The Mediterranean diet, plasma metabolome, and cardiovascular disease risk.

Abstract Aims To investigate whether metabolic signature composed of multiple plasma metabolites can be used to characterize adherence and metabolic response to the Mediterranean diet and whether such a metabolic signature is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Methods and results Our primary study cohort included 1859 participants from the Spanish PREDIMED trial, and validation cohorts included 6868 participants from the US Nurses’ Health Studies I and II, and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (NHS/HPFS). Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was assessed using a validated Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS), and plasma metabolome was profiled by liquid chromatogr…