Abstract 16886: Metabolomic Profiling of Alcohol Consumption in 10,000 Young Adults

Introduction: High alcohol consumption is a major cause of morbidity, yet moderate alcohol intake is favorably associated with cardiovascular disease and many risk factors. We aimed to characterize the associations of regular alcohol consumption with a comprehensive systemic metabolic profile. Methods: 86 circulating lipids, fatty acids and metabolites were quantified by high-throughput NMR metabolomics. Cross-sectional associations of alcohol intake with the metabolomic biomarkers were assessed for ≈10,000 individuals from three population-based cohorts from Finland aged 24-45 years. Metabolic changes associated with change in alcohol intake during 6-year follow-up were examined for 1466 individuals. Results: Increased alcohol intake was associated with circulating biomarkers across multiple metabolic pathways, including increased levels of monounsaturated fatty acids and decreased levels of omega-6 fatty acids, lower concentrations of glutamine and citrate as well as higher lipid concentrations in HDL subclasses and smaller LDL particle size (P Conclusions: Alcohol consumption is associated with a complex metabolic signature, including aberrations in multiple biomarkers for elevated cardiometabolic risk. The metabolic signature tracks with long-term changes in alcohol consumption. These results elucidate the double-edged effects of alcohol on cardiovascular risk and may help to explain mediation of cardiovascular risk related to alcohol intake.