(30-09-10) Fatty acids measured in plasma and erythrocyte-membrane phospholipids and derived by food-frequency questionnaire and the risk of ne

(30-09-10) Fatty acids measured in plasma and erythrocyte-membrane phospholipids and derived by food-frequency questionnaire and the risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes: a pilot study in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Norfolk cohort.

Patel PS, Sharp SJ, Jansen E, Luben RN, Khaw KT, Wareham NJ, Forouhi NG.

Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic evidence for the association between types of fatty
acid and risk of type 2 diabetes is inconsistent. This may in part be due to
the limitations of fatty acid measurement methods.

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to use 3 different measures of fatty acid to
estimate the prospective association between fatty acid composition and
development of incident diabetes.

DESIGN: We analyzed 199 cases of clinically incident diabetes and 184 noncases
aged 40-79 y at baseline in the EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into
Cancer and Nutrition)-Norfolk study. Fatty acids were derived from a food-
frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and measured in plasma phospholipid (P-FA) and
erythrocyte-membrane phospholipid (Ery-FA) fractions by gas chromatography.

RESULTS: There were stronger associations with diabetes risk with the use of
objectively measured fatty acids (P-FA and Ery-FA) than with the FFQ in
analyses adjusted for age, sex, and potential confounders. Positive
associations with diabetes were greater in magnitude with the use of P-FA than
with Ery-FA (highest:lowest tertiles): for example, the palmitic acid odds
ratios (ORs) were 2.47 (95% CI: 1.37, 4.46) and 1.96 (95% CI: 1.10,3.49),
respectively. Inverse associations with diabetes were also stronger with the
use of P-FA than with Ery-FA: for example, the OR for linoleic acid was 0.50
(95% CI: 0.28, 0.91) compared with 0.77 (95% CI: 0.43, 1.37), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: The objective measurement of fatty acids with the use of either P-
FA or Ery-FA identifies important associations with diabetes incidence that may
be missed when assessed by FFQ. Fatty acids measured in P-FA appear to be more
strongly associated with diabetes incidence. These findings endorse the use of
objective measurement of fatty acids for nutritional-epidemiologic studies, and
the apparently stronger findings for the plasma fraction should be confirmed in
larger studies and in different populations.

Source: Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Sep 22. [Epub ahead of print]

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