Comparison of serum metabolite compositions between obese and lean growing pigs using an NMR-based metabonomic approach

Childhood obesity has become a prevalent risk to health of children and teenagers. To develop biomarkers in serum for altered lipid metabolism, genetically obese (Ningxiang strain) and lean (DurocxLandracexLarge Yorkshire strain) growing pigs were used as models to identify potential differences in the serum metabonome between the two strains of pigs after consuming the same diet for 46 days. At the end of the study, pigs were euthanized for analysis of the serum metabonome and determination of body composition. Obese pigs had higher fat mass (42.3 +/- 8.8% vs. 21.9 +/- 4.5%) and lower muscle mass (35.4 +/- 4.5% vs. 58.9 +/- 2.5%) than lean pigs (P