Associations between circulating fatty acid levels and metabolic risk factors

Abstract

Circulating plasma fatty acids may play detrimental roles in metabolic health. Elevated fatty acid levels are always associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, few studies have been conducted to examine the fasting plasma fatty acid profiles of healthy Asian populations with respect to obesity and metabolic health. In this study, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 172 healthy adults living in Singapore (age, 40 ± 14 y; 62 men). Our results show that no significant relationships between circulating fatty acid levels, obesity and insulin resistance were observed in current participants. While saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) elicited hypercholesterolemia effects, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially omega-6, were hypocholesterolemic. Moreover, the most abundant fatty acids in the present participants included oleic acid (OA), palmitic acid (PA), stearic acid (SA), and linoleic acid (LA). While OA and SA were positively correlated with TG and TC, LA was negatively correlated with TG, TC, and LDL-C, but positively correlated with HDL-C. These results suggested that there are some adverse features in the plasma fatty acid profiles in present participants with respect to metabolic health. This information is useful in making dietary recommendations to provide the ideal fatty acid profiles that may reduce the cardiovascular risks of Chinese population living in Singapore.