The New Zealand Synergy Study for diabetes prevention in Asian Chinese

Change in plasma metabolome

Researchers aim to identify blood, urine and faecal markers of type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk that differ between ethnicities; and undertake nutritional interventions that target these biomarkers. Our previous study showed that Asian Chinese had a unique ‘fingerprint’ of diabetes markers with worse blood glucose (blood sugar), lipids (blood fats), and different novel metabolomic markers when they were still younger and outwardly-slim than matched European Caucasian counterparts. The reason for this difference is not known, and so in this current study we will try to find out what causes the difference. One possibility is that the markers are different due to completely different home diets. Therefore, we will test whether differences in the novel ‘metabolomics’ blood markers are completely due to diet and also assess whether diet with additional nutrients may together (synergistically) be beneficial in changing the profile of these novel blood markers. In order to do so, we will design two healthy diets based on the New Zealand and the Chinese dietary guidelines for improving metabolic health. The two diet arms will be: 1) HEALTHY DIET (‘control’ diet, HD): which adheres to NZ and Chinese national dietary guidelines for good metabolic health 2) HEALTHY SYNERGY+ DIET (SD): which adheres to NZ and Chinese national dietary guidelines for good metabolic health and includes some additional nutrients** hypothesised to have further improve metabolic health. ** Examples are whole foods such as omega-3 rich fish, more fibre, nuts and seeds, meat with less saturated fats. Both diets are healthy and matched with each other for energy content. All Caucasian participants will be enrolled in the Healthy diet arm while the Chinese participants will be allocated by chance to either the Healthy diet or the Healthy Synergy+ diet arms.