title: Consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids, fish, and nuts and risk of inflammatory disease mortality.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  n-3 (omega-3) Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), fish, and nuts can regulate inflammatory processes and responses.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We investigated whether dietary intakes of PUFAs [n-3, n-6 (omega-6), and α-linolenic acid], fish, and nuts were associated with 15-y mortality attributed to noncardiovascular, noncancer inflammatory diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  The analyses involved 2514 participants aged ≥49 y at baseline. Dietary data were collected by using a semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire, and PUFA, fish, and nut intakes were calculated. Inflammatory disease mortality was confirmed from the Australian National Death Index.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over 15 y, 214 subjects died of inflammatory diseases. Women in the highest tertiles of total n-3 PUFA intake, compared with those in the lowest tertile of intake at baseline, had a 44% reduced risk of inflammatory disease mortality (P for trend = 0.03). This association was not observed in men. In both men and women, each 1-SD increase in energy-adjusted intake of α-linolenic acid was inversely associated with inflammatory mortality (hazard ratio: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.71, 0.98). Subjects in the second and third tertiles of nut consumption had a 51% and 32% reduced risk of inflammatory disease mortality, respectively, compared with those in the first tertile (reference). Dietary intakes of long-chain n-3 and n-6 PUFAs and fish were not associated with inflammatory disease mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We report on a novel link between dietary intake of total n-3 PUFA and risk of inflammatory disease mortality in older women. Furthermore, our data indicate a protective role of nuts, but not fish, against inflammatory disease mortality.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology and Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Bamini
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gopinath
authors.forename: Anette E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Buyken
authors.forename: Victoria M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Flood
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Empson
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rochtchina
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mitchell
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000008:administration & dosage; D043371:Fatty Acids, Omega-6 / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D005399:Fishes; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D009754:Nuts; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D012306:Risk; D017747:Seafood; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D016019:Survival Analysis; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D043371:Fatty Acids, Omega-6; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid