Fatty acid profile of human saliva: a possible indicator of dietary fat intake.
OBJECTIVE
Since conventional food questionnaires are not precise in assessing the dietary fatty acids, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the salivary fatty acid profile and the alimentary habits of two different groups in an attempt to develop a more reliable way to determine the lipidic intake.


METHODS
Twenty adults of both sexes, with mixed (M) or vegetarian (V) diets were studied. Data about the fat intake were obtained by means of a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and the presence of the main salivary fatty acids was determined by gas chromatography.


RESULTS
A greater salivary concentration of alpha-linolenic acid (18:3 n-3) (2.82) was found in V than in M subjects (1.65) (p = 0.001), whilst arachidonic acid (20:4 n-6) was lower in V (3.93) than in M (4.52) (p = 0.045). The same difference regarding arachidonic acid was observed in the dietary fatty acid intake, also showing a significant correlation between its dietary and salivary levels in vegetarian subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
These results show that salivary arachidonic acid, relevant for their eicosanoid production related to the tumourigenesis process and cardiovascular diseases, is influenced by dietary fats.
Actis
Adriana B
AB
Instituto de Biología Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Haya de la Torre y Enrique Barros, Ciudad Universitaria, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina. adractis@odo.unc.edu.ar
Perovic
Nilda R
NR
Defagó
Daniela
D
Beccacece
Cecilia
C
Eynard
Aldo R
AR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016718:Arachidonic Acid / Q000032:analysis; D004032:Diet; D014676:Diet, Vegetarian; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid / Q000032:analysis
D004041:Dietary Fats; D005227:Fatty Acids; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid; D016718:Arachidonic Acid