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Background: Serum fatty acid content mainly reflects dietary fat intake. It is not known whether alterations of serum fatty acid compositions predict type 2 diabetes risk.
Methods: We evaluated fatty acid contents in serum of the 76 normal and 98 diabetic adults taking part in a cross sectional study, using a gas chromatography method.
Results: The contents of total saturated (SFAs) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) of the diabetic subjects were significantly higher when compared to the controls (p = 0.006, p = 0.02 respectively). Serum linoleic and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFAs) contents of subjects with diabetes were significantly lower than the control group (p = 0.02).
There was a negative correlation (p = 0.001, r = -0.429 ) between serum PUFAs contents and cholesterol/HDL-C ratio in the control group, whereas this correlation in people with diabetes was not significant (p = 0.12). The correlation between serum TG (triglyceride) and SFAs contents of the diabetic patients was significantly positive (p = 0.01, r = 0.252). A significant negative correlation (p = 0.001, r = -0.421) was found between PUFA contents and serum TG levels of people with diabetes; however, the same correlation for the control group was not significant (p = 0.56).
Conclusions: Diabetes incidence was significantly and positively associated with the proportions of serum palmitic, total saturated and monounsaturated fatty acid contents. Our findings with the use of this biomarker suggest that the dietary fat profile, particularly that of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, may contribute to the etiology of diabetes. It seems that patients with type 2 diabetes can have good control on lipid parameters with a higher intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids than saturated fatty acids.
DOI: 10.7754/Clin.Lab.2012.120212
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