Metabolites link intake of a healthy diet to better insulin and glucose homeostasis in the Microbiome and Insulin Longitudinal Evaluation Study (MILES)

Authors: WOOD, ALEXIS - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC); LEE, DANIELLE - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC); SHERIDAN, PATRICIA - Metabolon, Inc; JENSEN, ELIZABETH - Wake Forest School Of Medicine; RAMESH, GAUTAM - University Of California, San Diego; BERTONI, ALAIN - Wake Forest School Of Medicine; RICH, STEVEN - University Of Virginia; CHEN, YII-DER - Harbor-Ucla Medical Center; HERRINGTON, DAVID - Wake Forest School Of Medicine; ROTTER, JEROME - Harbor-Ucla Medical Center; GOODARZI, MARK - Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Submitted to: Current Developments in Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/19/2024
Publication Date: 9/25/2024
Citation: Wood, A.C., Lee, D.J., Sheridan, P., Jensen, E.T., Ramesh, G., Bertoni, A.G., Rich, S.S., Chen, Y.I., Herrington, D., Rotter, J.I., Goodarzi, M.O. 2024. Metabolites link intake of a healthy diet to better insulin and glucose homeostasis in the Microbiome and Insulin Longitudinal Evaluation Study (MILES). Current Developments in Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.104462.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.104462

Interpretive Summary: This study explored how a healthy diet relates to risk of type 2 diabetes by identifying diet-related metabolites in 295 U.S. adults, and examining whether those metabolites were associated with blood sugar control. A subset of metabolites linked to healthy eating were associated with improved insulin and glucose levels, both in the fasted state, and after an oral glucose tolerance test, and when all the metabolites related to each of three healthy eating patterns were combined into a single score, these scores showed very strong connections with five out of six measures of glucose and insulin control. The findings suggest that following a healthy diet could influence these metabolites, potentially leading to better blood sugar management.

Technical Abstract: This study examined the association of metabolites associated with the intake of a healthy diet with measures of insulin/glucose homeostasis. Using cross-sectional data in 295 US adults, associations between three diet pattern scores and metabolome-wide metabolites were estimated via linear regression models which controlled for demographic factors and health behaviors. Subsequently, the associations between the diet-related metabolites with six measures of glucose/insulin homeostasis were examined in similar models. A Bonferroni correction was applied to control the familywise error rate at 5%. Fifty-five metabolites were significantly associated with at least one diet score (all P< 1.7x10**-5). When these were summed into each of three diet-specific metabolite summary scores (MSS), all three aggregate measures showed strong associations with five out of six measures of glucose/insulin homeostasis (P=9.7x10**-5 - 4.1x10**-13).Adherence to an a priori-defined 'healthy diet' is associated with the plasma metabolites that, in turn, associated with better glycemia. If the associations between replicated in future studies, and examined using large-scale longitudinal data, the identified molecules could yield insights into mechanisms by which diet may support glucose and insulin homeostasis.