Discovery of nutritional biomarkers: future directions based on omics technologies

Abstract

Understanding the interactions between food and human biology is of utmost importance to facilitate the development of more efficient nutritional interventions that might improve our wellness status and future health outcomes by reducing risk factors for non-transmittable chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, obesity and metabolic syndrome. Dissection of the molecular mechanisms that mediate the physiological effects of diets and bioactive compounds is one of the main goals of current nutritional investigation and the food industry as might lead to the discovery of novel biomarkers. It is widely recognized that the availability of robust nutritional biomarkers represents a bottleneck that delays the innovation process of the food industry. In this regard, omics sciences have opened up new avenues of research and opportunities in nutrition. Advances in mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, next generation sequencing and microarray technologies allow massive genome, gene expression, proteomic and metabolomic profiling, obtaining a global and in-depth analysis of physiological/pathological scenarios. For this reason, omics platforms are most suitable for the discovery and characterization of novel nutritional markers that will define the nutritional status of both individuals and populations in the near future, and to identify the nutritional bioactive compounds responsible for the health outcomes.

Are there differences in nutrient intake of Brazilian adults according to weight status?

“…Although our objective was evaluate diet quality, based on nutrient intake e nutrient inadequate intake, according to weight status, it is important to mention that nutrient intake may not reflect the blood concentrations of nutrients. Nutrient status is determined not only by its total intake, but also by a number of factors that include its food sources (chemical form), nutrients and components interactions, nutrient metabolism, and so on 38 .…”

Biomarkers of Nutrition and Health: New Tools for New Approaches

“…Systems approaches allow obtaining a comprehensive and in-depth view of the physiology/pathology of an individual and open the possibility to explore the complex relationships between nutrition and health, particularly to investigate the role of dietary components in health maintenance or in disease development [141]. For this reason, omics platforms appear to be most suitable for the discovery and characterisation of new nutritional markers to define the nutritional status of individuals and to identify nutritional bioactive compounds responsible for beneficial health effects [142]. The identification of new biomarkers or patterns of biomarkers that link nutrition with health represents one of the major challenges of omics sciences in the nutrition field.…”

Metabolômica: Definições, Estado-Da-Arte E Aplicações Representativas

“…Nesse contexto, surgem novas áreas do conhecimento que foram nomeadas de nutrigenética, nutrigenômica, nutriproteômica e nutrimetabolômica, respectivamente. 156 A aplicação dessas novas áreas pode ser comprovada pela extensa compilação de trabalhos encontrados na literatura. [157][158][159][160][161][162] A nutrimetabolômica, que se refere à aplicação da metabolômica na área de nutrição, permite a caracterização de fenótipos individuais, por meio da medida de centenas ou milhares de metabólitos, após a exposição a uma dieta específica, por exemplo.…”