Physical activity and lipidomics in a population at high risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus

ABSTRACT

The aim was to investigate how measurements of the lipidome differ according to the level and intensity of physical activity in a population at high risk of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). A targeted metabolomics platform provided quantitative molecular data on lipid species. Linear regression examined the associations between plasma lipid concentrations, particle size and time spent in objectively measured physical activity intensity domains, in increments of 500 counts per minute (cpm) (up to >4500 cpm (~>5.6METs)). Results are presented as % difference in the concentration (lower/higher) or particle size (smaller/larger) per 10 min of activity within each intensity. Five hundred and nine participants were included. Time spent in the lowest physical activity intensity domain (<500 cpm) was unfavourably associated with VLDL (2%), HDL (−2%) and Apolipoprotein A-1 particle concentrations (−2%) and HDL diameter (−2%). Conversely, time spent in intensities ≥1000 cpm were favourably associated with HDL subclass concentrations; with stronger associations seen at moderate intensities (2000-3999 cpm (~4.5METs)). For Apolipoprotein-B concentration and VLDL particle concentration and size, a negative association was consistently observed at the highest physical activity intensity only. If these associations are causal, HDL subclasses appear sensitive to light-intensities whereas only the high category of physical activity intensity was consistently associated with VLDL subclasses.

KEYWORDS:

• Metabolomics
• lipidomics
• physical activity
• high risk
• accelerometer

Acknowledgments

The Walking Away trial was funded by The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland (NIHR CLAHRC – LNR) and East Midlands (NIHR CLAHRC EM). The research was further supported by and the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, which is a partnership between University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Loughborough University and the University of Leicester. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. Clinical Trials Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT: NCT00941954. The authors would also like to the participants for taking the time to take part. No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute for Health Research [Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) East Midlands];National Institute for Health Research [Leicester BRC].