Scope: Proteins constitute an important part of the human diet, but understanding of the effects of different dietary protein sources on human metabolism is sparse. We aimed to elucidate diet-induced metabolic changes through untargeted urinary metabolomics after four weeks of intervention with lean-seafood or nonseafood diets. It is shown that lean-seafood intake reduces urinary excretion of metabolites involved in mitochondrial lipid and energy metabolism possibly facilitating a higher lipid catabolism in healthy subjects.
Methods: In a randomized controlled trial with crossover design, 20 healthy subjects consumed two balanced diets that varied in main protein sources for 4 weeks. Morning spot urine samples were collected before and after each intervention period. Untargeted metabolomics based on (1) H NMR spectroscopy and LC-MS analyses were applied to characterize the urinary metabolic response to the interventions.
Results: The lean-seafood diet period reduced the urinary level of l-carnitine, 2,6-dimethylheptanoylcarnitine, and N-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxamide, relative to the nonseafood period. The dietary analysis revealed that the higher urinary level of trimethylamine-N-oxide after the lean-seafood diet period and guanidinoacetate and 3-methylhistidine after the nonseafood diet period was related to the endogenous content of these compounds in the diets.
Conclusions: Our data reveal that 4 weeks of lean-seafood intake reduces urinary excretion of metabolites involved in mitochondrial lipid and energy metabolism possibly facilitating a higher lipid catabolism in healthy subjects after the lean-seafood intake.
Keywords: Biomarkers; Dietary protein; Lipid metabolism; Metabolism; Urine.
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