Metabolic Phenotype of Obesity in a Saudi Population

Metabolic phenotyping of obese populations can shed light on understanding environmental interactions underpinning obesogenesis. Obesity and its comorbidities are a major health and socioeconomic concern globally and are highly prevalent in the Middle East. We employed nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to characterize the metabolic signature of urine and blood plasma for a cohort of obese (n = 50) compared to non-obese (n = 48) Saudi participants. The urinary metabolic phenotype of obesity was characterized by higher concentrations of N-acetyl glycoprotein fragments, bile acids, lysine, and methylamines and lower concentrations of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, glycine, and gut microbial metabolites. The plasma metabolic phenotype of obesity was dominated by sugars, branched chain amino acids, and lipids, particularly unsaturated lipids, with lower levels of plasma phosphorylcholine and HDL. Serum hepatic enzymes, triglycerides, and cholesterol mapped to specific metabolic phenotypes, potentially indicating the dysregulation of multiple distinct obesity-related pathways. Differences between urine and plasma phenotypes of obesity for this Saudi population and that reported for Caucasian individuals indicate population disparities in pathways relating to ketogenesis (more apparent in the Saudi obese population), dysregulated liver function, and the gut microbiome. Mapping population-specific metabolic perturbations may hold promise in establishing population differences relevant to disease risk and stratification of individuals with respect to discovery of new therapeutic targets.