Effect of trans fatty acid intake on LC-MS and NMR plasma profiles

PLoS One. 2013 Jul 29;8(7):e69589. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069589. Print 2013.

Abstract

Background: The consumption of high levels of industrial trans fatty acids (TFA) has been related to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and sudden cardiac death but the causal mechanisms are not well known. In this study, NMR and LC-MS untargeted metabolomics has been used as an approach to explore the impact of TFA intake on plasma metabolites.

Methodology/principal findings: In a double-blinded randomized controlled parallel-group study, 52 overweight postmenopausal women received either partially hydrogenated soybean oil, providing 15.7 g/day of TFA (trans18:1) or control oil with mainly oleic acid for 16 weeks. Subsequent to the intervention period, the subjects participated in a 12-week dietary weight loss program. Before and after the TFA intervention and after the weight loss programme, volunteers participated in an oral glucose tolerance test. PLSDA revealed elevated lipid profiles with TFA intake. NMR indicated up-regulated LDL cholesterol levels and unsaturation. LC-MS profiles demonstrated elevated levels of specific polyunsaturated (PUFA) long-chain phosphatidylcholines (PCs) and a sphingomyelin (SM) which were confirmed with a lipidomics based method. Plasma levels of these markers of TFA intake declined to their low baseline levels after the weight loss program for the TFA group and did not fluctuate for the control group. The marker levels were unaffected by OGTT.

Conclusions/significance: This study demonstrates that intake of TFA affects phospholipid metabolism. The preferential integration of trans18:1 into the sn-1 position of PCs, all containing PUFA in the sn-2 position, could be explained by a general up-regulation in the formation of long-chain PUFAs after TFA intake and/or by specific mobilisation of these fats into PCs. NMR supported these findings by revealing increased unsaturation of plasma lipids in the TFA group. These specific changes in membrane lipid species may be related to the mechanisms of TFA-induced disease but need further validation as risk markers.

Trial registration: Registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00655902.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Chromatography, Liquid
  • Double-Blind Method
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Lipid Metabolism / drug effects
  • Lipids / blood*
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Phospholipids / blood
  • Sphingomyelins / blood
  • Trans Fatty Acids / administration & dosage
  • Trans Fatty Acids / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Lipids
  • Phospholipids
  • Sphingomyelins
  • Trans Fatty Acids

Associated data

  • ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT00655902

Grants and funding

This work is carried out as a part of the research program of the Danish Obesity Research Centre (DanORC, www.danorc.dk), funded by the Danish Strategic Research Council and also supported by Nordic Centre of Excellence (NCoE) programme “Systems biology in controlled dietary interventions and cohort studies—SYSDIET, P no. 070014” (www.sysdiet.fi). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.