Using stable isotopes to trace diet-induced shifts in pathways of lipid metabolism

Advances in the use of stable isotopes in tracer methodology have clearly improved our capacity to investigate in vivo lipid metabolism in humans. The introduction of the isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) provides higher precision of measurement of isotopic enrichment to track shifts in diet on the flux of tracers through metabolic pathways. Novel applications using stable isotopes including 2H, 13C, and 18O have allowed important discoveries to be made in areas of fat and cholesterol metabolism in ways that have assisted in understanding diet-disease relationships.