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Background and Aims: Outdoor temperature and bright sunlight may directly and/or indirectly modulate systemic metabolism. We assessed the associations between outdoor temperature and bright sunlight duration with metabolomics., Methods and Results: Cross-sectional analyses were undertaken in non-diabetic individuals from the Oxford BioBank (OBB; N = 6368; mean age 47.0 years, males 44%) and the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity (NEO; N = 5916; mean age 55.6 years, males 43%) study. Data on mean outdoor bright sunlight and temperature were collected from local weather stations in the week prior to blood sampling. Fasting serum levels of 148 metabolites, including 14 lipoprotein subclasses, were measured using NMR spectroscopy. Linear regression analyses were performed to assess the associations between mean outdoor temperature and bright sunlight duration with metabolomics adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, season and either outdoor temperature or bright sunlight. A higher mean outdoor temperature was associated with increased serum concentrations of lipoprotein (sub)particles (β (SE) = 0.064 (0.018) SD per 5 °C, p = 5.03e -4 ) and certain amino acids such as phenylalanine (0.066 (0.016) SD, p = 6.44e -05 ) and leucine (0.111 (0.018) SD, p = 1.25e -09 ). In contrast, longer duration of bright sunlight was specifically associated with lower concentrations of very low-density lipoprotein (sub)particles (e.g., VLDL cholesterol (-0.024 (0.005) SD per 1-h bright sunlight, p = 8.06e -6 )). The direction of effects was generally consistent between the OBB and NEO, although effect sizes were generally larger in the OBB., Conclusions: Increased bright sunlight duration is associated with an improved metabolic profile whilst higher outdoor temperature may adversely impact cardiometabolic health., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Dr. Dennis Mook-Kanamori is a part-time research consultant at Metabolon, Inc. All other authors declare to have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 The Italian Diabetes Society, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Context: Seasonal variation in cold and light exposure may influence metabolic health., Objective: We assessed the associations of bright sunlight and outdoor temperature with measures of glucose and lipid metabolism in two populations of middle-aged European subjects., Design: Cross-sectional study., Setting: Two population-based European cohorts., Participants: Middle-aged nondiabetic subjects from the Oxford Biobank (OBB; N = 4327; mean age, 41.4 years) and the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity (NEO) study (N = 5899; mean age, 55.6 years)., Interventions: Data on outdoor bright sunlight and temperature collected from local weather stations., Main Outcome Measures: Insulin resistance and fasting lipid levels. Multivariable regression analyses were adjusted for age, sex, percentage body fat, season, and either outdoor temperature or bright sunlight., Results: In the OBB cohort, increased bright sunlight exposure was associated with lower fasting insulin [-1.27% (95% CI, -2.09 to -0.47%) per extra hour of bright sunlight], lower homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (-1.36%; 95% CI, -2.23 to -0.50), lower homeostatic model assessment for β-cell function (-0.80%; 95% CI, -1.31 to -0.30), and lower triglyceride (-1.28%; 95% CI, -2.07 to -0.50) levels. In the NEO cohort generally unidirectional but weaker associations were observed. No associations between outdoor temperature and measures of glucose or lipid metabolism were detected following adjustment for bright sunlight., Conclusions: Bright sunlight, but not outdoor temperature, might be associated with increased insulin sensitivity and lower triglyceride levels., (Copyright © 2019 Endocrine Society.)