title: Plasma lipid fatty acid composition, desaturase activities and insulin sensitivity in Amerindian women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Two Amerindian populations--Shuar women living in the Amazonian rain forest under traditional conditions and urbanized women in a suburb of Lima were studied. The fatty acid composition in plasma lipids and the relationships between fatty acid composition and metabolic variables were studied, as well as in a reference group of Swedish women.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fasting plasma was used for analyses of glucose, insulin, leptin and fatty acid composition. Women in Lima had more body fat, higher fasting insulin and leptin and lower insulin sensitivity than the Shuar women, who had insulin sensitivity similar to Swedish women. Shuar women had very high proportions (mean; SD) of palmitoleic (13.2; 3.9%) and oleic (33.9; 3.7%) acids in the plasma cholesteryl esters with very low levels of linoleic acid (29.1; 6.1 3%), as expected on a low fat, high carbohydrate diet. The estimated activity of delta 9 (SCD-1) desaturase was about twice as high in the Shuar compared with Lima women, suggesting neo lipogenesis, while the delta 5 desaturase activity did not differ. The Lima women, as well as the Swedish, showed strong positive correlations between SCD-1 activity on the one hand and fasting insulin and HOMA index on the other. These associations were absent in the Shuar women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high SCD-1 activity in the Shuar women may reflect increased lipogenesis in adipose tissue. It also illustrates how a low fat diet rich in non-refined carbohydrates can be linked to a good metabolic situation.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences-BV, Uppsala University, Uppsala Science Park, SE-75185 Uppsala, Sweden. bengt.vessby@pubcare.uu.se
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vessby
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ahrén
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Warensjö
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lindgärde
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity / Q000208:ethnology; D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D015992:Body Mass Index; D000090943:Delta-5 Fatty Acid Desaturase; D018752:Diet, Fat-Restricted; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000378:metabolism; D004484:Ecuador / Q000453:epidemiology; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases / Q000097:blood*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007199:Indians, South American; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000208:ethnology*; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D010568:Peru / Q000453:epidemiology; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012424:Rural Population; D013230:Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase / Q000097:blood; D013383:Suburban Population; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D000090943:Delta-5 Fatty Acid Desaturase; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D005227:Fatty Acids; D007328:Insulin; D020738:Leptin; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases; C523776:SCD1 protein, human; D013230:Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase; C533241:FADS2 protein, human