Linoleic acid (LA) is a primary n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), which is of interest to nutritional professionals as it has been associated with health outcomes. However, as some LA-rich foods offer protection against chronic diseases such as CVD (e.g., fatty fish), while others increase risk (e.g., red meat), the individual foods contributing to LA intake may be an important factor to consider. Therefore, this analysis sought to examine whether there are racial/ethnic differences in the proportion of overall LA intake accounted for by individual food groups, via a cross-sectional analysis of 3815 adults participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES; 2017-2018 cycle). Separate multivariable linear regressions models specified the proportion of overall LA intake attributable to each of the nine food groups (dairy, eggs, fat, fish, fruits and vegetables, grains, meat, nuts, and sweets) as the outcome, and race/ethnicity as the predictor, with age, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES) as covariates, in order to estimate whether there were mean differences by race/ethnicity in the proportion of overall LA intake attributable to each of these foods seperately. After a Bonferroni correction for multiple testing, eggs, grains, fruits and vegetables, meat, and fish each accounted for a different proportion of overall LA intake according to racial/ethnic grouping (all p < 0.006 after a Bonferroni correction). These findings indicate the food sources of LA in the diet differ by race/ethnicity, and warrant future investigations into whether this plays a role in health disparities.
Keywords: adequate intake; cardiovascular disease; fish; food groups; fruits and vegetables; grains; meat; polyunsaturated fatty acids.