Circulating Very-Long-Chain SFA Concentrations Are Inversely Associated with Incident Type 2 Diabetes in US Men and Women

Andres V Ardisson Korat; Vasanti S Malik; Jeremy D Furtado; Frank Sacks; Bernard Rosner; Kathryn M Rexrode; Walter C Willett; Dariush Mozaffarian; Frank B Hu; Qi Sun

doi:10.1093/jn/nxz240

Circulating Very-Long-Chain SFA Concentrations Are Inversely Associated with Incident Type 2 Diabetes in US Men and Women

J Nutr. 2020 Feb 1;150(2):340-349. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxz240.

Authors

Andres V Ardisson Korat^{1

2}, Vasanti S Malik¹, Jeremy D Furtado¹, Frank Sacks^{1

3}, Bernard Rosner^{4

5}, Kathryn M Rexrode^{6

7}, Walter C Willett^{1

2

5}, Dariush Mozaffarian^{2

8}, Frank B Hu^{1

2

5}, Qi Sun^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
² Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ Division of Women's Health, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Background: Very-long-chain SFAs (VLCSFAs), such as arachidic acid (20:0), behenic acid (22:0), and lignoceric acid (24:0), have demonstrated inverse associations with cardiometabolic conditions, although more evidence is needed to characterize their relation with risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). In addition, little is known regarding their potential dietary and lifestyle predictors.

Objective: We aimed to examine the association of plasma and erythrocyte concentrations of VLCSFAs with incident T2D risk.

Methods: We used existing measurements of fatty acid concentrations in plasma and erythrocytes among 2854 and 2831 participants in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS), respectively. VLCSFAs were measured using GLC, and individual fatty acid concentrations were expressed as a percentage of total fatty acids. Incident T2D cases were identified by self-reports and confirmed by a validated supplementary questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate the association between VLCSFAs and T2D, adjusting for demographic, lifestyle, and dietary variables.

Results: During 39,941 person-years of follow-up, we documented 243 cases of T2D. Intakes of peanuts, peanut butter, vegetable fat, dairy fat, and palmitic/stearic (16:0-18:0) fatty acids were significantly, albeit weakly, correlated with plasma and erythrocyte VLCSFA concentrations (|rs| ≤ 0.19). Comparing the highest with the lowest quartiles of plasma concentrations, pooled HRs (95% CIs) were 0.51 (0.35, 0.75) for arachidic acid, 0.43 (0.28, 0.64) for behenic acid, 0.40 (0.27, 0.61) for lignoceric acid, and 0.41 (0.27, 0.61) for the sum of VLCSFAs, after multivariate adjustments for demographic, lifestyle, and dietary factors. For erythrocyte VLCSFAs, only arachidic acid and behenic acid concentrations were inversely associated with T2D risk.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that, in US men and women, higher plasma concentrations of VLCSFAs are associated with lower risk of T2D. More research is needed to understand the mechanistic pathways underlying these associations.

Keywords: arachidic acid; behenic acid; biomarker; lignoceric acid; prospective cohort; type 2 diabetes; very-long-chain saturated fatty acids.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / blood*
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / epidemiology
Erythrocytes / metabolism
Fatty Acids / blood*
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
Risk Factors
United States / epidemiology

Substances

Fatty Acids

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding