Associations between dairy fat intake, milk-derived free fatty acids, and cardiometabolic risk in Dutch adults

Milk fat globule membrane modulates inflammatory pathways in human monocytes: A crossover human intervention study

BACKGROUND

Intake of high-fat foods raises postprandial plasma triglycerides and inflammatory markers, which may depend on the type of fat ingested. Dairy products are commonly consumed, but not much is known about the impact of milk fat and the milk fat globule membrane on postprandial inflammation. Here, we aimed to study the effect of milk fat with and without milk fat globule membrane and a vegetable fat blend on post-prandial inflammation, with a focus on blood monocyte gene expression.

METHODS

We performed a randomized, double-blind cross-over trial in 37 middle-aged healthy male and female volunteers (BMI 22-27 kg/m2). The participants consumed a meal shake containing 95.5 g of fat consisting of either a vegetable fat blend (VEGE), anhydrous milk fat (AMF, without milk fat globule membrane), or cream (CREAM, containing milk fat globule membrane). Blood monocytes were collected at 0 h and 6 h postprandially and used for bulk RNA sequencing and ex vivo stimulation with LPS.

RESULTS

Consumption of all three shakes significantly decreased the percentage of classical monocytes and increased the percentages of intermediate monocytes and non-classical monocytes. No differences in these measures were observed between shakes. Using a threshold of p < 0.01, 787 genes were differentially regulated postprandially between the three shakes. 89 genes were differentially regulated postprandially between AMF and VEGE, 373 genes between AMF and CREAM, and 667 genes between VEGE and CREAM, indicating that the effect of CREAM on monocyte gene expression was distinct from AMF and VEGE. Pathway analyses showed that VEGE significantly increased the expression of genes involved in inflammatory pathways, whereas this was less pronounced after AMF and not observed after CREAM. In addition, CREAM significantly down-regulated the expression of genes involved in energy metabolism-related pathways, such as glycolysis, TCA cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation, as well as HIF-1 signaling.

CONCLUSION

Compared to the consumption of an anhydrous milk fat without milk fat globule membrane and a vegetable fat blend, the consumption of cream with milk fat globule membrane downregulated inflammatory pathways in blood monocytes, thus suggesting a potential inflammation inhibitory effect of milk fat globule membrane.

Temporal relationships between BMI and obesity-related predictors of cardiometabolic and breast cancer risk in a longitudinal cohort

Prospective inter-relationships among biomarkers were unexplored, which may provide mechanistic insights into diseases. We investigated the longitudinal associations of BMI change with trajectories of biomarkers related to cardiometabolic or breast cancer risk. A longitudinal study was conducted among 444 healthy women between 2019 to 2021. Cross‑lagged path analysis was used to examine the temporal relationships among BMI, cardiometabolic risk score (CRS), and obesity‑related proteins score (OPS) of breast cancer. Linear mixed-effect models were applied to investigate associations of time-varying BMI with biomarker-based risk score trajectories. Baseline BMI was associated with subsequent change of breast cancer predictors (P = 0.03), and baseline CRS were positively associated with OPS change (P < 0.001) but not vice versa. After fully adjustment of confounders, we found a 0.058 (95%CI = 0.009-0.107, P = 0.020) units increase of CRS and a 1.021 (95%CI = 0.041-1.995, P = 0.040) units increase of OPS as BMI increased 1 kg/m² per year in postmenopausal women. OPS increased 0.784 (95%CI = 0.053-1.512, P = 0.035) units as CRS increased 1 unit per year. However, among premenopausal women, BMI only significantly affected CRS (β = 0.057, 95%CI = 0.007 to 0.107, P = 0.025). No significant change of OPS with time-varying CRS was found. Higher increase rates of BMI were associated with worse trajectories of biomarker-based risk of cardiometabolic and breast cancer. The longitudinal impact of CRS on OPS is unidirectional. Recommendations such as weight control for the reduction of cardiometabolic risk factors may benefit breast cancer prevention, especially in postmenopausal women.

Identifying Plasma and Urinary Biomarkers of Fermented Food Intake and Their Associations with Cardiometabolic Health in a Dutch Observational Cohort

Identification of food intake biomarkers (FIBs) for fermented foods could help improve their dietary assessment and clarify their associations with cardiometabolic health. We aimed to identify novel FIBs for fermented foods in the plasma and urine metabolomes of 246 free-living Dutch adults using nontargeted LC-MS and GC-MS. Furthermore, associations between identified metabolites and several cardiometabolic risk factors were explored. In total, 37 metabolites were identified corresponding to the intakes of coffee, wine, and beer (none were identified for cocoa, bread, cheese, or yoghurt intake). While some of these metabolites appeared to originate from raw food (e.g., niacin and trigonelline for coffee), others overlapped different fermented foods (e.g., 4-hydroxybenzeneacetic acid for both wine and beer). In addition, several fermentation-dependent metabolites were identified (erythritol and citramalate). Associations between these identified metabolites with cardiometabolic parameters were weak and inconclusive. Further evaluation is warranted to confirm their relationships with cardiometabolic disease risk.