(30-07-11) Plasma omega-3 fatty acids and incident diabetes in older adults

1. Luc Djouss??,
2. Mary L Biggs,
3. Rozenn N Lemaitre,
4. Irena B King,
5. Xiaoling Song,
6. Joachim H Ix,
7. Kenneth J Mukamal,
8. David S Siscovick, and
9. Dariush Mozaffarian
+ Author Affiliations
1. 1From the Divisions of Aging (LD) and Cardiovascular Medicine and Channing Laboratory (DM), Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center and Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology and Research Information Center, Boston Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, Boston, MA (LD); the Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Community Medicine (MLB), the Cardiovascular Health Research Unit, Department of Medicine (RNL and DSS) and the Department of Epidemiology (DSS), University of Washington, Seattle, WA; the Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (IBK); the Public Health Science Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA (XS); the Division of Nephrology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA (JHI); and Nephrology Section, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA (JHI); the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (KJM); and the Departments of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA (DM).
+ Author Notes
?? ↵2 The research reported in this article was supported by the National Institute on Aging AG-023629 and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute with cofunding from the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements (grant R01 HL 085710-01 ). Other funding support was provided by R01 HL094555, AG-15928, AG-20098, AG-027058, and R01 HL-075366 from the National Institutes of Health and the University of Pittsburgh Claude D Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (P30-AG-024827). The Cardiovascular Health Study was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (contract numbers N01-HC-85239, N01-HC-85079 through N01-HC-85086, N01-HC- 35129, N01 HC-15103, N01 HC-55222, N01-HC-75150, and N01-HC-45133 and grant no. U01 HL080295) with additional support from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
?? ↵3 Address correspondence to L Djouss??, Division of Aging, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 1620 Tremont Street, Third Floor; Boston, MA 02120. E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract
Background: Although long-chain omega-3 fatty acid (n−3 FA) consumption estimated via food-frequency questionnaires has been associated with a higher incidence of diabetes, limited prospective data on diabetes risk are available that use objective biomarkers of n−3 FAs.
Objective: We sought to examine the relation between plasma phospholipid n−3 FAs and incident diabetes.
Design: We prospectively analyzed data in 3088 older men and women (mean age: 75 y) from the Cardiovascular Health Study (1992?C2007). Plasma phospholipid n−3 FAs were measured by using gas chromatography, and incident diabetes was ascertained by using information on hypoglycemic agents and serum glucose. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate multivariable-adjusted relative risks.
Results: During a median follow-up of 10.6 y, 204 new cases of diabetes occurred. In a multivariable model that controlled for age, sex, race, clinic site, body mass index, alcohol intake, smoking, physical activity, LDL cholesterol, and linoleic acid, relative risks (95% CIs) for diabetes were 1.0 (reference), 0.96 (0.65, 1.43), 1.03 (0.69, 1.54), and 0.64 (0.41, 1.01) across consecutive quartiles of phospholipid eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (P for trend = 0.05). Corresponding relative risks (95% CIs) for phospholipid ??-linolenic acid (ALA) were 1.0 (reference), 0.93 (0.65, 1.34), 0.99 (0.68, 1.44), and 0.57 (0.36, 0.90) (P for trend = 0.03).
Conclusions: With the use of objective biomarkers, long-chain n−3 FAs and ALA were not associated with a higher incidence of diabetes. Individuals with the highest concentrations of both types of FAs had lower risk of diabetes.

Source: Am J Clin Nutr August 2011 vol. 94 no. 2 527-533

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