Longitudinal Studies Section, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.
Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
Nutrients. 2022 May 27;14(11):2237. doi: 10.3390/nu14112237.
Diet quality has been associated with slower rates of aging; however, the mechanisms underlying the role of a healthy diet in aging are not fully understood. To address this question, we aimed to identify plasma metabolomic biomarkers of dietary patterns and explored whether these metabolites mediate the relationship between diet and healthy aging, as assessed by the frailty index (FI) in 806 participants of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Adherence to different dietary patterns was evaluated using the Mediterranean diet score (MDS), Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) score, and Alternate Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI). Associations between diet, FI, and metabolites were assessed using linear regression models. Higher adherence to these dietary patterns was associated with lower FI. We found 236, 218, and 278 metabolites associated with the MDS, MIND, and AHEI, respectively, with 127 common metabolites, which included lipids, tri/di-glycerides, lyso/phosphatidylcholine, amino acids, bile acids, ceramides, cholesterol esters, fatty acids and acylcarnitines, indoles, and sphingomyelins. Metabolomic signatures of diet explained 28%, 37%, and 38% of the variance of the MDS, MIND, and AHEI, respectively. Signatures of MIND and AHEI mediated 55% and 61% of the association between each dietary pattern with FI, while the mediating effect of MDS signature was not statistically significant. The high number of metabolites associated with the different dietary patterns supports the notion of common mechanisms that underly the relationship between diet and frailty. The identification of multiple metabolite classes suggests that the effect of diet is complex and not mediated by any specific biomarkers. Furthermore, these metabolites may serve as biomarkers for poor diet quality to identify individuals for targeted dietary interventions.
饮食质量与衰老速度较慢有关；然而，健康饮食在衰老中的作用机制尚未完全阐明。为了解决这个问题，我们旨在确定饮食模式的血浆代谢组学生物标志物，并探讨这些代谢物是否在 806 名巴尔的摩纵向衰老研究参与者的衰弱指数 (FI) 评估中调节饮食与健康衰老之间的关系。不同饮食模式的依从性使用地中海饮食评分 (MDS)、地中海- DASH 饮食干预神经退行性延迟 (MIND) 评分和替代健康饮食指数-2010 (AHEI) 进行评估。使用线性回归模型评估饮食、FI 和代谢物之间的关联。这些饮食模式的依从性越高，FI 越低。我们发现 236、218 和 278 种代谢物分别与 MDS、MIND 和 AHEI 相关，有 127 种共同代谢物，包括脂质、三/二甘油酯、溶血/磷脂酰胆碱、氨基酸、胆汁酸、神经酰胺、胆固醇酯、脂肪酸和酰基肉碱、吲哚和神经鞘磷脂。饮食的代谢组学特征分别解释了 MDS、MIND 和 AHEI 的 28%、37%和 38%的方差。MIND 和 AHEI 的代谢组学特征分别介导了每种饮食模式与 FI 之间 55%和 61%的关联，而 MDS 特征的介导作用不具有统计学意义。与不同饮食模式相关的大量代谢物支持了饮食与虚弱之间的关系存在共同机制的观点。多种代谢物类别的鉴定表明，饮食的影响是复杂的，不受任何特定生物标志物的影响。此外，这些代谢物可以作为饮食质量差的生物标志物，以识别需要进行针对性饮食干预的个体。
