Abstract
Objectives
To examine relationships between plasma fatty acids, dietary intake of fatty acids, adiposity and risk of metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset.
Methods
Plasma fatty acids levels (n = 24) measured in NHANES 2001–2003 (n = 1674) and dietary intake of fatty acids (n = 19) from NHANES 2001–2014 (n = 9108) were used for these analyses. The association between plasma fatty acid levels, intake of fatty acids and body weight, BMI, waist circumference, and number of criteria for MetSyn was assessed. Backwards stepwise multiple regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, prescription of anti-hypertensive, lipid-lowering of anti-diabetic medication, modified Health Eating Index-2015 score, physical activity, poverty to income ratio, smoking, and calorie intake were conducted to identify fatty acids that were predictive of the outcomes of interest. Logistic regression analysis, adjusted for the aforementioned covariates, was used to assess the odds of MetSyn, and overweight/obesity associated with each fatty acid.
Results
Higher levels of the plasma saturated fatty acids myristic acid (14:0), stearic acid (18:0), and docosanoic acid (22:0) were associated with greater BMI, waist circumference, and number of MetSyn criteria (P < 0.01). Arachidic acid (20:0) and lignoceric acid (24:0) were inversely associated with BMI, waist circumference, and number of MetSyn criteria. Plasma linoleic acid (18:2) was the only PUFA inversely associated with BMI (β = −0.002), waist circumference (β = −0.005), and number of MetSyn criteria (β −0.0003) (all P < 0.01). Plasma linoleic acid was also correlated with lower risk of being overweight or obese (odds ratio (OR) 0.9995; P < 0.03) and having an elevated waist circumference (OR 0.9992; P < 0.01). These results were not supported by the dietary fatty acid intake data.
Conclusions
These data from a representative U.S. cohort indicate that plasma medium and longer chain saturated fats were generally associated with greater adiposity and more criteria for MetSyn, whereas these relationships were not detected for MUFA. Linoleic acid was the only PUFA associated with less adiposity and lower risk of MetSyn and, thus also lower risk of cardiometabolic disease.
Funding Sources
ACH Food Companies, Inc.
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