Metabotypes Related to Meat and Vegetable Intake Reflect Microbial, Lipid and Amino Acid Metabolism in Healthy People

Scope: The objective of this study is to develop a new methodology to identify the relationship between dietary patterns and metabolites indicative of food intake and metabolism. Methods and results: Plasma and urine samples from healthy Swiss subjects (n = 89) collected over two time points are analyzed for a panel of host–microbial metabolites using GC– and LC–MS. Dietary intake is evaluated using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Dietary pattern clusters and relationships with metabolites are determined using Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (NNMF) and Sparse Generalized Canonical Correlation Analysis (SGCCA). Use of NNMF allows detection of latent diet clusters in this population, which describes a high intake of meat or vegetables. SGCCA associates these clusters to i) diet-host microbial and lipid associated bile acid metabolism, and ii) essential amino acid metabolism. Conclusion: This novel application of NNMF and SGCCA allows detection of distinct metabotypes for meat and vegetable dietary patterns in a heterogeneous population. As many of the metabolites associated with meat or vegetable intake are the result of host–microbiota interactions, the findings support a role for microbiota mediating the metabolic imprinting of different dietary choices. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim