Fatty acids linked to cardiovascular mortality are associated with risk factors.
BACKGROUND
Although saturated fatty acids (FAs) have been linked to cardiovascular mortality, it is not clear whether this outcome is attributable solely to their effects on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) or whether other risk factors are also associated with FAs. The Western Alaskan Native population, with its rapidly changing lifestyles, shift in diet from unsaturated to saturated fatty acids and dramatic increase in cardiovascular disease (CVD), presents an opportunity to elucidate any associations between specific FAs and known CVD risk factors.


OBJECTIVE
We tested the hypothesis that the specific FAs previously identified as related to CVD mortality are also associated with individual CVD risk factors.


METHODS
In this community-based, cross-sectional study, relative proportions of FAs in plasma and red blood cell membranes were compared with CVD risk factors in a sample of 758 men and women aged ≥35 years. Linear regression analyses were used to analyze relations between specific FAs and CVD risk factors (LDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, C-reactive protein, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, body mass index, fasting glucose and fasting insulin, 2-hour glucose and 2-hour insulin).


RESULTS
The specific saturated FAs previously identified as related to CVD mortality, the palmitic and myristic acids, were adversely associated with most CVD risk factors, whereas unsaturated linoleic acid (18:2n-6) and the marine n-3 FAs were not associated or were beneficially associated with CVD risk factors.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that CVD risk factors are more extensively affected by individual FAs than hitherto recognized, and that risk for CVD, MI and stroke can be reduced by reducing the intake of palmitate, myristic acid and simple carbohydrates and improved by greater intake of linoleic acid and marine n-3 FAs.
Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.|Norton Sound Health Corporation, Nome, AK, USA; soebbesson@alaska.edu.
Sven O E
SO
Ebbesson
Department of Nutrition and UNC Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC, USA.
Venkata S
VS
Voruganti
Kunming Biomed International, Yunnan, China.
Paul B
PB
Higgins
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Richard R
RR
Fabsitz
Uni Targeting Research AS, Bergen, Norway.
Lars O
LO
Ebbesson
Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA.
Sandra
S
Laston
Department of Medicine, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, SD, USA.|Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc., Richmond, VA, USA.
William S
WS
Harris
Department of Chemistry, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA.
John
J
Kennish
Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Benjamin D
BD
Umans
MedStar Health Research Institute, Hyattsville, MD, USA.
Hong
H
Wang
Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA.
Richard B
RB
Devereux
Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA.
Peter M
PM
Okin
MedStar Health Research Institute, Hyattsville, MD, USA.
Neil J
NJ
Weissman
Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA.
Jean W
JW
MacCluer
MedStar Health Research Institute, Hyattsville, MD, USA.
Jason G
JG
Umans
MedStar Health Research Institute, Hyattsville, MD, USA.|Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science, Washington, DC, USA.
Barbara V
BV
Howard
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000413:Alaska; D001110:Arctic Regions; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002423:Cause of Death; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000009:adverse effects; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000097:blood; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D044382:Population Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment; D016019:Survival Analysis
D004041:Dietary Fats; D005227:Fatty Acids
Alaska Natives; Inuit; cardiovascular risk factors; dietary fat consumption; fatty acids; fish oil consumption; saturated fatty acids