A Scoping Review of the Application of Metabolomics in Nutrition Research: The Literature Survey 2000-2019

Abstract

Nutrimetabolomics is an emerging field in nutrition research, and it is expected to play a significant role in deciphering the interaction between diet and health. Through the development of omics technology over the last two decades, the definition of food and nutrition has changed from sources of energy and major/micro-nutrients to an essential exposure factor that determines health risks. Furthermore, this new approach has enabled nutrition research to identify dietary biomarkers and to deepen the understanding of metabolic dynamics and the impacts on health risks. However, so far, candidate markers identified by metabolomics have not been clinically applied and more efforts should be made to validate those. To help nutrition researchers better understand the potential of its application, this scoping review outlined the historical transition, recent focuses, and future prospects of the new realm, based on trends in the number of human research articles from the early stage of 2000 to the present of 2019 by searching the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE). Among them, objective dietary assessment, metabolic profiling, and health risk prediction were positioned as three of the principal applications. The continued growth will enable nutrimetabolomics research to contribute to personalized nutrition in the future.

Keywords: biomarker; diet; dietary pattern; food; metabolomics; nutrimetabolomics; nutrition.

Figure 1

Flow diagram of search and article selection.

Figure 2

Total number of research articles in nutrimetabolomics (focused on human study).

Figure 3

Number of published articles for the main categories of nutrimetabolomics: (a) study design (n = 456); (b) biofluid (n = 534); (c) application field (n = 452); (d) dietary factor (n = 428); Studies are categorized by the main subject described in the article, and are placed in multiple categories when multiple items are the main target. The aggregated results are shown in Table S2.

Figure 4

Number of published articles for the subcategories of nutrimetabolomics: (a) nutrient (n = 100); (b) food group (n = 206); (c) dietary pattern (n = 130); (d) targeted health risk (n = 239); Studies are categorized by the main subject described in the article, and are placed in multiple categories when multiple items are the main target. The aggregated results are shown in Table S2. HEI, Health Eating Index. aHEI, alternate Health Eating Index. HDI, Healthy Diet Indicator. DASH, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.