Abstract Body: Introduction: The westernization and modernization of diet have gradually increased among the Japanese people, resulting in greater consumption of meat. Metabolic profiling can be considered a useful tool to ensure more accurate assessment of meat consumption and to clarify its underlying mechanisms associated with cardiovascular health outcomes.
Hypothesis: We hypothesized that greater meat consumption could potentially lead to an elevation in blood pressure (BP), which was elucidated through meat-related candidate serum metabolites.
Methods: A total of 1,007 Japanese participants aged 40-59 years residing in Japan were selected from the INTERLIPID study. Data on systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), dietary intakes, urinary, serum metabolites and lifestyle factors were collected. Serum metabolites were measured by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Associations between BP and serum metabolites were identified through partial Spearman correlation, and the effect of candidate serum metabolites of meat consumption on BP was explored by stepwise multiple linear regression considering age and sex.
Results: The median of self-reported total meat intake was 28.98 g/1000kcal in men and 24.50 g/1000kcal in women. The multivariable linear regression results indicated that total meat and poultry intakes were significantly and positively related to BP. A total of 7 metabolites among 25 NMR and 29 metabolites among 51 LC-MS serum metabolites significantly correlated with meat consumption. Stepwise multiple linear regression indicated that the commonly related metabolites (p-value <0.05) for SBP, DBP and MAP were palmitoylcarnitine, carnitine and octanoylcarnitine. Additionally, the other associated metabolites included isovalerylcarnitine for SBP (β 1.24, CI 0.32-2.15), while for DBP, hexanoylcarnitine (β 1.61, CI 0.78-2.44), and niacinamide (β 0.73, CI 0.16-1.30).
Conclusions: Higher meat consumption was significantly associated with elevated BP in Japanese. Some metabolites including palmitoylcarnitine, carnitine and octanoylcarnitine were suggested as important contributors to this association, offering novel insights into the metabolic mechanisms linking diet and BP.