High maternal L-carnitine levels tied to lower GDM risk

L-carnitine levels in mothers are inversely associated with the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a recent study has shown. However, there is no genetic evidence supporting a causal relationship between this metabolite and GDM.

Serum samples were collected from 201 women with GDM and 201 matched controls. The researchers performed targeted metabolomics to analyse the metabolites of interest and conducted multivariable conditional logistic regression to examine the association between metabolites and GDM.

Results of the analysis were combined with those of four similar articles obtained from online databases through a meta-analysis. Finally, causalities were explored via Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.

After dichotomization and comparisons between the higher and the lower group, choline (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.124, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.186–3.803) positively correlated while L-carnitine (aOR, 0.293, 95 percent CI, 0.134–0.638) negatively correlated with GDM. However, betaine, trimethylamine N-oxide, and phenylacetylglutamine had neutral associations with GDM.

In the meta-analysis, L-carnitine showed a consistent inverse association with GDM, but MR analyses did not provide any evidence of causalities.

“Maternal levels of L-carnitine were related to the risk of GDM in both the original case-control study and meta-analysis,” the researchers said. “However, we did not observe any genetic evidence to establish a causal relationship between this metabolite and GDM.”