Research project
36 | monthsBRIDGE

Biomarkers of nutrient/non-nutrient intake and role in the modulation of gut microbiota and intestinal permeability

Related toSpoke 05
Principal investigators
Iolanda Cioffi,Cristian Del Bo'
Other partecipantsPatrizia Riso, Daniela Martini, Mirko Marino, Marco Rendine, Alessandro Meneghini

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Project partners

Università degli studi di Milano

Coordinator

Work packages involved

WP 5.4

Identification and application of biomarkers of food intake

WP leader

Università degli studi di Bologna

Task involved

Task 5.4.1.

Definition of the protocols for the acquisition of data and metadata relating to biomarkers of eating habits (identification of the multi-omic protocols of choice for the measurement of food biomarkers, classification of biomarkers according to specific links with diet-related risk factors, definition of criteria for the use of biomarkers for applications in interventions of diet improvement).

Task 5.4.2.

Investigations on selected cohorts for the validation of biomarkers in a real-life and life-long environment (biomarkers of adherence to dietary recommendations for children, biomarkers of adherence to dietary recommendations for the elderly, biomarkers of adherence to diet recommendations for pregnant women).

Task 5.4.3.

Organisation of a multicentre infrastructure for the collection of samples and data dedicated to the identification and validation of food biomarkers (organisation of a multicentre infrastructure for collection of biological samples and identification standards, organisation of a multicentre and multisectoral infrastructure for data analysis, organisation of a clinical multicentre infrastructure for population recruitment and relationships with ethics committees).

Project deliverables

D5.4.1.1.

Protocols and schemes for the measurement of biomarkers based on multi-omics platforms (M12)

D5.4.1.2.

Classifications of dietary patterns based on biomarkers discovery, and associations with possible diet-related health disorders (M24)

D5.4.1.3.

Disorder-specific dietary intervention criteria based on predictive tools based on biomarkers patterns (M36)

D5.4.2.1.

Fact sheets reporting the prevalence of diet-related disorders based on biomarkers among different population groups (M36)

D5.4.3.1.

Agreements among different national recruitment centres to be involved in a dedicated infrastructure for biobank, data storage and recruitment of healthy subjects for screening of population (M12)

D5.4.3.2.

Guidelines to prepare dossiers for ethical committees’ applications (M12)

Interaction with other spokes

Spoke 04

Food quality and nutrition

Spoke 06

Tackling malnutrition

State of the art

Most of the data related to food intake derive from food frequency questionnaires and/or recorded food diaries; for this reason, they can be affected by memory of the subjects as well as by their knowledge about the consumed foods. Thus, there is a need to overcome the limitations related to self-reported data and to identify more reliable markers of food intake to use along with observational and interventional studies, to better characterize associations between the consumption of specific foods or nutrient/non-nutrient and health outcomes. Unfortunately, only a limited number of compounds have been reported as markers for the intake of specific products so far and none of them have been sufficiently validated when associated with specific dietary-related dysfunction (e.g., intestinal permeability and gut dysbiosis). Further studies are, therefore, necessary to validate these compounds and to discover new candidate markers of food intake and diet-related disorders.

Operation plan

The research will involve different activities as reported below.

  • Formulation and sharing of schemes/protocols for the collection, storage and analytical determination of biomarkers of nutrient/non-nutrient intake (including the nutritional status)  in different biological samples (e.g., saliva, blood, urine, feces) collected within the ONFOODS cohorts (e.g., adults and older subjects with different dietary patterns and functional/metabolic conditions (see WP 5.1) also following the exploitation of specific dietary/foods intervention (in collaboration with Spoke 4).
     
  • Determination of biomarkers of nutrient and non-nutrient intake (including the compliance) in the biological samples collected within the dietary/food intervention studies performed on the ONFOODS cohorts (also in collaboration with Spoke 4).
     
  • Application of an analytical platform for the discovery and potential validation of biomarkers of food intake and markers applied to diet-related disorders (e.g., intestinal permeability, gut dysbiosis) among the subjects (e.g., adults and older subjects) enrolled within the ONFOODS cohorts in collaboration with Spoke 4.
     
  • Contribution to the implementation of a multicentre infrastructure providing data and biological samples collected within the ONFOOD cohorts (in collaboration with spoke 4 and 6).

Expected results

  • Availability and application of shared and standardized protocols for the collection, storage and analytical determination of biomarkers (e.g., consolidated and candidate markers) of nutrient/non-nutrient intake and adherence to specific dietary patterns, in the different biological samples collected within the studies performed on the ONFOODS cohorts (collaboration with Spoke 4).
     
  • Identification, also through the proteomic fingerprinting, of a set of potential novel biomarkers associated to nutrient/non-nutrient food intake and diet-related disorders (e.g., intestinal permeability and gut dysbiosis) within the biological samples collected in the studies performed on the ONFOODS cohorts (activity in collaboration with WP3 spoke 4).
     
  • Agreement and realization of a multicentre infrastructure dedicated to the collection of data and biological samples for the identification and validation of biomarkers and for the screening of diet-related disorders. Development of guidelines for the preparation of the dossiers for ethical committees’ applications.