Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Metabolomics is an emerging methodology which has lately been used in nutrition and health research. There is large interest to develop metabolomics-based methods for reflec-tion of dietary exposure in epidemiological studies and standardized intervention studies. The aim of this BSc- thesis was to investigate the possibilities if metabolomics analyses of urine and blood specimens could be used to reflect differences in subject characteristics, lifestyles, and dietary patterns in free-living humans. Empirical data were collected using database search for articles where dietary metabolomics experiment were conducted and reported in human subjects, along with reference search in the selected articles. Metabo-lites from food, endogenous response to exposure, and gut microbial activity were found responsible for metabolic signatures of dietary intake in both blood and urine specimens. Gender, age and diurnal variation were also found responsible for unique metabolic signa-tures, characterized to some extent by likely lifestyle factors such as diet. Subject characte-ristics, lifestyle, and time of sampling are suggested to play important roles when assessing a metabolic signature of dietary patterns. Other factors to consider is for how long the die-tary effect will last, usage of proper statistical analysis, and choice of analytical platform. To conclude, food seems to have a rather large influence on human urine and blood me-tabolic phenotype and identification of metabolic signatures of dietary patterns, using me-tabolomics, is likely to be achieved.