ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Metabolism
Metabolic characteristics related to potentially toxic elements in the blood of young adults in China: A cross-sectional study
Provisionally accepted
Lei Zhang1Wen Xu1Mingyu Feng1Jia Zhang1Zhenzhong Wang1Wenfeng Kang1Yi Liu1Beibei Yang1
Yuming Guo2
Peng Lu1*- 1Binzhou Medical University, Binzhou, China
- 2Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
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Epidemiological evidence links essential and potentially toxic metals exposure to impaired lung function, but underlying biological mechanisms remain unclear. Building on previous findings demonstrating impaired lung function from copper (Cu), cerium (Ce), and iron (Fe) exposure, this study explored associated blood metabolomic signatures in young adults. 1,742 first-year university students enrolled in 2019 were included in this study in Shandong Province, China. Whole blood metal concentrations (ICP-MS) and metabolomic profiles (LC-MS) were assessed. Metals were categorized by quartiles; associations with metabolites were analyzed using ANOVA and multiple linear regression. Metabolomic analysis identified Cu exposure significantly associated with 45 metabolites across 14 pathways. Ce exposure linked to 25 metabolites enriched in 7 pathways. Fe exposure associated with 26 metabolites in 13 pathways. All three metals both dysregulated nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism and vitamin B6 metabolism. Additionally, Cu and Ce disrupted unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis. These findings reveal that specific metabolic pathways—particularly those involving nicotinamide and vitamin B6—may serve as potential nutritional intervention targets for mitigating metal-induced lung function impairment in young adults.
Keywords: Metabolomics, Toxic metals, Nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, vitamin B6 metabolism, young adults
Received: 03 Aug 2025; Accepted: 04 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Xu, Feng, Zhang, Wang, Kang, Liu, Yang, Guo and Lu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Peng Lu, peng.lu@monash.edu
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