Increased Consumption of Unsaturated Fatty Acids Improves Body Composition in a Hypercholesterolemic Chinese Population

Sumanto Haldar; Shalini Ponnalagu; Farhana Osman; Shia Lyn Tay; Long Hui Wong; Yuan Rong Jiang; Melvin Khee Shing Leow; Christiani Jeyakumar Henry

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.869351

Increased Consumption of Unsaturated Fatty Acids Improves Body Composition in a Hypercholesterolemic Chinese Population

Front Nutr. 2022 Apr 25:9:869351. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.869351. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Sumanto Haldar¹, Shalini Ponnalagu¹, Farhana Osman¹, Shia Lyn Tay¹, Long Hui Wong², Yuan Rong Jiang³, Melvin Khee Shing Leow^{4

5

6}, Christiani Jeyakumar Henry^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Clinical Nutrition Research Centre (CNRC), Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovations (SIFBI), Agency for Science Technology and Research (ASTAR), Singapore, Singapore.
² WIL@NUS Corporate Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Centre for Translational Medicine, Singapore, Singapore.
³ Wilmar (Shanghai) Biotechnology Research and Development Center Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China.
⁴ Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (ASTAR), Brenner Centre for Molecular Medicine, Singapore, Singapore.
⁵ Division of Medicine, Department of Endocrinology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, Singapore.
⁶ Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
⁷ Department of Biochemistry, National University of Singapore, 8 Medical Drive, Singapore, Singapore.

Abstract

While an increase in fat intake and the resulting excess calorie intake are implicated in weight gain, different fat types exert variable effects on body composition, with unsaturated fats showing favorable effects on body composition in Western population. Whether and to what extent these associations apply to Asian population have not been established. We investigated the effects of two separate Asian-based oil blends, rich in unsaturated fats, made from refined rice bran, sesame, and flaxseed oils, in comparison with refined olive oil, on body composition using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), from an 8-week, parallel design, randomized trial in 66 men (58.7 ± 5.71 years old, 23.0 ± 2.38 kg/m²) and 69 postmenopausal women (59.1 ± 5.34 years old, 21.7 ± 2.52 kg/m²), with borderline hypercholesterolemia. Despite increases in mean daily intakes of total energy (approximately +400 kcal/day, female, and approximately +240 kcal/day, male), as well as increases in percentage of calories from fats and proteins and decreases in percentage of calories from carbohydrates during the dietary intervention period, there were no significant changes in total body fat mass in both genders and also in all treatment groups. While total body weight increased slightly (0.36 ± 0.12 kg, p = 0.005) in women during intervention, this was mainly due to gain in lean mass (0.38 ± 0.081 kg, p < 0.0001). Correspondingly, there were reductions in total body fat (%), android fat (%), and gynoid fat (%) in women. No significant differences between the 3 intervention oil types were found in any of the measured parameters in either gender. Increasing relative intakes of unsaturated fats may prevent fat mass gain and circumvent muscle mass loss associated with menopause in older Asian women. Long-term studies are needed to confirm findings. This study had been registered on clinicaltrials.gov (Identifier No.: NCT03964857, https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03964857).

Keywords: DXA; blended oils; body fat; lean mass; olive oil; unsaturated fats.

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT03964857