Associations between outdoor temperature and bright sunlight with metabolites in two population-based European cohorts
Boukje C. Eveleens Maarse Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases Articles in Press E-mail Alert - July 29, 2020
Highlights
• Higher outdoor temperature is associated with a pro-atherogenic metabolic profile.
• Increased bright sunlight is associated with a beneficial metabolomic profile.
• These findings may lead to preventive strategies for cardiometabolic diseases.
Background and aims
Outdoor temperature and bright sunlight may directly and/or indirectly modulate systemic metabolism. We assessed the associations between outdoor temperature and bright sunlight duration with metabolomics.
Methods and Results
Cross-sectional analyses were undertaken in non-diabetic individuals from the Oxford BioBank (OBB; N=6,368; mean age 47.0 years, males 44%) and the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity (NEO; N=5,916; mean age 55.6 years, males 43%) study. Data on mean outdoor bright sunlight and temperature were collected from local weather stations in the week prior to blood sampling. Fasting serum levels of 148 metabolites, including 14 lipoprotein subclasses, were measured using NMR spectroscopy. Linear regression analyses were performed to assess the associations between mean outdoor temperature and bright sunlight duration with metabolomics adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, season and either outdoor temperature or bright sunlight. A higher mean outdoor temperature was associated with increased serum concentrations of lipoprotein (sub)particles (β (SE) = 0.064 (0.018) SD per 5 degrees Celsius, p=5.03e -4) and certain amino acids such as phenylalanine (0.066 (0.016) SD, p=6.44e -05) and leucine (0.111 (0.018) SD, p=1.25e -09). In contrast, longer duration of bright sunlight was specifically associated with lower concentrations of very low-density lipoprotein (sub)particles (e.g., VLDL cholesterol (-0.024 (0.005) SD per 1-hour bright sunlight, p=8.06e -6)). The direction of effects was generally consistent between the OBB and NEO, although effect sizes were generally larger in the OBB.
Conclusions
Increased bright sunlight duration is associated with an improved metabolic profile whilst higher outdoor temperature may adversely impact cardiometabolic health.