title: Invited commentary: dietary polyunsaturated Fatty acids and chronic systemic inflammation--a potentially intriguing link.
abstract: It remains largely unclear whether consumption of total and individual polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) is associated with chronic systemic inflammation in healthy, free-living individuals. While available evidence (stemming principally from mechanistic studies) has indicated that greater intake of n-6 PUFAs may lead to increased levels of inflammation-for instance, by their acting as precursors to proinflammatory eicosanoids and increasing levels of oxidized linoleic acid metabolites-n-3 PUFAs are precursors to some antiinflammatory eicosanoids. New human data from a Dutch prospective study, the Rotterdam Study-as presented by Muka et al. ( Am J Epidemiol. 2015;181(11):846-856) in this issue of the Journal-now make an important contribution to the relatively scarce literature on the association of dietary n-3 and n-6 PUFAs with serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a key marker of inflammation, in a general population. The study by Muka et al. benefitted from repeated CRP measurements, comprehensive correction for potential confounding, and wide-ranging sensitivity analyses. The findings show no significant trend regarding n-3 PUFAs but indicate an important inverse association between n-6 PUFAs and chronic systemic inflammation. This study provides support for existing dietary guidelines, which encourage consumption of a combination of n-3 and n-6 PUFAs in the diet.
authors.forename: Rajiv
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
authors.forename: Marinka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Steur
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000008:administration & dosage; D043371:Fatty Acids, Omega-6 / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D043371:Fatty Acids, Omega-6; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D002097:C-Reactive Protein
keywords: C-reactive protein; inflammation; polyunsaturated fatty acids