Metabolomics Role in Health and Disease: Current Status and Future Directions

Abstract

The field of metabolomics involves the high-throughput identification and measurement of all endogenous and exogenous low-molecular-weight (<1kDa) small molecules or metabolites in a biological system by analyzing the metabolome in cells, biofluids, tissues, or organisms. Metabolome-wide association studies (MWAS), metabolic phenotyping, single-cell epidemiologic population studies, precision metabolomics, and in combination with other omics fields like integrative omics, biotechnology, and bioengineering are some of the applications of metabolomics in health and disease scenarios. Metabolomics and its potential to enhance human health, along with its developments and implications for pharmacometabolomics, lifespan, cancer, and the exposome, are the main focus of this review. Metabolomic profiles will facilitate the development and improvement of therapeutic strategies to treat human diseases. Future years will see a rise in the application of metabolomics to drug development, aging, and disease monitoring and diagnosis. Its potential extends to food science, and environmental research.   Through clinical metabolomics studies, which may also uncover diagnostic biomarkers that predict disease risk, cardiometabolic disorders can be better understood. Metabolomics is already being applied in biomedical settings to develop drugs by using acylcarnitines, phospholipids, genomes, and branch-chain amino acids that are specific to monitoring the emergence of metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Indicators derived from metabolomics should be evaluated for therapeutic efficacy and adaptability, and their optimal application in large clinical settings should be the focus of future research.