Associations Among Physical Activity, Medication, and Supplement Use and Urinary Sucrose Biomarkers

1st Place in Undergraduate Research Forum in Measurement and Assessment of Human Health and Well-Being Category (02/20/2019)In order to identify relationships between added sugar intake and health outcomes, accurate methods for assessing dietary intake of added sugars are needed as relying on memory introduces error. Urinary sucrose excretion has been proposed as a possible objective biomarker of added sugar intake. Regular physical activity (PA) can modify excretion of certain nutrients, but association with urinary sucrose excretion is unclear. The primary aim was to examine associations between PA and urinary sucrose excretions while secondarily exploring the associations among medication and supplement use and urinary sucrose excretions. 30 healthy postmenopausal women were enrolled:15 with healthy weight (BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m2) and 15 with obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2). Weighted food records plus photos of usual dietary intake and urine samples were collected and analyzed on two days one week apart; sweet tea was added to usual intake on day two. Urinary sugar excretion was quantified by an enzymatic assay. The Godin questionnaire was used to assess PA, and self-reported medication and supplement use was collected.Pearson correlations were used to evaluate associations. There was a trend for a direct association between fasting first morning urinary sucrose with total supplements reported (p=0.0667) which prompted further exploration into supplement usage by category. Participants taking B-Vitamin supplements had significantly higher first morning urinary sucrose on Day 1 (p=0.0081) and Day 2 (p=0.0010) compared to participants not taking B-Vitamins. Participants taking a multivitamin supplement had significantly higher first morning urinary sucrose compared to participants taking no multivitamin on Day 1 (p=0.0285) but not on Day 2. To conclude, B-Vitamin and multivitamin supplementation is associated with higher urinary sucrose excretion among postmenopausal women. Dietary supplement usage may alter excretion of urinary sugars and further analysis is required to elucidate these relationships.A one-year embargo was granted for this item.Academic Major: Human Nutritio