The metabolome is the complete set of small molecule chemicals found in a specific cell, organ, or organism at a given time. The metabolome may include small molecule chemicals naturally produced by an organism (some sugars, vitamins, and pigments for example) as well as those not naturally produced by an organism (for example medicines, environmental contaminants, and food additives).
The metabolome can change over a period of just seconds or minutes, and changes can be caused by a huge number of things. For example, the metabolome might change as a result of changes in the organism™s environment, or after taking in food or changing activity levels.
Metabolomics is the scientific study of the metabolome.