Patterns and Determinants of Micronutrient Dietary Biomarkers and Their Associations with Dietary Intakes in Young Children

Overview

Journal J Nutr

Publisher Elsevier

Specialty Nutritional Sciences

Date 2024 Oct 7

PMID 39374787

Authors

Joanna L Clasen

Jimin Yang

Leena Hakola

Petra Arohonka

Kristian Lynch

Hemang M Parikh

Carin Andren Aronsson

Ulla Uusitalo

Jill M Norris

Suvi M Virtanen

Iris Erlund

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Circulating dietary biomarkers are not direct proxies for intake, as the biomarkers reflect not only food and supplement consumption but also nutrient absorption, metabolism, and tissue distribution. Therefore, along with nutrient intake, several other upstream factors can impact dietary biomarker concentrations, including demographic, medical history, and genetic factors.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the dietary and nondietary determinants of circulating levels of vitamins A, C, D, and E among children aged 6 mo-4 y.

Methods: Plasma retinol, β-carotene, ascorbic acid, 25(OH)D, α-tocopherol, and γ-tocopherol were measured in 2887 samples from 1490 children enrolled in The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young study. Dietary intake was assessed with 3-d food records. Associations of genetic and environmental factors with biomarker concentrations were examined using multivariable linear regression models with random intercepts.

Results: All biomarkers except retinol were positively associated with intake of the same nutrient. Inverse associations were identified between recent gastrointestinal infection and β-carotene, ascorbic acid, and α-tocopherol, whereas recent respiratory infection was associated inversely with plasma retinol. Several genetic determinants of biomarker status were identified, validating previously reported findings. For some genetic and environmental exposures, we found evidence of statistical interaction with same-nutrient intake, indicating that the association between intake and biomarker concentration is dependent on the level or status of these other exposures. For example, the association between β-carotene intake and concentration is weaker among children with a recent respiratory infection.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that nondietary exposures including childhood infections can alter micronutrient metabolism. This summary of micronutrient determinants will facilitate improved design of future analyses exploring the role of diet in childhood chronic disease etiology through a better understanding of relevant potential confounders and mediators of the diet-outcome relationships.

References

Andren Aronsson C, Liu X, Norris J, Uusitalo U, Butterworth M, Koletzko S . 25(OH)D Levels in Infancy Is Associated With Celiac Disease Autoimmunity in At-Risk Children: A Case-Control Study. Front Nutr. 2021; 8():720041. PMC: 8479793. DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2021.720041. View

Neuhouser M, Rock C, Eldridge A, Kristal A, Patterson R, Cooper D . Serum concentrations of retinol, alpha-tocopherol and the carotenoids are influenced by diet, race and obesity in a sample of healthy adolescents. J Nutr. 2001; 131(8):2184-91. DOI: 10.1093/jn/131.8.2184. View

Uusitalo U, Kronberg-Kippila C, Andren Aronsson C, Schakel S, Schoen S, Mattisson I . Food composition database harmonization for between-country comparisons of nutrient data in the TEDDY Study. J Food Compost Anal. 2011; 24(4-5):494-505. PMC: 3205351. DOI: 10.1016/j.jfca.2011.01.012. View

Maruvada P, Lampe J, Wishart D, Barupal D, Chester D, Dodd D . Perspective: Dietary Biomarkers of Intake and Exposure-Exploration with Omics Approaches. Adv Nutr. 2019; 11(2):200-215. PMC: 7442414. DOI: 10.1093/advances/nmz075. View

Yin X, Chan L, Bose D, Jackson A, VandeHaar P, Locke A . Genome-wide association studies of metabolites in Finnish men identify disease-relevant loci. Nat Commun. 2022; 13(1):1644. PMC: 8960770. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29143-5. View

Vehik K, Fiske S, Logan C, Agardh D, Cilio C, Hagopian W . Methods, quality control and specimen management in an international multicentre investigation of type 1 diabetes: TEDDY. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2013; 29(7):557-67. PMC: 3992860. DOI: 10.1002/dmrr.2427. View

