Climate, Health, and Nutrition (Oral Session 9)

(OR09-02-25) Metabolomic Profiles of a Planetary Health Diet and Associations With Cardiometabolic Risk: The Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (MASALA) study

Sunday, June 1, 2025

4:12 PM – 4:24 PM ET

Location: S230 CD

Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Poster Competition

Presenting Author(s)

NN

Nilendra K. Nair, PhD

Research Fellow
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Disclosure information not submitted.

Co-Author(s)

DH

Danielle E. Haslam, PhD

Instructor in Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Canton, Massachusetts, United States
Caleigh Sawicki, PhD, MPH (she/her/hers)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
NK

Namratha R. Kandula, MD, MPH

Associate Professor of Medicine and Preventive Medicine
Northwestern University
Chicago, Illinois, United States
AK

Alka M. Kanaya, MD

Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Biostatistics
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, California, United States
MS

Meir J. Stampfer, MD, PhD

Professor
Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
WW

Walter C. Willett, DrPH, MPH, MD

Professor
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
KL

Kyu Ha Lee

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
SB

Shilpa N. Bhupathiraju, PhD

Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Objectives: To elucidate the metabolomic signature of the Planetary Health Diet and examine its associations with cardiometabolic risk in a South Asian population.

Methods: We used data from 679 participants with complete dietary, metabolite, and clinical data in the Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America study. Diet was assessed using a validated ethnic-specific FFQ at baseline and adherence to the 2019 EAT-Lancet recommendations was measured using the Planetary Healthy Diet index (PHDI). Metabolites were measured using LC/MS. Machine learning models were used to identify the metabolomic profile predictive of the PHD. Multivariable adjusted linear and logistic regression models were used to determine the cross-sectional and prospective associations between the metabolite-predicted (mp) PHDI and cardiometabolic risk.

Results: Elastic-net penalized regression identified a metabolite profile of 41 metabolites (17 positively and 24 inversely weighted) that was predictive of FFQ-derived PHDI (r=0.35; P < 0.0001). Top metabolites positively associated with the PHDI (zeta-carotene, anhydrolutein I, triglyceride, sulfoglycosphingolipid and L-acetylcarnitine) tended to be positively correlated with vegetables, nuts, unsaturated fats, and fish/seafood and negatively correlated with several animal-sourced foods. Metabolites negatively associated with PHDI (sphingomyelin, phosphatidylcholines, glycosphingolipids and creatinine) tended to be associated with red meat, poultry and eggs. Cross-sectionally, in multivariable-adjusted models, even after adjustment for FFQ-derived PHDI, each 10-unit increase in the metabolomic signature predicting PHDI was associated (β±SE) with lower fasting glucose (-0.73±0.37 mmol/L), HbA1c (among those without type 2 diabetes) (-0.87±0.40%), triglycerides (-13.22±2.84 mmol/L), LDL (-0.31±0.05 mmol/L), and CRP (-17.78±6.22 mg/L), all p < 0.05. Prospectively, each 10-unit higher mp-PHDI was associated with 23%-68% lower odds of obesity (OR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.57, 0.98), overweight (OR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.52, 0.89), and fatty liver (OR: 0.32; 95% CI: 0.25, 0.53).

Conclusions: We identified a metabolomic signature that reflects adherence to the 2019 EAT-Lancet recommendations and was associated with favorable cardiometabolic risk outcomes.

Funding Sources: N/A