Fatty acid pattern of red blood cell membranes and risk of ischemic brain infarction: a case-control study.

Abstract

The fatty add composition of red blood cell membranes (which reflects dietary fat intake) was studied in 28 male patients with recent (<3 days) ischemic stroke and 56 matched controls. Fifteen fatty acids were measured by means of chromatographic analysis. Percentages of linoleic, 22:5, and 22:6 acids were significantly lower in red blood cell membranes of stroke patients than in those of matched controls. The results suggest that a low unsaturated fatty acid diet could be an independent risk factor for ischemic brain infarction. {Stroke 1987;18:575-578) I t is widely accepted that dietary fats have a role in the etiology of ischemic heart disese (IHD).' Patients with IHD appear to have a low linoleic acid content in their plasma cholesterol esters 2 as well as in adipose tissue.3 A low content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in serum phospholipids has been shown to be an independent risk factor for IHD. 4 Diets with a high PUFA: saturated fatty acids (SFA) ratio might reduce the risk of IHD through their effect of lowering plasma cholesterol concentration or, possibly, through an antithrombotic property of PUFA. 5 The limited role of hypercholesterolemia as a risk factor in cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) is well known.67 A low alimentary PUFA: SFA ratio was found in IHD patients, 8 but, as far as we are aware, no data are available on this aspect in patients with CVD.The composition of red blood cell membrane phospholipids reflects the type of fats eaten in the preceding weeks, and it is unlikely to change immediately after an acute event such as a stroke.8 Therefore, we studied the composition of red blood cell membrane phospholipids in patients with ischemic stroke and in matched controls to find out whether the type of fats consumed in these two groups was different. Subjects and MethodsWe studied 28 consecutive male patients, aged 40-75, who had suffered a first-event ischemic stroke, defined as an acute focal neurologic deficit lasting > 24 hours that was attributed to ischemia on clinical grounds and confirmed by a computed tomography Address for reprints: Dr. Stefano Ricci, Istituto di Clinica Neurologica, University di Perugia, Via del Giochetto, 06100 Perugia, Italy.Received June 9, 1986; accepted December 22, 1986. (CT) scan within 3 days. We did not study women due to organizational difficulties. We excluded patients with myocardial infarction within the previous 3 months and also patients with other possible cardiac sources of emboli and without other known risk factors for cerebral ischemia (e.g., mitral stenosis with atrial fibrillation in a young, normotensive, normoglycemic patient). Each patient was matched with 2 controls (56 men matched for age ± 5 years, smoking habits, hypertension, and diabetes); these were male inpatients admitted to our hospital in the same period who were not suffering any acute vascular disease and had no stroke or myocardial infarction in their history. Men chosen as controls in this study suffered from a wide spectrum of diseases (tumors, epilepsy, infection...

Fatty acid dietary intake and the risk of ischaemic stroke: a multicentre case-control study

“…As far as cholesterol is concerned, in univariate analysis it appeared that the mean level of cholesterol was higher in cases, but an independent role of hypercholesterolaemia was not shown by our multivariate analysis and, in fact, both cases and controls had mean cholesterol levels within the accepted normal range. It has been suggested that UFA might have an antithrombotic action [3,20,27,28]. Although this action has been ascribed to omega3 acids (which we did not find to differ between cases and controls), a positive effect of oleic acid cannot be ruled out, either by a direct effect or because of a concomitant reduced intake of SFA; in fact, SFA may be important determinants of stroke at the population level [17].…”

“…Having described the results of our analysis, some hypothesis on the putative protective effect of UFA on stroke can be suggested [20]: a diet high in UFA might reduce blood pressure and/or reduce cholesterol levels. However, we did not detect any association between 18:1 and hypertension in the various models we tested and showed that both a history of high blood pressure and a diet poor in 18:1 were independent risk factors for ischaemic stroke.…”

“…Rather, it would be better to rely on biological markers on intake than on self-reported dietary data [19]. A few years ago our group published a small case-control study [20], using the composition of red blood cells membrane phospholipids as a marker of the type of fats eaten in the preceding weeks; this composition -as opposed to the serum cholestrol esters -is unlikely to change after an acute event such as a stroke [11]. We found that UFA 18:2, 22:5 and 22:6 were significantly lower in patients than in controls.…”

Linoleic Acid, Other Fatty Acids, and the Risk of Stroke

“…[11][12][13][14] In a prospective study, serum ␣-linolenic acid (an n3 polyunsaturated fatty acid) but not linoleic acid was associated with reduced stroke risk among men at high risk of cardiovascular disease. 15 In that study, the classification of stroke subtypes was not conducted, although the effects of serum fatty acids are likely to differ among stroke subtypes.…”

Calendula officinalis L. (Asteraceae) possess antioxidant properties on Fe2+-initiated peroxidation of rat brain microsomes

“…The degradative process was followed simultaneously by the determination of chemiluminescence and fatty acid composition of brain microsomes. The unsaturation index was used to evaluate the fatty acid alterations observed during the process [14].…”