Brady H, Lamb M, Sokol R, Ross C, Seifert J, Rewers M . Plasma micronutrients are associated with dietary intake and environmental tobacco smoke exposure in a paediatric population. Public Health Nutr. 2007; 10(7):712-8. DOI: 10.1017/S1368980007662296. View

Martin C, Ling P, Blackburn G . Review of Infant Feeding: Key Features of Breast Milk and Infant Formula. Nutrients. 2016; 8(5). PMC: 4882692. DOI: 10.3390/nu8050279. View

Dowling K, Hull G, Sundvall J, Lamberg-Allardt C, Cashman K . Improved accuracy of an tandem liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method measuring 24R,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and 25-hydroxyvitamin D metabolites in serum using unspiked controls and its application to determining cross-reactivity of a.... J Chromatogr A. 2017; 1497:102-109. DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2017.03.058. View

10.

Manousaki D, Mitchell R, Dudding T, Haworth S, Harroud A, Forgetta V . Genome-wide Association Study for Vitamin D Levels Reveals 69 Independent Loci. Am J Hum Genet. 2020; 106(3):327-337. PMC: 7058824. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2020.01.017. View

11.

Kreutz J, Adriaanse M, van der Ploeg E, Vreugdenhil A . Narrative Review: Nutrient Deficiencies in Adults and Children with Treated and Untreated Celiac Disease. Nutrients. 2020; 12(2). PMC: 7071237. DOI: 10.3390/nu12020500. View

12.

Major J, Yu K, Wheeler W, Zhang H, Cornelis M, Wright M . Genome-wide association study identifies common variants associated with circulating vitamin E levels. Hum Mol Genet. 2011; 20(19):3876-83. PMC: 3168288. DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddr296. View

13.

Tomkins A . Assessing micronutrient status in the presence of inflammation. J Nutr. 2003; 133(5 Suppl 2):1649S-1655S. DOI: 10.1093/jn/133.5.1649S. View

14.

Hagopian W, Erlich H, Lernmark A, Rewers M, Ziegler A, Simell O . The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY): genetic criteria and international diabetes risk screening of 421 000 infants. Pediatr Diabetes. 2011; 12(8):733-43. PMC: 3315186. DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-5448.2011.00774.x. View

15.

Ferrucci L, Perry J, Matteini A, Perola M, Tanaka T, Silander K . Common variation in the beta-carotene 15,15'-monooxygenase 1 gene affects circulating levels of carotenoids: a genome-wide association study. Am J Hum Genet. 2009; 84(2):123-33. PMC: 2668002. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.12.019. View

16.

Zheng J, Luan J, Sofianopoulou E, Imamura F, Stewart I, Day F . Plasma Vitamin C and Type 2 Diabetes: Genome-Wide Association Study and Mendelian Randomization Analysis in European Populations. Diabetes Care. 2020; 44(1):98-106. PMC: 7783939. DOI: 10.2337/dc20-1328. View

17.

Torn C, Liu X, Onengut-Gumuscu S, Counts K, Moreno J, Remedios C . Telomere length is not a main factor for the development of islet autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes in the TEDDY study. Sci Rep. 2022; 12(1):4516. PMC: 8927592. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-08058-7. View

18.

Thane C, Bates C . Dietary intakes and nutrient status of vegetarian preschool children from a British national survey. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2002; 13(3):149-162. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-277x.2000.00227.x. View

19.

Joslowski G, Yang J, Andren Aronsson C, Ahonen S, Butterworth M, Rautanen J . Development of a harmonized food grouping system for between-country comparisons in the TEDDY Study. J Food Compost Anal. 2017; 63:79-88. PMC: 5690566. DOI: 10.1016/j.jfca.2017.07.037. View

20.

Yuan L, Muli S, Huybrechts I, Nothlings U, Ahrens W, Scalbert A . Assessment of Fruit and Vegetables Intake with Biomarkers in Children and Adolescents and Their Level of Validation: A Systematic Review. Metabolites. 2022; 12(2). PMC: 8876138. DOI: 10.3390/metabo12020126. View