Abstract
A metabolically healthy status, whether obese or not, is a transient stage with the potential to develop into metabolic disorders during the course of life. We investigated the incidence of metabolic disorders in 1078 metabolically healthy Chinese adults from the Shanghai Changfeng Study and looked for metabolites that discriminated the participants who would develop metabolic disorders in the future. Participants were divided into metabolically healthy overweight/obesity (MHO) and metabolically healthy normal weight (MHNW) groups according to their body mass index (BMI) and metabolic status. Their serum metabolomic profile was measured using a 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (1H-NMR). The prevalence of diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia and metabolic syndrome was similar between the MHNW and MHO participants at baseline. After a median of 4.2 years of follow-up, more MHO participants became metabolically unhealthy than MHNW participants. However, a subgroup of MHO participants who remained metabolically healthy (MHO → MHO) had a similar prevalence of metabolic disorders as the MHNW participants at the follow-up examination, despite a significant reduction in their serum concentrations of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and an elevation in valine, leucine, alanine and tyrosine. Further correlation analysis indicated that serum intermediate-density lipoprotein (IDL) and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-CH) might be involved in the transition from metabolically healthy to unhealthy status and could be valuable to identify the MHNW and MHO with increased metabolic risks.
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The data generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the relevant policy of data management from the sponsors in the Chinese national and local government, but the data are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request with the permission of the Chinese national and local government.
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Abbreviations
- MHO:
-
Metabolically healthy overweight/obesity
- MUO:
-
Metabolically unhealthy overweight/obesity
- MHNW:
-
Metabolically healthy normal weight
- MUNW:
-
Metabolically unhealthy normal weight
- MHNW → MHNW:
-
Remaining in MHNW
- MHNW → MHO:
-
MHNW transition to MUO
- MHNW → MUNW:
-
MHNW transition to MUNW
- MHNW → MUO:
-
MHNW transition to MUO
- MHO → MHNW:
-
MHO transition to MHNW
- MHO → MHO:
-
Remaining in MHO
- MHO → MUNW:
-
MHO transition to MUNW
- MHO → MUO:
-
MHO transition to MUO
- BMI:
-
Body mass index
- BP:
-
Blood pressure
- SBP:
-
Systolic blood pressure
- DBP:
-
Diastolic blood pressure
- FBG:
-
Fasting blood glucose
- TC:
-
Total cholesterol
- TG:
-
Triglycerides
- HDL-C:
-
High-density lipoprotein cholesterol
- LDL-C:
-
Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol
- 2hPG:
-
2-H Post-challenge plasma glucose
- OGTT:
-
Oral glucose tolerance test
- VLDL-PN:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein particle numbers
- VLDL-CH:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol
- VLDL-CE:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein cholesteryl ester
- VLDL-FC:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein free cholesterol
- VLDL-AB:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein apolipoprotein B-100
- VLDL-PL:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein phospholipid
- VLDL-TG:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein triglycerides
- IDL-PN:
-
Intermediate-density lipoprotein particle numbers
- IDL-CH:
-
Intermediate-density lipoprotein cholesterol
- IDL-CE:
-
Intermediate-density lipoprotein cholesteryl ester
- IDL-FC:
-
Intermediate-density lipoprotein free cholesterol
- IDL-AB:
-
Intermediate-density lipoprotein apolipoprotein B-100
- IDL-PL:
-
Intermediate-density lipoprotein phospholipid
- IDL-TG:
-
Intermediate-density lipoprotein triglyceride
- HDL-CH:
-
High-density lipoprotein cholesterol
- HDL-CE:
-
High-density lipoprotein cholesteryl ester
- HDL-FC:
-
High-density lipoprotein free cholesterol
- HDL-PL:
-
High-density lipoprotein phospholipid
- HDL-TG:
-
High-density lipoprotein triglycerides
- AA:
-
Amino acid
- VLDL1-CH:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-1 cholesterol
- VLDL1-CE:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-1 cholesteryl ester
- VLDL1-FC:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-1 free cholesterol
- VLDL1-PL:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-1 phospholipid
- VLDL1-TG:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-1 triglycerides
- VLDL2-CH:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-2 cholesterol
- VLDL2-CE:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-2 cholesteryl ester
- VLDL2-FC:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-2 free cholesterol
- VLDL2-PL:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-2 phospholipid
- VLDL2-TG:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-2 triglycerides
- VLDL3-CH:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-3 cholesterol
- VLDL3-CE:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-3 cholesteryl ester
- VLDL3-FC:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-3 free cholesterol
- VLDL3-PL:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-3 phospholipid
- VLDL3-TG:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-3 triglycerides
- VLDL4-CH:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-4 cholesterol
- VLDL4-CE:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-4 cholesteryl ester
- VLDL4-FC:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-4 free cholesterol
- VLDL4-PL:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-4 phospholipid
- VLDL4-TG:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-4 triglycerides
- VLDL5-CH:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-5 cholesterol
- VLDL5-CE:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-5 cholesteryl ester
- VLDL5-FC:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-5 free cholesterol
- VLDL5-PL:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-5 phospholipid
- VLDL5-TG:
-
Very low-density lipoprotein-5 triglycerides
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the financial support of the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (2017SHZDZX01), and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (16JC1400500).
Funding
This work was supported by the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (2017SHZDZX01) and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (16JC1400500).
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Study conception and design: XG, HT. Data collection: HL. Sample examination: QW, SM, HZ. Data management: QH. Data analysis: MX. Manuscript preparation: QW. Manuscript revision: GX and MX.
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The authors declare no conflicts of interest. HT is the associate editor of Phenomics, and he was not involved in reviewing this paper.
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This prospective cohort study from Shanghai Changfeng Community was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Shanghai Health Bureau, China.
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Each participant provided written informed consent.
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Wu, Q., Huang, Qx., Zeng, Hl. et al. Prediction of Metabolic Disorders Using NMR-Based Metabolomics: The Shanghai Changfeng Study. Phenomics 1, 186–198 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43657-021-00021-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43657-021-00021-2