Non-Targeted Dried Blood Spot-Based Metabolomics Analysis Showed Rice Bran Supplementation Effects Multiple Metabolic Pathways during Infant Weaning and Growth in Mali

Abstract

Rice bran contains essential nutrients, antioxidants, and bioactives with anti-inflammatory and diarrheal protective properties important for infants. This 6-month randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of heat-stabilized rice bran supplementation during Malian infant weaning. Fifty healthy 6-month-old infants were randomized to a rice bran intervention (N = 25) or non-intervention control group (N = 25). Intervention infants received dose-escalating rice bran supplementation for 6 months (1–5 g/day). Monthly infant dried blood spot and anthropometric measurements were collected. Dried blood spot metabolite abundances were compared monthly according to diet for six months. Supplementation resulted in favorable weight-for-age and weight-for-length z-score changes. Non-targeted dried blood spot-based metabolomics identified 796 metabolites, of which 33% had significant fold differences between groups (7–12 months). Lipids and amino acids represented 70.6% of the metabolites identified. Rice bran supplementation during infant weaning significantly modulated the metabolites involved in antioxidant defenses and with neuroactive properties including reduced glutathione, glycine, glutamate, cysteinylglycine, tryptophan betaine, and choline. These findings support rice bran as a weaning ingredient to meet infant nutritional requirements and with the potential to reduce oxidative stress and improve cognitive outcomes. This study provides evidence for dried blood spots as a cost-effective tool to detect infant biomarkers of nutritional and metabolic status.

Gut Microbiome-Targeted Nutrition Interventions and Growth among Children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Nine prebiotic studies met the inclusion criteria [ [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] ], and their study characteristics are presented in Table 2 . The interventions were conducted on 1392 children.…”

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Dietary Rice Bran Intake on Microbiota Diversity, Enteric Dysfunction, and Fecal Secretory IgA in Malian and Nicaraguan Infants

“…Understanding the relation between total fecal sIgA, diversity indexes, and differences in bacterial species is challenging because interaction of the microbiota with the mucosal immune system is complex, involving not only direct interactions but also metabolite cross-feeding ( 50 ). Further evaluation of metabolites between cohorts and associations with OTUs could help to explain the correlation between total fecal sIgA and specific bacteria ( 51 ).…”

Urine and Dried Blood Spots From Children and Pregnant Women Reveal Phytochemicals, Amino Acids, and Carnitine Metabolites as Cowpea Consumption Biomarkers

“…Urine and DBS metabolomics was performed as previously described. [20,22] Both specimens used a Waters AC-QUITY ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) and a Thermo Scientific Q-Exactive high resolution/accurate mass spectrometer interfaced with a heated electrospray ionization (HESI-II) source and Orbitrap mass analyzer. The informatics system consisted of four major components, the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), the data extraction and peak-identification software, data processing tools for quality control (QC) and compound identification, and a collection of information interpretation and visualization tools for use by data analysts.…”

“…[20] Untargeted metabolomics is a sensitive tool for characterizing numerous metabolites within a biological matrix that can be utilized to identify a targeted selection of metabolites for further analysis. [21][22][23] Urine and dried blood spots (DBS) are ideal biological fluids to examine dietary exposures due to ease in collection and sensitivity to dietary metabolite abundance changes over time. [24] We recently reported on the cooked cowpea flour metabolome used in this child and pregnant women feeding study; the cowpea flour analysis demonstrated distinct metabolite profiles for cowpea flour compared to other legumes.…”