Fig. 2

Metabolite measures associated and mediated between dietary patterns and glucose metabolism status. A Plasma metabolite measures associated with three dietary patterns and glucose metabolism status with their overlap. B Associations of metabolite measures with dietary patterns, glucose metabolism status, HOMA-IR and HbA1c. Red/green squares indicate positive associations, while blue/purple squares indicate negative associations. C Parallel coordinates chart showing the 14 significant mediated effects of plasma metabolite measures. The left panel shows the dietary patterns, the middle panel shows the plasma metabolite measures, and the right panel shows the pairs of glucose metabolism status. The curved lines across panels indicate the mediated effects, while the colours correspond to different associations (i.e. grey for positive/negative, and green for negative/positive). Abbreviations: MED, Mediterranean Diet; DASH, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet; DHD, Dutch Healthy Diet; GMS, glucose metabolism status; NGM, normal glucose metabolism; T2D, type 2 diabetes; HOMA-IR, Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance; HbA1c, haemoglobin A1c; ldl_c_metab, total cholesterol in very small VLDL (mmol/l); apoa1_metab, apolipoprotein A-I (g/l); unsatdeg_metab, estimated degree of unsaturation; dha_metab, 22:6, docosahexaenoic acid (mmol/l); ω-3_metab, ω-3 fatty acids (mmol/l); ile_metab, isoleucine; l_ldl_c_ratio, total cholesterol to total lipids ratio in large LDL (%); m_ldl_c_ratio, total cholesterol to total lipids ratio in medium LDL (%); s_ldl_c_ratio, total cholesterol to total lipids ratio in small LDL (%); m_hdl_tg_ratio, triglycerides to total lipids ratio in medium HDL (%); dha_fa_ratio,ratio of 22:6 docosahexaenoic acid to total fatty acids (%); la_fa_ratio, ratio of 18:2 linoleic acid to total fatty acids; ω-3_fa_ratio, ratio of ω-3 fatty acids to total fatty acids (%); ω-6_fa_ratio, ratio of ω-6 fatty acids to total fatty acids (%); pufa_fa_ratio, ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids to total fatty acids (%); ω-6_ω-3_ratio, ratio of ω-6 fatty acids to ω-3 fatty acids; pufa_mufa_ratio, ratio of PUFA to MUFA; metab, metabolite; PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acids; MUFA, monounsaturated fatty acids; VLDL, very low–density lipoprotein; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein