postprandial sensations: the increase in alanine correlated with the increase in fullness (R = 0.50; P = 0.004) and well-being (R = 0.50; P = 0.004); the increase in glucose correlated with the sensation of fullness (R = 0.40; P = 0.023) and enhanced mood (R = 0.41; P = 0.020).

CONCLUSION AND INFERENCES

Metabolomic changes in the response to a meal may provide an objective index of the postprandial experience, which may have clinical implications in the management of patients with poor meal tolerance or meal-related symptoms.