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The Effect of General Adiposity and Central Body Fat Distribution on the Circulating Metabolome: a Multi-Cohort Non-Targeted Metabolomics Observational and Mendelian Randomization Study
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posted on 2021-12-07, 15:03 authored by Shafqat Ahmad, Ulf Hammar, Beatrice Kennedy, Samira Salihovic, Andrea Ganna, Lars Lind, Johan Sundström, Johan Ärnlöv, Christian Berne, Ulf Risérus, Patrik KE Magnusson, Susanna C Larsson, Tove FallObesity is associated with adverse health outcomes, but the metabolic
effects have not yet been fully elucidated. We aimed to investigate the
association between adiposity with circulating metabolites and to address
causality with Mendelian randomization (MR). Metabolomics data was
generated by non-targeted ultra-performance liquid-chromatography coupled to time-of-flight
mass-spectrometry in plasma and serum from three population-based Swedish cohorts:
ULSAM (N=1,135), PIVUS (N=970), and TwinGene (N=2,059). We assessed
associations between general adiposity measured as body mass index (BMI) and central
body fat distribution measured as waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI (WHRadjBMI)
with 210 annotated metabolites. We employed MR analysis to assess causal effects.
Lastly, we attempted to replicate
the MR findings in the KORA and TwinsUK cohorts (N=7,373), the CHARGE
consortium (N=8,631), the Framingham Heart Study (N=2,076) and the DIRECT consortium
(N=3,029). BMI
was associated with 77 metabolites, while WHRadjBMI was associated with 11 and
3 metabolites in women and men, respectively. The MR analyses in the Swedish
cohorts suggested a causal association (p-value
<0.05) of increased general adiposity and reduced levels of arachidonic
acid, dodecanedioic acid and lysophosphatidylcholine (P-16:0) as well as with increased creatine levels. The replication
effort provided support for a causal association of adiposity on reduced levels
of arachidonic acid (p-value 0.03). Adiposity
is associated with variation of large parts of the circulating metabolome,
however causality needs further investigation in well-powered cohorts.