Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Epidemiology, GROW School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University, 6229 HA Maastricht, The Netherlands. eline.vanroekel@maastrichtuniversity.nl
  • 2 Nutritional Methodology and Biostatistics Group, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), 69372 Lyon, France. laura.trijsburg@wur.nl
  • 3 Nutritional Methodology and Biostatistics Group, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), 69372 Lyon, France. assin@students.iarc.fr
  • 4 Epidaure, Prevention Department of the Institut régional du Cancer de Montpellier (ICM), 34298 Montpellier, France. Marion.Carayol@icm.unicancer.fr
  • 5 Biomarkers Group, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), 69372 Lyon, France. achaintred@iarc.fr
  • 6 Nutritional Epidemiology Group, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), 69372 Lyon, France. MurphyN@iarc.fr
  • 7 Biomarkers Group, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), 69372 Lyon, France. rinaldis@iarc.fr
  • 8 Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK. julie.schmidt@ndph.ox.ac.uk
  • 9 Nutritional Epidemiology Group, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), 69372 Lyon, France. StepienM@iarc.fr
  • 10 Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. r.kaaks@dkfz-heidelberg.de
  • 11 Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. t.kuehn@Dkfz-Heidelberg.de
  • 12 Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, 14558 Nuthetal, Germany. boeing@dife.de
  • 13 Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, 14558 Nuthetal, Germany. khalid.iqbal@dife.de
  • 14 Cancer Risk Factors and Life-Style Epidemiology Unit, Cancer Research and Prevention Institute-ISPO, 50141 Florence, Italy. d.palli@ispo.toscana.it
  • 15 Epidemiology and Prevention Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, 20133 Milan, Italy. Vittorio.Krogh@istitutotumori.mi.it
  • 16 Cancer Registry and Histopathology Department, Civic-M.P.Arezzo Hospital, ASP, 97100 Ragusa, Italy. rtumino@tin.it
  • 17 Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy. fulvio.ricceri@unito.it
  • 18 Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Chirurgia, Federico II University, 80138 Naples, Italy. spanico@unina.it
  • 19 Department of Epidemiology, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3508 GA Utrecht, The Netherlands. P.H.M.Peeters@umcutrecht.nl
  • 20 Former Senior Scientist, Dept. for Determinants of Chronic Diseases (DCD), National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), 3721 MA Bilthoven, The Netherlands. basbuenodemesquita@gmail.com
  • 21 Navarra Public Health Institute, 31003 Pamplona, Spain. me.ardanaz.aicua@cfnavarra.es
  • 22 Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, Cancer Epidemiology Research Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology-IDIBELL, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08908 Barcelona, Spain. llujan@iconcologia.net
  • 23 Public Health Directorate, 33005 Oviedo, Spain. epic_asturias@asturias.org
  • 24 CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), 28029 Madrid, Spain. jmhuerta.carm@gmail.com
  • 25 CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), 28029 Madrid, Spain. elena.molina.easp@juntadeandalucia.es
  • 26 Basque Regional Health Department, Public Health Direction and Biodonostia Research Institute CIBERESP, 20014 Donostia, Spain. m-dorronsoro@euskadi.eus
  • 27 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK. ktsilidis@gmail.com
  • 28 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK. e.riboli@imperial.ac.uk
  • 29 Danish Cancer Society Research Center, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. agnrha@cancer.dk
  • 30 Danish Cancer Society Research Center, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. annet@CANCER.DK
  • 31 Department of Public Health, Section for Epidemiology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark. ko@ph.au.dk
  • 32 Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, The Arctic University of Norway, 9019 Tromsø, Norway. Elisabete.Weiderpass.Vainio@ki.se
  • 33 CESP "Health across Generations", INSERM, Univ Paris-Sud, UVSQ, Univ Paris-Saclay, 94800 Villejuif, France. marie-christine.boutron@gustaveroussy.fr
  • 34 CESP "Health across Generations", INSERM, Univ Paris-Sud, UVSQ, Univ Paris-Saclay, 94800 Villejuif, France. gianluca.severi@gustaveroussy.fr
  • 35 Hellenic Health Foundation, 115 27 Athens, Greece. atrichopoulou@hhf-greece.gr
  • 36 Hellenic Health Foundation, 115 27 Athens, Greece. a.karakatsani@hhf-greece.gr
  • 37 Hellenic Health Foundation, 115 27 Athens, Greece. akotanid@gmail.com
  • 38 Lund University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Psychiatry, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden. anders_c.hakansson@med.lu.se
  • 39 Department of Translational Medicine, Clinical Chemistry, Lund University, Skåne University Hospital, 205 02 Malmö, Sweden. johan.malm@med.lu.se
  • 40 Department of Epidemiology, GROW School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University, 6229 HA Maastricht, The Netherlands. mp.weijenberg@maastrichtuniversity.nl
  • 41 Nutritional Epidemiology Group, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), 69372 Lyon, France. GunterM@iarc.fr
  • 42 Nutritional Epidemiology Group, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), 69372 Lyon, France. jenabm@iarc.fr
  • 43 Genetic Epidemiology Group, Section of Genetics, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), 69372 Lyon, France. johanssonm@iarc.fr
  • 44 Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK. ruth.travis@ndph.ox.ac.uk
  • 45 Biomarkers Group, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), 69372 Lyon, France. ScalbertA@iarc.fr
  • 46 Nutritional Methodology and Biostatistics Group, Nutrition and Metabolism Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), 69372 Lyon, France. FerrariP@iarc.fr
Nutrients, 2018 May 22;10(5).
PMID: 29789452 DOI: 10.3390/nu10050654

Abstract

Identifying the metabolites associated with alcohol consumption may provide insights into the metabolic pathways through which alcohol may affect human health. We studied associations of alcohol consumption with circulating concentrations of 123 metabolites among 2974 healthy participants from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Alcohol consumption at recruitment was self-reported through dietary questionnaires. Metabolite concentrations were measured by tandem mass spectrometry (BIOCRATES AbsoluteIDQTM p180 kit). Data were randomly divided into discovery (2/3) and replication (1/3) sets. Multivariable linear regression models were used to evaluate confounder-adjusted associations of alcohol consumption with metabolite concentrations. Metabolites significantly related to alcohol intake in the discovery set (FDR q-value < 0.05) were further tested in the replication set (Bonferroni-corrected p-value < 0.05). Of the 72 metabolites significantly related to alcohol intake in the discovery set, 34 were also significant in the replication analysis, including three acylcarnitines, the amino acid citrulline, four lysophosphatidylcholines, 13 diacylphosphatidylcholines, seven acyl-alkylphosphatidylcholines, and six sphingomyelins. Our results confirmed earlier findings that alcohol consumption was associated with several lipid metabolites, and possibly also with specific acylcarnitines and amino acids. This provides further leads for future research studies aiming at elucidating the mechanisms underlying the effects of alcohol in relation to morbid conditions.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.