Characterizing patterns of dietary exposure using metabolomic profiles of human biospecimens: a systematic review

Abstract

Context: Establishing diet-disease associations requires reliable assessment of dietary intake. With the rapid advancement of metabolomics, its use in identifying objective biomarkers of dietary exposure has substantially increased.

Objective: The aim of our review was to systematically combine all observational studies linking dietary intake patterns with metabolomic profiles of human biospecimens.

Data sources: Five databases were searched - MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane CENTRAL - to March 2020.

Data extraction: Of the 14 328 studies initially screened, 35 observational studies that met the specified inclusion criteria were included.

Data analysis: All reviewed studies indicated that metabolomic measures were significantly correlated with dietary patterns, demonstrating the potential for using objective metabolomic measures to characterize individuals' dietary intake. However, similar dietary patterns did not always result in similar metabolomic profiles across different study populations.

Conclusion: Metabolomic profiles reflect a multitude of factors, including diet, genetic, phenotypic, and environmental influences, thereby providing a more comprehensive picture of the impact of diet on metabolism and health outcomes. Further exploration of dietary patterns and metabolomic profiles across different population groups is warranted.

Keywords: biomarkers; dietary assessment; dietary patterns; metabolites; nutrition; systematic review.