There is growing interest in incorporating metabolomics into public health practice. However, Black women are under-represented in many metabolomics studies. If metabolomic profiles differ between Black and White women, this under-representation may exacerbate existing Black-White health disparities. We therefore aimed to estimate metabolomic differences between Black and White women in the U.S. We leveraged data from two prospective cohorts: the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS; n = 2077) and Women’s Health Initiative (WHI; n = 2128). The WHI served as the replication cohort. Plasma metabolites (n = 334) were measured via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Observed metabolomic differences were estimated using linear regression and metabolite set enrichment analyses. Residual metabolomic differences in a hypothetical population in which the distributions of 14 risk factors were equalized across racial groups were estimated using inverse odds ratio weighting. In the NHS, Black-White differences were observed for most metabolites (75 metabolites with observed differences \(\ge \)|0.50| standard deviations). Black women had lower average levels than White women for most metabolites (e.g., for N6, N6-dimethlylysine, mean Black-White difference = − 0.98 standard deviations; 95% CI: − 1.11, − 0.84). In metabolite set enrichment analyses, Black women had lower levels of triglycerides, phosphatidylcholines, lysophosphatidylethanolamines, phosphatidylethanolamines, and organoheterocyclic compounds, but higher levels of phosphatidylethanolamine plasmalogens, phosphatidylcholine plasmalogens, cholesteryl esters, and carnitines. In a hypothetical population in which distributions of 14 risk factors were equalized, Black-White metabolomic differences persisted. Most results replicated in the WHI (88% of 272 metabolites available for replication). Substantial differences in metabolomic profiles exist between Black and White women. Future studies should prioritize racial representation.

人们越来越有兴趣将代谢组学纳入公共卫生实践。然而，黑人女性在许多代谢组学研究中的代表性不足。如果黑人和白人女性的代谢组学特征不同，这种代表性不足可能会加剧现有的黑人和白人健康差异。因此，我们旨在估计美国黑人和白人女性之间的代谢组差异。我们利用了两个前瞻性队列的数据：护士健康研究（NHS；n = 2077）和妇女健康倡议（WHI；n = 2128）。 WHI 充当复制队列。通过液相色谱-串联质谱法测量血浆代谢物（n = 334）。使用线性回归和代谢物集富集分析来估计观察到的代谢组差异。使用逆比值比加权来估计假设人群中的残余代谢组差异，其中 14 个危险因素在不同种族群体中的分布是均衡的。在 NHS 中，大多数代谢物都观察到黑白差异（75 种代谢物观察到的差异\(\ge \) |0.50| 标准差）。对于大多数代谢物，黑人女性的平均水平低于白人女性（例如，对于 N6、N6-二甲基赖氨酸，平均黑人-白人差异 = − 0.98 标准差；95% CI：− 1.11，− 0.84）。在代谢物集富集分析中，黑人女性的甘油三酯、磷脂酰胆碱、溶血磷脂酰乙醇胺、磷脂酰乙醇胺和有机杂环化合物水平较低，但磷脂酰乙醇胺缩醛磷脂、磷脂酰胆碱缩醛磷脂、胆固醇酯和肉碱水平较高。在 14 个危险因素分布均衡的假设人群中，黑人与白人的代谢组差异仍然存在。大多数结果在 WHI 中得到复制（272 种代谢物中的 88% 可用于复制）。黑人和白人女性的代谢组学特征存在显着差异。未来的研究应优先考虑种族代表性。