Plasma fatty acids and desaturase activity are associated with circulating adiponectin in healthy adolescent girls.
BACKGROUND
Adiponectin can be a potential predictor of future metabolic derangements and some preliminary evidence supports the role of dietary fat in influencing adiponectin levels thus, the dietary determinants of adiponectin were investigated.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of the study was to evaluate the association of adiponectin concentrations with plasma fatty acids and indices of endogenous fatty acid metabolism.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional descriptive analysis to investigative the determinants of adiponectin.


METHODS
All subjects were examined at a large tertiary care center located in Montréal (Québec, Canada) between 2004 and 2006.


METHODS
Subjects included 180 postpubertal, adolescent daughters (age range 13.6-17.3 yr) from a 15-yr retrospective cohort of mother-daughter pairs representing gestational diabetes mellitus affected (cases) and nonaffected (controls) pregnancies between 1989 and 1991.


METHODS
Plasma adiponectin concentrations, plasma fatty acids presented grouped by series name and as individual fatty acids (reported as percent of total), and calculated indices of fatty acid metabolism were measured.


RESULTS
In linear regression analyses, adjusting for both waist circumference and insulin measured 2 h after the onset of an oral glucose tolerance test, the docosahexaenoic acid sufficiency index (an indicator of docosahexaenoic acid status) and alpha-linolenic acid (C18:3 n-3) were significantly negatively associated (P <or= 0.05) with adiponectin. After accounting for dietary fat intake, these associations disappeared, indicating an effect of diet. However, the long-chain saturated fatty acid, lignoceric (C24:0), was positively associated (P <or= 0.05) and Delta 9-18 desaturase activity (estimated from the ratio of 18:1 n-9/18:0) was significantly inversely (P <or= 0.01) associated with adiponectin concentrations.


CONCLUSIONS
Adiponectin, an inverse marker of metabolic derangements, was associated with desaturase activity, indicating that possible functional alterations in fatty acid metabolism may already be present in young healthy adolescent females.
School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Macdonald-Stewart Building, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Québec, Canada.
Sina
S
Gallo
Grace
G
Egeland
Sara
S
Meltzer
Laurent
L
Legault
Stan
S
Kubow
D052242:Adiponectin / Q000097:blood*; D000293:Adolescent / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases / Q000097:blood*; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009035:Mothers; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009679:Nuclear Family; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D052242:Adiponectin; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases