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Chaouche L, Marcotte F, Maltais-Payette I, Tchernof A. Glutamate and obesity - what is the link? Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 2024; 27:70-76. [PMID: 37937722 DOI: 10.1097/mco.0000000000000991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Many studies using metabolomics have tried to unravel the metabolic signature of obesity and understand the pathophysiology of this complex and heterogeneous disease. Circulating levels of the amino acid glutamate have been consistently associated with obesity and more specifically with measurements of abdominal fat accumulation. The purpose of this narrative review is to highlight recent studies documenting this association. RECENT FINDINGS Circulating glutamate concentrations have been positively correlated with measurements of central fat accumulation such as waist circumference and visceral adipose tissue area. Moreover, elevated glutamate levels have been linked to a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The association with adiposity is detected in early life, and genetic predisposition does not appear as a major driver. Glutamate levels reflect in vivo synthesis rather than dietary intake. However, interventions generating metabolic improvements such as incretin receptor agonist treatment or dietary improvements may reduce plasma levels of this amino acid. SUMMARY Recent findings confirm the consistent association between circulating glutamate and abdominal obesity and its cardiometabolic complications. The pathophysiological pathways underlying this phenomenon are still unclear. Furthermore, studies are needed to establish the usefulness of this analyte as a biomarker of abdominal obesity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lila Chaouche
- Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec - Université Laval
- École de nutrition, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada
| | - Félix Marcotte
- Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec - Université Laval
- École de nutrition, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada
| | - Ina Maltais-Payette
- Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec - Université Laval
- École de nutrition, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada
| | - André Tchernof
- Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec - Université Laval
- École de nutrition, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada
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Maltais-Payette I, Lajeunesse-Trempe F, Pibarot P, Biertho L, Tchernof A. Association between Circulating Amino Acids and COVID-19 Severity. Metabolites 2023; 13:metabo13020201. [PMID: 36837819 PMCID: PMC9959167 DOI: 10.3390/metabo13020201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 01/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
The severity of the symptoms associated with COVID-19 is highly variable, and has been associated with circulating amino acids as a group of analytes in metabolomic studies. However, for each individual amino acid, there are discordant results among studies. The aims of the present study were: (i) to investigate the association between COVID-19-symptom severity and circulating amino-acid concentrations; and (ii) to assess the ability of circulating amino-acid levels to predict adverse outcomes (intensive-care-unit admission or hospital death). We studied a sample of 736 participants from the Biobanque Québécoise COVID-19. All participants tested positive for COVID-19, and the severity of symptoms was determined using the World-Health-Organization criteria. Circulating amino acids were measured by HPLC-MS/MS. We used logistic models to assess the association between circulating amino acids concentrations and the odds of presenting mild vs. severe or mild vs. moderate symptoms, as well as their accuracy in predicting adverse outcomes. Patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms were older on average, and they had a higher prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Out of 20 amino acids tested, 16 were significantly associated with disease severity, with phenylalanine (positively) and cysteine (inversely) showing the strongest associations. These associations remained significant after adjustment for age, sex and body mass index. Phenylalanine had a fair ability to predict the occurrence of adverse outcomes, similar to traditionally measured laboratory variables. A multivariate model including both circulating amino acids and clinical variables had a 90% accuracy at predicting adverse outcomes in this sample. In conclusion, patients presenting severe COVID-19 symptoms have an altered amino-acid profile, compared to those with mild or moderate symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ina Maltais-Payette
- Quebec Heart and Lung Institute, Quebec City, QC G1V 4G5, Canada
- School of Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Laval University, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Fannie Lajeunesse-Trempe
- Quebec Heart and Lung Institute, Quebec City, QC G1V 4G5, Canada
- School of Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Laval University, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Philippe Pibarot
- Quebec Heart and Lung Institute, Quebec City, QC G1V 4G5, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Laurent Biertho
- Quebec Heart and Lung Institute, Quebec City, QC G1V 4G5, Canada
- Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - André Tchernof
- Quebec Heart and Lung Institute, Quebec City, QC G1V 4G5, Canada
- School of Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Laval University, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +1-418-656-8711
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Gagnon E, Pelletier W, Gobeil É, Bourgault J, Manikpurage HD, Maltais-Payette I, Abner E, Taba N, Esko T, Mitchell PL, Ghodsian N, Després JP, Vohl MC, Tchernof A, Thériault S, Arsenault BJ. Mendelian randomization prioritizes abdominal adiposity as an independent causal factor for liver fat accumulation and cardiometabolic diseases. Commun Med (Lond) 2022; 2:130. [PMID: 36249462 PMCID: PMC9561122 DOI: 10.1038/s43856-022-00196-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Observational studies have linked adiposity and especially abdominal adiposity to liver fat accumulation and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. These traits are also associated with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease but the causal factor(s) underlying these associations remain unexplored. Methods We used a multivariable Mendelian randomization study design to determine whether body mass index and waist circumference were causally associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease using publicly available genome-wide association study summary statistics of the UK Biobank (n = 461,460) and of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (8434 cases and 770,180 control). A multivariable Mendelian randomization study design was also used to determine the respective causal contributions of waist circumference and liver fat (n = 32,858) to type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease. Results Using multivariable Mendelian randomization we show that waist circumference increase non-alcoholic fatty liver disease risk even when accounting for body mass index (odd ratio per 1-standard deviation increase = 2.35 95% CI = 1.31-4.22, p = 4.2e-03), but body mass index does not increase non-alcoholic fatty liver disease risk when accounting for waist circumference (0.86 95% CI = 0.54-1.38, p = 5.4e-01). In multivariable Mendelian randomization analyses accounting for liver fat, waist circumference remains strongly associated with both type 2 diabetes (3.27 95% CI = 2.89-3.69, p = 3.8e-80) and coronary artery disease (1.66 95% CI = 1.54-1.8, p = 3.4e-37). Conclusions These results identify waist circumference as a strong, independent, and causal contributor to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease, thereby highlighting the importance of assessing body fat distribution for the prediction and prevention of cardiometabolic diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eloi Gagnon
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC Canada
| | - William Pelletier
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC Canada
| | - Émilie Gobeil
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC Canada
| | - Jérôme Bourgault
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC Canada
| | - Hasanga D Manikpurage
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC Canada
| | - Ina Maltais-Payette
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC Canada.,School of Nutrition, Université Laval, Québec, QC Canada
| | - Erik Abner
- Estonian Genome Center, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Riia 23b, Tartu, 51010 Estonia
| | - Nele Taba
- Estonian Genome Center, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Riia 23b, Tartu, 51010 Estonia.,Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Riia 23, Tartu, 51,010 Estonia
| | - Tõnu Esko
- Estonian Genome Center, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Riia 23b, Tartu, 51010 Estonia
| | - Patricia L Mitchell
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC Canada
| | - Nooshin Ghodsian
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC Canada
| | - Jean-Pierre Després
- VITAM - Centre de recherche en santé durable, Université Laval, Québec, QC Canada
| | - Marie-Claude Vohl
- School of Nutrition, Université Laval, Québec, QC Canada.,Centre NUTRISS, Institut sur la nutrition et les aliments fonctionnels, Université Laval, Québec, QC Canada
| | - André Tchernof
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC Canada.,School of Nutrition, Université Laval, Québec, QC Canada
| | - Sébastien Thériault
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC Canada.,Department of Molecular Biology, Medical Biochemistry and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Québec, QC Canada
| | - Benoit J Arsenault
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC Canada.,Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Québec, QC Canada
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Maltais-Payette I, Bourgault J, Arsenault B, Tchernof A. Obesity, Body Fat Distribution, and Circulating Glutamate Concentrations, A BI-Directional Mendelian Randomization Study. J Endocr Soc 2021. [PMCID: PMC8090122 DOI: 10.1210/jendso/bvab048.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Various observational studies have reported that circulating levels of the amino acid glutamate was significantly associated with central fat accumulation in men and women. This is the case in the Framingham Heart Study Generation 3 for waist circumference, in the TwinsUK cohort for trunk fat and in a cohort of 1449 Japanese for visceral adipose tissue area measured by computed tomography. However, whether the association between abdominal adiposity and circulating glutamate is causal, as well as the direction of this association, is unknown. Here, we aimed to determine whether obesity and abdominal obesity were causally associated with circulating glutamate levels. Methods: We used a two-sample bi-directional inverse-variance weighted Mendelian randomization study design (IVW-MR). We derived summary statistics for our exposures and outcomes from published genome-wide association studies from the GIANT consortium (n = 681 275) and blood metabolites (n = 7 804). We identified independent genetic variants (r2 < 0.1) associated with body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI (WHRadjBMI, p < 5x10-8) as well as circulating glutamate (p < 5x10-5). Results: We found no causal association between circulating glutamate levels and BMI (beta = 0.082, SE = 0.0413, p = 0.0471) or WHRadjBMI (beta = -0.00106, SE = 0.0401, p = 0.979). However, there was a positive effect of BMI (beta = 0.0608, SE = 0.0150, p = 5.19x10-5) and WHRadjBMI (beta = 0.0701, SE = 0.0198, p = 3.98x10-4) on circulating glutamate level. Conclusion: This Mendelian randomization analysis suggests that obesity and abdominal obesity are causally related to elevated circulating glutamate levels. Glutamate levels are not causally related to adiposity. Whether the downregulation of branched-chain amino acid catabolism in adipose tissue reported in obesity underlies this association should be explored.
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Maltais-Payette I, Vijay J, Grunberg E, Tchernof A. OR33-05 Amino Acid Signature of Abdominal Obesity in the TwinsUK Cohort. J Endocr Soc 2020. [PMCID: PMC7209556 DOI: 10.1210/jendso/bvaa046.981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Background and aim: Metabolomic studies have shown that circulating amino acid levels are altered in the context of obesity. The branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs, namely leucine, isoleucine and valine) have been the most studied because of their consistent positive association with adiposity and their ability to prospectively predict type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (1). Circulating glutamate has been much less investigated, but some have shown that its specific association with central fat accumulation was stronger than that of BCAAs (2). This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between circulating glutamate and abdominal obesity and the impact of genetic factors on this association. Methods: In the TwinsUK cohort, we selected individuals for whom both metabolomics and DXA trunk fat measurements were available (n=4 665). We used linear regression to assess the correlation between glutamate level and trunk fat. Those with a trunk fat mass greater than 15 kg were considered abdominally obese. We compared the odds of presenting abdominal obesity in each circulating glutamate quintile with logistic regression models. Monozygotic twin pairs discordant for trunk fat were selected to identify analyte differences driven by non-genetic factors. All analyses were also performed with BCAAs for comparison. Results: Circulating glutamate was positively and significantly associated with trunk fat (β: 0.28, 95%CI: 0.26-0.31). Individuals in the highest circulating glutamate quintile had a more than 8-fold higher risk of being characterized by abdominal obesity compared to those in the lowest quintile (OR: 8.44, 95%CI: 6.17-11.55). In the 54 monozygotic twin pairs discordant for trunk fat, the heavier twin had significantly higher glutamate level compared to the leaner co-twin (p-value: 4.05e-07). In all these analyses, the results for glutamate were more significant than with any of the BCAAs. Conclusion: There is a positive relationship between circulating glutamate and trunk fat that is partially independent of genetic background. This often-overlooked metabolite might represent an interesting biomarker of abdominal obesity. References: (1) Newgard (2017). Metabolomics and Metabolic Diseases: Where Do We Stand? Cell Metab, 25(1), 43-56, (2) Kimberly et al. (2017). Metabolite profiling identifies anandamide as a biomarker of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. JCI Insight, 2(9).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jinchu Vijay
- McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Elin Grunberg
- Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, Kansas University, MO, USA
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Maltais-Payette I, Allam-Ndoul B, Pérusse L, Vohl MC, Tchernof A. Circulating glutamate level as a potential biomarker for abdominal obesity and metabolic risk. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 2019; 29:1353-1360. [PMID: 31668457 DOI: 10.1016/j.numecd.2019.08.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2019] [Revised: 07/31/2019] [Accepted: 08/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM Circulating level of glutamate, a by-product of the catabolism of branched-chain amino acids, has been positively correlated with visceral adipose tissue accumulation and waist circumference (WC). The aim of the present study was to assess the potential of using glutamate level to identify individuals with abdominal obesity and a high cardiometabolic risk. METHODS AND RESULTS The study sample included 99 men and 99 women. Fasting serum glutamate was measured using the Biocrates p180 kit. Anthropometric and metabolic variables were used to identify individuals with abdominal obesity (WC ≥ 95 cm in both sexes), the hypertriglyceridemic waist (HTW) phenotype and the metabolic syndrome (MetS). Mean (±SD) age was 34.1 ± 10.1 years, mean BMI was 29.0 ± 6.2 kg/m2 and mean WC was 92.7 ± 16.5 cm. Glutamate was strongly correlated with WC (r = 0.66 for men; r = 0.76 for women, both p < 0.0001) and multiple markers of metabolic dysfunction, particularly fasting triglyceride level (r = 0.59 for men; r = 0.57 for women, both p < 0.0001), HDL-cholesterol level (r = -0.45, p < 0.0001 in both sexes) and the HOMA-IR index (r = 0.65 for men; r = 0.60 for women, both p < 0.0001). Logistic regressions showed that glutamate had an excellent accuracy to identify individuals with abdominal obesity (ROC_AUC: 0.90 for both sexes), a good accuracy to identify those with the HTW phenotype (ROC_AUC: 0.82 for men; 0.85 for women) and fair-to-good accuracy for the MetS (ROC_AUC: 0.78 for men; 0.89 for women). CONCLUSION Glutamate level may represent an interesting potential biomarker of abdominal obesity and metabolic risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ina Maltais-Payette
- Quebec Heart and Lung Institute, Laval University, Canada; School of Nutrition, Laval University, Canada
| | - Benedicte Allam-Ndoul
- School of Nutrition, Laval University, Canada; Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods, Laval University, Canada
| | - Louis Pérusse
- Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods, Laval University, Canada; Kinesiology Department, Laval University, Canada
| | - Marie-Claude Vohl
- School of Nutrition, Laval University, Canada; Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods, Laval University, Canada
| | - André Tchernof
- Quebec Heart and Lung Institute, Laval University, Canada; School of Nutrition, Laval University, Canada; Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods, Laval University, Canada.
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