Identification of New Dietary Biomarkers Using a Cross-over Feeding Study Among 25 Individuals in University College Dublin

For biomarker discovery a cross-over study where participants will visit the Human Intervention Centre (in UCD) on 3 occasions (3 study days) with a minimum one week between each visit. The order of consumption of the test foods will be randomized. The test foods are mixed vegetables (spinach and lettuce), green beans and mixed berried (strawberries and blueberries). For each study day, the participants will arrive fasting and provide a urine sample (0h sample). For 24h prior to the study day participants will avoid the test foods. Participants will consume the food and urine samples will be taken at 2, 4, 6 and 24 h post consumption . Standard portions of the test food will be eaten on each occasion. Between the visits, participants will consume their habitual diet.

The samples will be analysed using the metabolomics platforms LC-MS and NMR spectroscopy. Both NMR and LC-MS data generated will undergo statistical analysis such as principal component analysis (PCA) and supervised analysis such as partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Validation of such models will be performed using permutation testing.