%0 Journal Article
%T Plasma proteins associated with plant-based diets: Results from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study and Framingham Heart Study (FHS).
%A Kim H
%A Chen J
%A Prescott B
%A Walker ME
%A Grams ME
%A Yu B
%A Vasan RS
%A Floyd JS
%A Sotoodehnia N
%A Smith NL
%A Arking DE
%A Coresh J
%A Rebholz CM
%J Clin Nutr
%V 43
%N 8
%D 2024 Aug 14
%M 39018652
%F 7.643
%R 10.1016/j.clnu.2024.07.005
%X <B>OBJECTIVE: </B>Plant-based diets are associated with a lower risk of chronic diseases. Large-scale proteomics can identify objective biomarkers of plant-based diets, and improve our understanding of the pathways that link plant-based diets to health outcomes. This study investigated the plasma proteome of four different plant-based diets [overall plant-based diet (PDI), provegetarian diet, healthful plant-based diet (hPDI), and unhealthful plant-based diet (uPDI)] in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study and replicated the findings in the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) Offspring cohort.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>ARIC Study participants at visit 3 (1993-1995) with completed food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) data and proteomics data were divided into internal discovery (n = 7690) and replication (n = 2543) data sets. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine associations between plant-based diet indices (PDIs) and 4955 individual proteins in the discovery sample. Then, proteins that were internally replicated in the ARIC Study were tested for external replication in FHS (n = 1358). Pathway overrepresentation analysis was conducted for diet-related proteins. C-statistics were used to predict if the proteins improved prediction of plant-based diet indices beyond participant characteristics.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>In ARIC discovery, a total of 837 diet-protein associations (PDI = 233; provegetarian = 182; hPDI = 406; uPDI = 16) were observed at false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05. Of these, 453 diet-protein associations (PDI = 132; provegetarian = 104; hPDI = 208; uPDI = 9) were internally replicated. In FHS, 167/453 diet-protein associations were available for external replication, of which 8 proteins (PDI = 1; provegetarian = 0; hPDI = 8; uPDI = 0) replicated. Complement and coagulation cascades, cell adhesion molecules, and retinol metabolism were over-represented. C-C motif chemokine 25 for PDI and 8 proteins for hPDI modestly but significantly improved the prediction of these indices individually and collectively (P value for difference in C-statistics<0.05 for all tests).<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>Using large-scale proteomics, we identified potential candidate biomarkers of plant-based diets, and pathways that may partially explain the associations between plant-based diets and chronic conditions.