Bar et al. 2020

The serum metabolome contains a plethora of biomarkers and causative agents of various diseases, some of which are endogenously produced and some that have been taken up from the environment. The origins of specific compounds are known, including metabolites that are highly heritable, or those that are influenced by the gut microbiome, by lifestyle choices such as smoking, or by diet. However, the key determinants of most metabolites are still poorly understood. Here we measured the levels of 1,251 metabolites in serum samples from a unique and deeply phenotyped healthy human cohort of 491 individuals. We applied machine-learning algorithms to predict metabolite levels in held-out individuals on the basis of ho…