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Replacing pork and chicken with herring ( Clupea harengus ) increases plasma glucosamine and decreases carbon flux through the citric acid cycle in overweight men and women
Author(s) -
Ross Alastair,
Vincent Andrew,
Savolainen Otto,
Lindqvist Helen,
Lind Mads V,
Sandberg AnnSofie
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.125.2
Subject(s) - herring , food science , citric acid , chemistry , glutamine , red meat , clupea , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , biochemistry , amino acid , fishery
Many national nutrition recommendations recommend reducing meat intake and increasing fish intake, due to the association between higher fish intake and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Although many studies have looked at the health benefits of the n‐3 fatty acids abundant in fatty fish, few intervention studies have investigated the short‐term effects of replacing meat with fish. As part of a wider series of studies revisiting the comparative effects of meat and herring on human metabolism, we used GC‐MS/MS metabolomics to investigate the effects of replacing lean chicken and pork with herring in overweight and obese adults. In a researcher blinded randomised crossover study, eleven subjects ate five frozen meals/wk over 4 wk, with the frozen meals containing 150 g each of either pork or chicken fillets, or herring fillets. The diets were similar in macronutrient content except for a higher amount of fat in the herring meals. Major metabolic changes observed in plasma were that glucosamine, glutamine and ornithine concentrations increased after the herring diet (all p<0.05 after four wk), while chicken and pork led to increases of agmatine, citric acid, isocitric acid and oxalic acid (all p<0.05 after four wk). Glucosamine is commonly associated with better joint health, though we are unaware of any association between increasing plasma concentrations of glucosamine and lower incidence of joint‐related diseases or complaints. Chicken and pork increased concentrations of citric and isocitric acid, while herring increased glutamine, suggesting that these two different diets had an effect on central carbon metabolism, with a differential regulatory effect at α‐ketoglutaric acid. A further effect was evident on arginine metabolism, possibly related to flux through the urea cycle, based on higher concentrations of arginine/ornithine after the herring diet, while chicken and pork increased agmatine, an arginine metabolite via arginine decarboxylase. An additional finding was that methyl histidine, previously suggested to be biomarker of meat intake in urine, was found to be higher after two weeks of the chicken and pork diet (p=0.003), though this was no longer significant after four wk (p=0.05). These findings add to our understanding of the wider effects of both fish and meat on human metabolism beyond effects on lipids and underline the importance of protein choice on health. Support or Funding Information This work was supported by a Chalmers Life Sciences Area of Advance Grant to A Ross and by grants from Region Västra Götaland, the Swedish National Board of Fisheries (Dr 223‐2451‐01), The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS) (Grant No 2001‐1246).