Serum Metabolomics Track Dietary Changes

Researchers have previously identified patterns in blood markers that reflect either a healthy or unhealthy diet, based on a controlled study where participants' diets were carefully managed. However, whether these patterns hold up in different groups of people has not yet been tested. In response to this, a joint study conducted by researchers at the Hunter Medical Research Institute (New Lambton, New South Wales, Australia), the Menzies Institute for Medical Research (Hobart, Tasmania, Australia) and University College Dublin (Ireland)tracked how blood markers linked to diet changed in a group of rural adults who were considered at higher risk for heart disease and were receiving nutritional counseling, then compared those changes to the previously established healthy/unhealthy diet blood marker patterns, with plasma metabolites analyzed using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). A paper based on their work was published in Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases.¹

Why Does Diet and Personalized Nutrition Support Matter for Heart Health?

Cardiovascular diseases,including conditions affecting the heart, arteries, and those present from birth, remain the leading cause of death worldwide, responsible for around one in three deaths in 2021.^2,3 The risk of heart disease is partly shaped by lifestyle choices, particularly diet. Eating too few fruits, vegetables, and wholegrains, while consuming too many processed, calorie-dense foods, increases that risk. Research has shown that people who eat higher quality diets have a meaningfully lower risk of dying from heart disease. On the positive side, personalized nutrition support (such as one-on-one counseling from a dietitian) has been shown to lead to real improvements in key heart health indicators, including lower blood pressure, reduced body weight, and healthier fat levels in the blood.^4,5

What Did the Study Find, and How Reliable Are the Results?

A group of 11 participants received personalized nutrition counseling from a dietitian over six months, with blood samples analyzed at the start as well as after three- and six-month periods. The results showed that five blood markers changed meaningfully over the course of the program, with two of them consistently dropping at both the three- and six-month marks. Overall diet quality improved significantly. Importantly, by the end of the program, participants' blood marker patterns had shifted to more closely resemble those associated with a healthy diet.¹

The authors of the paper report that their findings “demonstrated that the metabolomic signature identified in the controlled DQFS feeding study can be used to map changes in diet quality in response to an MNT intervention in people at an elevated CVD risk. Future studies in larger, independent cohorts are warranted.”¹

The researchers state that one of the main strengths of their study was that the blood samples from both groups were analyzed together, which reduces the chance that any differences were simply due to lab variability. However, there were several limitations worth noting. The group receiving nutrition counseling was small, which means the study may have missed some real effects. The group was also made up of almost entirely men, so the findings may not apply as well to women at risk of heart disease. Additionally, the blood marker changes seen cannot be attributed solely to diet; other factors like medications, weight loss, and broader lifestyle changes could also have played a role, and these are difficult to separate from one another. Finally, the healthy and unhealthy diet patterns used for comparison were based on a tightly controlled study with specific foods, meaning they may not fully reflect the wide variety of eating habits seen in the real world.¹

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References

1. Clarke, E. D.; Stanford, J.; Gómez-Martín, M. et al. Plasma Metabolomic Signatures of Adults at Elevated-Cardiovascular Disease Risk Show Improvements in Diet Quality in Response to Medical Nutrition Therapy. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2026, 104810. DOI: 10.1016/j.numecd.2026.104810
2. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). World Health Organization website 2021. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds)
3. World Heart Report 2023 Confronting the World's Number One Killer. World Heart Federation website 2023. https://world-heart-federation.org/wp-content/uploads/World-Heart-Report-2023.pdf
4. Taylor, R. M.; Haslam, R. L.; Herbert, J. et al. Diet Quality and Cardiovascular Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies. Nutr Diet. 2024, 81 (1), 35-50. DOI: 10.1111/1747-0080.12860
5. Cross, V.; Stanford, J.; Gómez-Martín, M. et al. Do Personalized Nutrition Interventions Improve Dietary Intake and Risk Factors in Adults with Elevated Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Nutr Rev. 2025, 83 (7), e1709-e1721. DOI: 10.1093/nutrit/nuae149