The metabolites sets found in the blood and urine correspond reliable with the amount of energy of ultra processed foods consumed by a person, according to a new study published on May 20 in the open access magazine PLOS MEDICINE By Erikka Loftfield of the National Cancer Institute, USA, and his colleagues.
Ultraprocessed foods (UPF) represent more than half of the calories consumed in the average American diet, but their impact on human health is still clear, partly because it is very difficult to precisely track precisely how many people from UPF eat.
In the new study, the researchers analyzed blood and urine samples of 718 older adults, along with detailed dietary retreats, to identify chemical digital fingerprints, called poly-metabolites scores, linked to UPF intake.
The study found that hundreds of blood and urine metabolites were associated with the percentage of energy that someone consumes of the UPF. A poly-metabolite score could be created corresponding to UPF intake using 28 of blood metabolites or 33 urine metabolites. This score was predictive of UPF intake among participants who use self -informed dietary data. Then, the researchers validated the scores in a controlled feeding study, which confirms that the scores could distinguish, within the subjects, between the high UPF diets and the UN of UPF among 20 hospitalized patients in the NIH clinical center with controlled high diets. The scores also differ significantly between a heavy diet of UPF and an UPFS without UPFs.
“Identified poly-metabolites scores could serve as objective UPF intake measures in large population studies to complement or reduce dependence on self-informed dietary data,” says the authors. “Poly-metabolites scores should be evaluated and improved iteratively in populations with various diets and a wide range of UPF intake.”
The authors add: “We developed and tested the poly-metabolite and urine scores that were predictive of high diets in energy from the UPF intake in an observational study of free life adults and in a highly controlled feeding test, respectively. These scores of the diet of the diet diet of the diet diet of the diet diet of the diet diet UPF in human health. “