Azcona-Granada Natalia, Geijsen Anne J M R, Pool René, Pelt Dirk H M, Bartels Meike
Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Sci Rep. 2025 Feb 27;15(1):6997. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-91558-z.
The biological complexity of wellbeing is studied from various perspectives, including genetics and epigenetics. However, there is a knowledge gap concerning other layers, such as metabolomics, which is dynamic and changes throughout life. This study explores the association between metabolites and wellbeing in a sample (N = 4748) drawn from the Netherlands Twin Register. A latent factor score for wellbeing was constructed based on: Quality of Life, Life Satisfaction, and Subjective Happiness. A total of 231 blood metabolites were analyzed using HNMR technique. Linear regression models were performed for each metabolite, while correcting for family clustering, relevant covariates, and multiple testing. None of the metabolites were significantly associated with wellbeing after multiple testing correction. Despite the lack of significant findings, the 34 metabolites with the lowest p-value (0.25) pointed to the same metabolic pathway: endogenous lipid metabolism. This pathway has previously been linked to wellbeing in a GWAS and associated with related phenotypes in other metabolomic studies. In conclusion, this study confirms the biological complexity of wellbeing and speculates on a potential role of lipids. Further research is needed to confirm these hypotheses.
人们从包括遗传学和表观遗传学在内的各种角度研究幸福的生物学复杂性。然而，在其他层面，如代谢组学方面存在知识空白，代谢组学是动态的，且在整个生命过程中都会发生变化。本研究探讨了从荷兰双胞胎登记处抽取的一个样本（N = 4748）中代谢物与幸福之间的关联。基于生活质量、生活满意度和主观幸福感构建了一个幸福的潜在因子得分。使用核磁共振技术分析了总共231种血液代谢物。对每种代谢物进行线性回归模型分析，同时校正家族聚类、相关协变量和多重检验。经过多重检验校正后，没有一种代谢物与幸福显著相关。尽管缺乏显著结果，但p值最低（0.25）的34种代谢物指向了同一条代谢途径：内源性脂质代谢。这条途径此前在一项全基因组关联研究中与幸福相关联，并且在其他代谢组学研究中与相关表型有关。总之，本研究证实了幸福的生物学复杂性，并推测了脂质的潜在作用。需要进一步的研究来证实这些假设。
