(P17-032-25) Serum Metabolome As Indicators of Growth Failure From Children of 6–59 Months: Results From the Brazilian National Survey on Child Nutrition (ENANI-2019)

Objectives: To investigate the association between serum metabolome and nutritional status indicators such as height-for-age z-score (HAZ) and weight-for-height z-score (WHZ) in Brazilian children aged 6-59 months.

Methods: An untargeted metabolomic analysis was performed on a subset of 5,004 serum samples from the Brazilian National Survey on Child Nutrition. Seventy-five metabolites were found using a multisegment injection-capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry. The HAZ and WHZ were classified according to the World Health Organization's child growth standards. Partial least square regression was used to select metabolites with a variable importance projection (VIP) ≥ 1 and then were included in linear regression models performed having birth weight, preterm birth, per capita family income, food diversity, food security, child development, sex, age, and breastfeeding as confounders, identified by a Diagram Acyclic Graph. Adjusted p-value using Benjamini–Hochberg correction < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: The VIP showed two ranks of thirty-three metabolites associated with HAZ and WHZ. Circulating metabolites aminooctanoic acid (β=0.12; p< 0.001), creatinine (β=0.21; p< 0.001), threonine (β=0.26; p< 0.001), tyrosine (β=0.26; p< 0.001), and xanthine (β=0.12; p=0.007) showed a direct association, while phenylacetylglutamine (β=-0.12; p< 0.001), glycine betaine (β=-0.10; p=0.008), 2-hydroxyvaleric acid (β=-0.09; p=0.04), and cresol sulfate (β=-0.07; p=0.02), showed an inverse association with HAZ. Also, serum metabolites, aminooctanoic acid (β=0.15; p< 0.001), creatinine (β=0.20; p=0.005), phenylalanine (β=0.21; p=0.002), valine (β=0.23; p< 0.001), tyrosine (β=0.30; p< 0.001), and methionine (β=0.11; p=0.003) showed a direct association with WHZ.

Conclusions: These results present metabolites that are essential dietary amino acids for muscle repair (valine, threonine, phenylalanine) and energy production (creatinine, a stable by-product of phosphocreatine reflecting muscle mass).

Funding Sources: The Brazilian Ministry of Education, the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.