Kim et al. Lipids in Health and Disease (2015) 14:133 DOI 10.1186/s12944-015-0135-x
RESEARCH
Open Access
The association of cardiovascular risk factors with saturated fatty acids and fatty acid desaturase indices in erythrocyte in middle-aged Korean adults Seung Rye Kim1, So Yeon Jeon1 and Seung-Min Lee1,2*
Abstract Background: The quality of dietary fats is associated with risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). We aimed to investigate the association between fatty acids in erythrocyte membrane phospholipids and CVD risk factors in middle-aged Korean adults. Methods: Fifty-five middle-aged adults who underwent health examinations were included in this retrospective and cross-sectional study. Anthropometry, serum lipids, clinical parameters, and erythrocyte membrane phospholipid fatty acid data were obtained from a registry. Results: The proportion of C14:0 and C16:0 was greatly elevated in high quartile groups for triglyceride (TG) and systolic and diastolic blood pressure groups (SBP and DBP) (p = 0.042, p = 0.021, or p = 0.008 respectively) compared to low quartile groups. While C16:1n7 and/or C18:1n9 were positively associated with CVD risk factors, the delta 9 desaturase activity index (D9D) (C18:1n9/C18:0) was only significantly increased in high quartile groups for TG and blood pressures (p = 0.001, p = 0.002 or p = 0.003). Conversely, TG and blood pressures showed inverse relationships with C20:4n6 or D5D (C20:4n6/C20:3n6). C18:3n6 and/or D6D (C18:3n6/C18:2n6) were positively associated with insulin resistance and diabetic parameters. Particularly high D6D was detected in high quartile groups of FBS and insulin (p = 0.016 and p = 0.042). In linear regression analysis, D9D and/or C14:0 + C16:0 were significant contributors to serum TG and blood pressures. D6D was a contributing factor to FBS. Conclusions: The indices of D9D and D6D from erythrocyte membrane phospholipids and the proportion of saturated fatty acids were increased as the cardiovascular risk factors, including serum TG, blood pressures, and FBS increased their levels (IRB number C2014199 (1396)). Keywords: Fatty acid composition, Erythrocyte, Cardiovascular risk, Delta 9 desaturase index, Delta 6 desaturase index
Introduction Cardiovascular disorders (CVD) is especially prevalent in developing countries, including Korea, due to rapid dietary changes and Western style diets. It is well known that the quality of dietary fats, such as saturated fats, determines the risk of developing CVD [1]. * Correspondence:
[email protected] 1 Program of Clinical Nutrition, Graduate School of Human Environmental Sciences, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea 2 Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Human Ecology, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
For instance, dietary intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA) was closely associated with elevated blood cholesterols and increased risk of cardiovascular diseases [2]. Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) had an inverse relationship with the incidence of coronary heart diseases [2]. Thus, earlier detection of changes in dietary fat-associated CVD risk would be beneficial for preventing CVD development. The type of fats in diets affects the composition of fatty acids in human bodies, including in blood [3]. Many studies have identified significant alterations at
© 2015 Kim et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Kim et al. Lipids in Health and Disease (2015) 14:133
in the fatty acid patterns associated with CVD [4–9]. Changes in the composition of individual fatty acids and the levels of fatty acid desaturase are frequently assessed together to understand overall changes in fatty acid patterns [10]. Although many studies have tried to identify changes in fatty acid patterns in patients with CVD or associated disorders, there are only a limited number of studies investigating the association between fatty acids and/or fatty acid desaturase indices with individual risk components of CVD [11]. Knowledge of a specific association between fatty acid indices and individual risk factors would allow detection of alterations that could contribute to CVD.
Page 2 of 10
In many cases, either plasma or serum was used to investigate the composition of fatty acids relationships with CVD [4–9]. Fatty acids in plasma or serum phospholipids reflect changes in dietary intake within a few days [12]. Erythrocyte membranes reflect long-term dietary changes that accumulate during the life time of erythrocytes [13]. In this study, we aimed to investigate any significant association between fatty acids from erythrocyte membrane phospholipids and CVD risk factors in middleaged Korean men. This study was a retrospective crosssectional study using data from patients who underwent a special health check-up consisting of anthropometrical measurements, blood chemistry, and analysis of erythrocyte membrane phospholipid fatty acid composition.
Table 1 General characteristics of study subjects Total
Male
Female
Male–female
(n = 57)
(n = 35)
(n = 22)
p-value
Age, years
52.56 ± 4.751
53.43 ± 4.231
51.18 ± 5.288
0.082
BMI, kg/m2
23.55 ± 2.624
24.47 ± 2.295
22.10 ± 2.496
0.001
SBP, mmHg
116.4 ± 16.93
120.0 ± 16.84
110.8 ± 15.87
0.046
DBP, mmHg
69.91 ± 11.68
72.17 ± 11.95
66.32 ± 10.50
0.065
TG, mg/dL
117.5 ± 61.40
131.0 ± 54.67
96.00 ± 66.51
0.035
TC, mg/dL
200.8 ± 33.97
195.3 ± 33.97
209.4 ± 32.90
0.129
HDL-C, mg/dL
53.51 ± 10.96
49.94 ± 8.691
59.18 ± 11.95
0.001
LDL-C, mg/dL
123.7 ± 30.55
119.3 ± 31.14
130.7 ± 28.90
0.171
AI
2.848 ± 0.768
2.966 ± 0.680
2.611 ± 0.857
0.142
Apo B, g/L
0.985 ± 0.186
0.998 ± 0.178
0.964 ± 0.201
0.512
FBS, mg/dl
100.7 ± 13.68
104.7 ± 14.98
94.32 ± 8.156
0.004
Insulin, μIU/ml
6.486 ± 3.833
7.178 ± 4.225
5.274 ± 2.718
0.076
HOMA-IR
1.591 ± 1.090
1.886 ± 1.183
1.122 ± 0.726
0.004
Homocysteine, μmol/L
10.44 ± 3.393
11.85 ± 3.343
8.195 ± 2.006
