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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Metabolomics. 2013 Aug 21;10(2):259–269. doi: 10.1007/s11306-013-0574-1

Table 3.

Association of metabolites with BMI in the combined random effects meta-analysis and by specific study.

Metabolite Chemical
class		 Overall
ES1 		95% CI Overall
r		 Meta-
analysis
P value		 Pheterogeneity PLCO
ES		 Navy
ES		 Shanghai
ES		 PLCO
P value		 Navy
P value		 Shanghai
P value
Novel associations
3-(4-hydroxyphenyl) lactate Amino acid 0.86 0.58, 1.15 0.19 3.10*10−09 0.95 0.84 0.83 0.93 0.0001 0.0048 0.0007
Gamma-glutamyltyrosine Peptide 0.85 0.58, 1.12 0.19 6.27*10−10 0.83 0.83 0.74 0.96 6.03*10−05 0.0112 0.0001
Butyrylcarnitine Lipid 0.83 0.56, 1.09 0.20 9.95*10−10 0.91 0.87 0.84 0.74 1.36*10−05 0.0034 0.0024
2-hydroxybutyrate (AHB) Amino acid 0.82 0.55, 1.09 0.19 2.67*10−09 0.54 0.96 0.57 0.78 2.40*10−06 0.0601 0.0016
3-methyl-2-oxobutyrate Amino acid 0.76 0.49, 1.03 0.14 2.87*10−08 0.69 0.88 0.73 0.61 1.75*10−05 0.0115 0.0133
Gamma-glutamylisoleucine Peptide 0.73 0.39, 1.06 0.16 2.03*10−05 0.26 0.66 0.45 1.08 0.0021 0.1205 0.0001
7-HOCA2 Lipid 0.68 0.41, 0.95 0.16 9.66*10−07 0.41 0.88 0.51 0.51 2.26*10−05 0.0760 0.0394
Alpha-hydroxyisovalerate Amino acid 0.62 0.34, 0.90 0.14 1.19*10−05 0.49 0.46 0.65 0.87 0.0246 0.0273 0.0013
3-methyl-2-oxovalerate Amino acid 0.61 0.33, 0.89 0.14 1.68*10−05 0.57 0.51 0.50 0.83 0.0165 0.0847 0.0012
4-methyl-2-oxopentanoate Amino acid 0.57 0.29, 0.85 0.13 6.05*10−05 0.38 0.40 0.51 0.85 0.0659 0.0855 0.0008
3-hydroxyisobutyrate Amino acid 0.56 0.28, 0.83 0.13 6.88*10−05 0.52 0.65 0.27 0.64 0.0019 0.3636 0.0111
1-oleoylglycerophosphocholine Lipid −0.52 −0.79, −0.25 −0.13 0.00015 0.49 −0.59 −0.71 −0.29 0.0039 0.0146 0.2517
1-eicosadienoylglycerophosphocholine Lipid −0.53 −0.80, −0.27 −0.13 9.56*10−05 0.51 −0.65 −0.62 −0.30 0.0014 0.0296 0.2338
2-linoleoylglycerophosphocholine Lipid −0.61 −0.88, −0.33 −0.14 1.36*10−05 0.87 −0.57 −0.74 −0.57 0.0066 0.0103 0.0255
Benzoate Xenobiotics −0.63 −0.93, −0.33 −0.15 3.41*10−05 0.31 −0.86 −0.54 −0.38 3.06*10−05 0.0605 0.1384
N-acetylglycine Amino acid −0.67 −0.94, −0.39 −0.16 1.58*10−06 0.40 −0.87 −0.53 −0.47 2.60*10−05 0.0731 0.0594
Palmitoyl sphingomyelin Lipid −0.70 −0.99, −0.41 −0.16 1.98*10−06 0.34 −0.86 −0.34 −0.74 3.30*10−05 0.2397 0.0043
Histidine Amino acid −0.89 −1.16, −0.63 −0.21 7.61*10−11 0.57 −1.05 −0.79 −0.74 2.85*10−07 0.0064 0.0034
Previously reported associations
Glutamate Amino acid 1.39 1.02, 1.77 0.33 2.51*10−13 0.14 1.70 1.33 1.09 5.09*10−16 2.36*10−06 8.03*10−06
