Metabolic Profiling of Total Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Community-Dwelling Men

Objective Physical activity is known to be preventive against various non-communicable diseases. We investigated the relationship between daily physical activity level and plasma metabo-lites using a targeted metabolomics approach in a population-based study. Methods A total of 1,193 participants (male, aged 35 to 74 years) with fasting blood samples were selected from the baseline survey of a cohort study. Information on daily total physical activity, classified into four levels by quartile of metabolic equivalent scores, and sedentary behavior, defined as hours of sitting per day, was collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Plasma metabolite concentrations were quantified by capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry method. We performed linear regression analysis models with multi-variable adjustment and corrected p-values for multiple testing in the original population (n = 808). The robustness of the results was confirmed by replication analysis in a separate population (n = 385) created by random allocation. Results Higher levels of total physical activity were associated with various metabolite concentrations, including lower concentrations of amino acids and their derivatives, and higher concentrations of pipecolate (FDR p <0.05 in original population). The findings persisted after adjustment for age, body mass index, smoking, alcohol intake, and energy intake.