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Open Access 01-02-2022 | Original Contribution

Nutritional supplementation alters associations between one-carbon metabolites and cardiometabolic risk profiles in older adults: a secondary analysis of the Vienna Active Ageing Study

Authors: Nicola A. Gillies, Bernhard Franzke, Barbara Wessner, Barbara Schober-Halper, Marlene Hofmann, Stefan Oesen, Anela Tosevska, Eva-Maria Strasser, Nicole C. Roy, Amber M. Milan, David Cameron-Smith, Karl-Heinz Wagner

Published in: European Journal of Nutrition | Issue 1/2022

Abstract

Purpose

Cardiovascular diseases and cognitive decline, predominant in ageing populations, share common features of dysregulated one-carbon (1C) and cardiometabolic homeostasis. However, few studies have addressed the impact of multifaceted lifestyle interventions in older adults that combine both nutritional supplementation and resistance training on the co-regulation of 1C metabolites and cardiometabolic markers.

Methods

95 institutionalised older adults (83 ± 6 years, 88.4% female) were randomised to receive resistance training with or without nutritional supplementation (Fortifit), or cognitive training (control for socialisation) for 6 months. Fasting plasma 1C metabolite concentrations, analysed by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, and cardiometabolic parameters were measured at baseline and the 3- and 6-month follow-ups.

Results

Regardless of the intervention group, choline was elevated after 3 months, while cysteine and methionine remained elevated after 6 months (mixed model time effects, p < 0.05). Elevated dimethylglycine and lower betaine concentrations were correlated with an unfavourable cardiometabolic profile at baseline (spearman correlations, p < 0.05). However, increasing choline and dimethylglycine concentrations were associated with improvements in lipid metabolism in those receiving supplementation (regression model interaction, p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Choline metabolites, including choline, betaine and dimethylglycine, were central to the co-regulation of 1C metabolism and cardiometabolic health in older adults. Metabolites that indicate upregulated betaine-dependent homocysteine remethylation were elevated in those with the greatest cardiometabolic risk at baseline, but associated with improvements in lipid parameters following resistance training with nutritional supplementation. The relevance of how 1C metabolite status might be optimised to protect against cardiometabolic dysregulation requires further attention.

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Title: Nutritional supplementation alters associations between one-carbon metabolites and cardiometabolic risk profiles in older adults: a secondary analysis of the Vienna Active Ageing Study
Authors: Nicola A. Gillies
Bernhard Franzke
Barbara Wessner
Barbara Schober-Halper
Marlene Hofmann
Stefan Oesen
Anela Tosevska
Eva-Maria Strasser
Nicole C. Roy
Amber M. Milan
David Cameron-Smith
Karl-Heinz Wagner
Publication date: 01-02-2022
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: European Journal of Nutrition / Issue 1/2022
Print ISSN: 1436-6207
Electronic ISSN: 1436-6215
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-021-02607-y

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