Valine Amino acid 1.01 0.74, 1.28 0.25 4.17*10−13 0.35 0.78 1.10 1.22 0.0002 0.0001 4.16*10−07
Mannose Carbohydrate 0.95 0.56, 1.33 0.23 1.43*10−06 0.14 1.15 1.14 0.55 2.27*10−08 7.80*10−05 0.0266
Isoleucine Amino acid 0.93 0.65, 1.20 0.22 8.15*10−11 0.35 0.73 0.89 1.19 0.0006 0.0019 1.32*10−06
Isovalerylcarnitine Amino acid 0.93 0.60, 1.25 0.22 2.58*10−08 0.24 0.87 0.62 1.22 4.21*10−05 0.0320 5.09*10−07
Tyrosine Amino acid 0.91 0.65, 1.18 0.21 1.97*10−11 0.91 0.86 0.91 0.99 3.48*10−05 0.0014 5.12*10−05
Leucine Amino acid 0.88 0.51, 1.25 0.22 2.64*10−06 0.16 0.65 0.77 1.24 0.0019 0.0076 5.62*10−07
Andro steroid monosulfate 2 Lipid 0.82 0.54, 1.11 0.18 9.91*10−09 0.87 0.91 0.78 0.75 4.48*10−05 0.0103 0.0024
Lathosterol Lipid 0.78 0.51, 1.05 0.18 9.85*10−09 0.65 0.81 0.55 0.89 5.24*10−05 0.0545 0.0003
Kynurenine Amino acid 0.74 0.47, 1.01 0.17 9.42*10−08 0.65 0.82 0.50 0.79 6.51*10−05 0.0907 0.0016
Glycerol Lipid 0.67 0.38, 0.97 0.14 8.34*10−06 0.87 0.76 0.60 0.60 0.0009 0.0593 0.0212
Phenylalanine Amino acid 0.66 0.39, 0.93 0.16 1.30*10−06 0.65 0.57 0.89 0.63 0.0052 0.0019 0.0113
Hexanoylcarnitine Lipid 0.63 0.35, 0.91 0.14 8.53*10−06 0.77 0.67 0.45 0.71 0.0018 0.1216 0.0049
Propionylcarnitine Lipid 0.62 0.34, 0.89 0.14 1.22*10−05 0.77 0.70 0.45 0.62 0.0009 0.1295 0.0145
Carnitine Lipid 0.58 0.31, 0.85 0.13 2.76*10−05 0.82 0.48 0.68 0.63 0.0183 0.0176 0.0107
Lactate Carbohydrate 0.54 0.27, 0.82 0.12 0.00010 0.99 0.53 0.54 0.56 0.0125 0.0604 0.0231
1,5-AG3 Carbohydrate −0.69 −0.96, −0.42 −0.16 4.42*10−07 0.64 −0.79 −0.45 −0.71 9.06*10−05 0.1239 0.0042
Asparagine Amino acid −0.80 −1.10, −0.51 −0.19 9.18*10−08 0.30 −1.04 −0.62 −0.61 3.07*10−07 0.0310 0.0132
Glycine Amino acid −0.91 −1.18, −0.61 −0.21 2.53*10−11 0.89 −0.91 −0.80 −0.98 8.02*10−06 0.0065 6.15*10−05

Results are based on a population of 947 participants (505 from PLCO, 258 from Navy, and 184 from Shanghai). Within each specific study, the association between metabolite levels and BMI was modeled using linear regression, adjusted for age, gender, current smoking status. PLCO models were additionally adjusted for study center and case status and Navy models were also adjusted for case status. The combined model was done using random effects meta-analysis. Only the metabolites that met the Bonferroni corrected threshold of statistical significance in the combined models, i.e. alpha=0.05/317=0.000158, are shown here. Complete results are shown in Table I of the online data supplement.

1

Effect Size (ES) indicates the increase in units of BMI (kg/m2) per one standard deviation increase in metabolite level (log-scale).

2

7–alpha–hydroxy–3–oxo–4–cholestenoate

3

1–5-anhydroglucitol