The Intake of Dicarbonyls and Advanced Glycation Endproducts as Part of the Habitual Diet Is Not Associated with Intestinal Inflammation in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patients

Nutrients. 2022 Dec 24;15(1):83. doi: 10.3390/nu15010083.

Abstract

A Western diet comprises high levels of dicarbonyls and advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), which may contribute to flares and symptoms in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). We therefore investigated the intake of dietary dicarbonyls and AGEs in IBD and IBS patients as part of the habitual diet, and their association with intestinal inflammation. Food frequency questionnaires from 238 IBD, 261 IBS as well as 195 healthy control (HC) subjects were used to calculate the intake of dicarbonyls methylglyoxal, glyoxal, and 3-deoxyglucosone, and of the AGEs Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine, Nε-(1-carboxyethyl)lysine and methylglyoxal-derived hydroimidazolone-1. Intestinal inflammation was assessed using faecal calprotectin. The absolute dietary intake of all dicarbonyls and AGEs was higher in IBD and HC as compared to IBS (all p < 0.05). However, after energy-adjustment, only glyoxal was lower in IBD versus IBS and HC (p < 0.05). Faecal calprotectin was not significantly associated with dietary dicarbonyls and AGEs in either of the subgroups. The absolute intake of methylglyoxal was significantly higher in patients with low (<15 μg/g) compared to moderate calprotectin levels (15−<50 μg/g, p = 0.031). The concentrations of dietary dicarbonyls and AGEs generally present in the diet of Dutch patients with IBD or IBS are not associated with intestinal inflammation, although potential harmful effects might be counteracted by anti-inflammatory components in the food matrix.

Keywords: dietary advanced glycation endproducts; dietary dicarbonyls; faecal calprotectin; inflammatory bowel disease; intestinal inflammation; irritable bowel syndrome.

MeSH terms

  • Diet / adverse effects
  • Glycation End Products, Advanced / adverse effects
  • Humans
  • Inflammation / complications
  • Inflammatory Bowel Diseases* / complications
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome* / complications
  • Lysine
  • Pyruvaldehyde

Substances

  • Lysine
  • Pyruvaldehyde
  • Glycation End Products, Advanced

Grants and funding

Part of this work has been funded Top Institute for Food and Nutrition (TIFN) (grant number GH001TKI), Wageningen, the Netherlands, by a public-private partnership grant TKI-Well on Wheat of Top Knowledge Institute (grant number TKI6060BMNU), and by European Union Seventh Framework Program (grant number 305564).