Press release
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Polymetabolite scores could reduce dependence on self -depressed food data in large population studies.
For the first time, researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have identified models of metabolites in the blood and urine which can be used as an objective measure of an individual’s energy consumption from ultra-treated food. Metabolites are left after the body has converted food into energy, a process known as metabolism. Scientists have used this data to develop a score based on multiple metabolites, known as polymetabolite score, which has the potential to reduce dependence on or complete the use of self -declared food data in major population studies. The results appeared on May 20, 2025 Plos medication.
“The limits of the self -depressed diet are well known. Metabolomics offers an exciting opportunity to not only improve our methods to objectively measure complex exhibitions such as food and supply of ultra-tangled food, but also to understand the mechanisms by which the diet could have an impact on health of NIH health.
Regimes rich in ultra-transformed foods, which are defined as ready to eat or loans to use, industrially manufactured products, generally rich in calories and low in essential nutrients, have been linked to an increased risk of obesity and related chronic diseases, including certain types of cancer. Large population studies quantify the effects on the health of ultra -approved foods are generally based on the self -depressed data of food questionnaires. These measures may be subject to differences in reports and not explain changes in food supply over time. Following this study, researchers now have an objective measure of the ultra-suitable food intake to help advance the study of associations between ultra-transformed foods and health results.
In the new study, researchers used data from several existing studies to identify metabolites and models of metabolites in the blood and urine which were linked to ultra-suitable food consumption. Observation data comes from 718 elderly people who provided bioscepiiments and food information over a 12 -month study period. Experimental data came from a small clinical trial of 20 adults from the NIH Clinical Center which consumed a diet rich in ultra -secured food (80% of energy) and a diet composed of ultra -foremost foods (0% energy) for two weeks each in a random order.
Researchers have found hundreds of metabolites in correlation with the energy percentage of ultra-transformed food in the diet. Using automatic learning, researchers have identified the metabolic models associated with high consumption of ultra-transformed food and polymetabolite scores calculated separately for blood and urine. Additional tests have revealed that these scores could differentiate with precision within the tests of testing between the highly treated regime phase and the unprocessed diet phase.
Study participants were older adults whose food can vary from other populations, therefore, the results will have to be reproduced in other age groups. Researchers recommended that these polymetabolite scores be assessed and improved in populations with different diets and a wide range of ultra-tail consumers. In addition, future research should examine the association of these polymetabolite scores and the risk of diseases such as type 2 cancer and diabetes.
About the National Cancer Institute (NCI): NCI directs the National Cancer Program and NIH efforts to considerably reduce the prevalence of cancer and improve the lives of cancer people. NCI supports a wide range of cancer research and extramural training through grants and contracts. The NCI intramural research program conducts basic, translational, clinical and epidemiological, transdisciplinary research, on the causes of cancer, avenues for prevention, risk prediction, early detection and treatment, including research at the NIH clinical center – the largest global research hospital. Find out more about intramural research carried out in the NCI division of epidemiology and genetics of NCI cancer. For more information on cancer, please visit the NCI Cancer.gov website or call the NCI cancer information service, at 1-800-4-Cancer (1-800-422-6237).
On the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
The NIH, the country’s medical research agency, includes 27 institutes and centers and is a component of the American department of health and social services. NIH is the main federal agency that leads and supports basic, clinical and translational medical research, and studies the causes, treatments and remedies for common and rare diseases. For more information on the NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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References
Abar L, Steele Em, Lee Sk, Kahle L, Moore SC, Watts E, et al. (2025) Identification and validation of polymetabolite scores for diets rich in ultra-adjustment food: an observational study and a post-hoc controlled crossing supply test. Plos Med 22 (5): https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004560
