UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland.
UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Sci Rep. 2024 Aug 2;14(1):17927. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-68522-4.
Plant-based diets have gained attention for their potential benefits on both human health and environmental sustainability. The objective of this study was to investigate the association of plant-based dietary patterns with the endogenous metabolites of healthy individuals and identify metabolites that may act as mediators of the associations between dietary intake and modifiable disease risk factors. Adherence to plant-based dietary patterns was assessed for 170 healthy adults using plant-based diet indexes (PDI). Individuals with higher healthful PDI had lower BMI and fasting glucose and higher HDL-C, while those with higher unhealthful PDI had higher BMI, triacylglycerol and fasting glucose and lower HDL-C. Unhealthful PDI was associated with higher levels of several amino acids and biogenic amines previously associated with cardiometabolic diseases and an opposite pattern was observed for healthful PDI. Furthermore, healthful PDI was associated with higher levels of glycerophosphocholines containing very long-chain fatty acids. Glutamate, isoleucine, proline, tyrosine, α-aminoadipate and kynurenine had a statistically significant mediation effect on the associations between PDI scores and LDL-C, HDL-C and fasting glucose. These findings contribute to the growing evidence supporting the role of plant-based diets in promoting metabolic health and shed light on the potential mechanisms explaining their beneficial health effects.
植物性饮食因其对人类健康和环境可持续性的潜在益处而受到关注。本研究旨在探讨植物性饮食模式与健康个体内源性代谢物的关系，并确定可能作为饮食摄入与可改变的疾病风险因素之间关联的中介代谢物。通过植物性饮食指数（PDI）评估了 170 名健康成年人对植物性饮食模式的依从性。具有较高健康 PDI 的个体 BMI 和空腹血糖较低，HDL-C 较高，而具有较高不健康 PDI 的个体 BMI、三酰甘油和空腹血糖较高，HDL-C 较低。不健康 PDI 与先前与心血管代谢疾病相关的几种氨基酸和生物胺水平较高有关，而健康 PDI 则呈现相反的模式。此外，健康 PDI 与含有超长链脂肪酸的甘油磷酸胆碱水平较高有关。谷氨酸、异亮氨酸、脯氨酸、酪氨酸、α-氨基己二酸和犬尿氨酸对 PDI 评分与 LDL-C、HDL-C 和空腹血糖之间的关联具有统计学显著的中介作用。这些发现为支持植物性饮食在促进代谢健康方面的作用提供了越来越多的证据，并阐明了其有益健康影响的潜在机制。
