Dietary Fat in Relation to Erythrocyte Fatty Acid Composition in Men

Abstract

Erythrocyte membrane fatty acid (EMFA) composition is used in the validation of food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) and the evaluation of dietary fat quality. In this cross-sectional study we aimed to investigate associations of diet with EMFA. Altogether, 1,033 randomly selected Finnish men, aged from 47 to 75 years filled in a FFQ and their EMFA composition was analyzed. Marine polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake correlated positively with erythrocyte eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids (rs = 0.415 and rs = 0.340, respectively, P < 0.001) and inversely with all n-6 PUFA analyzed (P < 0.001). PUFA intake from spreads and cooking fats correlated positively with alpha-linolenic (ALA), linoleic (LNA) and nervonic acids (rs = 0.229, rs = 0.160 and rs = 0.143, respectively, P < 0.001). Milk fat intake was associated with myristic and behenic acids (rs = 0.186 and rs = 0.132, respectively P < 0.001). Butter users had lower ALA and LNA proportions (mol%) than non-users (0.16 ± 0.04 vs. 0.19 ± 0.05, P < 0.001 and 7.77 ± 1.02 vs. 8.12 ± 1.11, P = 0.001). Higher PUFA intake from meat was related to decreased long-chain n-3 (P < 0.001) and increased n-6 PUFA (P < 0.001) proportions. In conclusion, EMFA composition reflects particularly well the intakes of n-3 PUFA, whereas other associations remained lower. Yet, all main sources of dietary fat were related with EMFA. The dietary effect on the nervonic acid proportion was confirmed.

Cross‐sectional relationships between dietary fat intake and serum cholesterol fatty acids in a Swedish cohort of 60‐year‐old men and women

“…The results were obtained using a rather simple dietary assessment method. As in previous studies, a clear relationship between fish intake and EPA and DHA was noted (2,7,10,15,25,31,32) . In these studies, fatty acids were measured either in adipose tissue, whole blood, erythrocytes, platelets, serum or plasma and where either total or fractions of cholesterol, phospholipids and triglycerides were considered.…”

“…The most consistent findings are for fish intake. In these studies, fish intake was associated with blood 20:5n-3 (eicosapentaenoic acid; EPA) and 22:6n-3 (docosahexaenoic acid; DHA), particularly in populations with high intake of fish such as the Japanese (2)(3)(4) and Nordic populations (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10) . Studies that investigated whether fats from intake of dairy products associate with blood or adipose tissue fatty acid composition have identified a relationship between fats from dairy products and tissue or blood levels of odd-chained saturated 15:0 (pentadecanoic acid) and 17:0 (heptadecanoic acid), particularly in Swedish populations (11)(12)(13)(14) .…”

“…Few studies have investigated how blood or tissue fatty acid profile relates to intake of fats from processed meat and eggs (10,15,16) . Studies that have investigated foods containing a high polyunsaturated/saturated fat ratio report varying results, depending on population characteristics such as ethnicity (10,15,17) . Studies that examine how foods rich in saturated fats relate to blood levels of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and/or monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) have shown discrepant results: some investigations report clear relations (7,10) , whereas others do not (3,(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26) .…”

Erythrocyte Membrane Fatty Acid Composition in Premenopausal Patients with Iron Deficiency Anemia

“…The differences in concentrations between the groups were not significant statistically p 0.09 Table 2 . Docosahexaenoic acid concentrations reported in this study were in agreement with some previous reports 13 as well as lower than that reported in other studies 19,22,23,27,29,30 .…”

Long-Term Adaptations to Aerobic-Anaerobic Physical Training in the Erythrocyte Membrane Fatty Acids Profile

“…The effects of fatty acids intake on erythrocyte membrane are well documented [34]. That is why diet was partially-controlled in this research.…”