Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T06:50:55.975Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Biomarkers and the measurement of fatty acids

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2006

Lenore Arab  and
Jabar Akbar
Lenore Arab*
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Jabar Akbar
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Objective:

To review the various biomarkers of dietary intakes of fatty acids in human populations, their measurement, limitations and analytical considerations.

Design:

Review of the literature.

Results:

Although there is no good biomarker of intake of total fat, a number of alternatives exist for assessing the intakes of exogenously produced fatty acids that are consumed. Adipose tissue, erythrocyte membrane concentrations and serum or plasma levels can reflect prior intakes over the past few hours to the past few years. The concentrations of individual fatty acids in these media generally reflect relative levels, and are influenced by a number of factors. Although relatively expensive to analyse, a single analysis by gas chromatography or high-performance liquid chromatography provides information on multiple fatty acids, and is superior to attempting to measure specific fatty acids using traditional dietary assessment methods.

Conclusions:

Biomarkers of fatty acids that reflect long-term intake are available for nutritional epidemiology purposes. Analytical methods have become very accurate and able to detect and quantify smaller families, such as trans-fatty acids.

Keywords

Fatty acidsBiomarkersAdipose tissueSerum lipidsDietary fatNutritional epidemiology
Type
Part C. Recent advances in the evaluation of assessment methods using biomarkers
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 5 , Issue 6a , December 2002 , pp. 865 - 871
Copyright
Copyright © CAB International 2002

References

1Kohlmeier, L. What you should know about your marker. In: Kok, FJ, van't Veer, P, eds. Biomarkers of Dietary Exposure.Proceedings of the 3rd Meeting on Nutritional Epidemiology. London: Smith-Gordon, 1991; 15–25.Google Scholar
2Pearce, N, de Sanjose, S, Boffetta, P, Kogevinas, M, Saracci, R, Savitz, D. Limitations of biomarkers of exposure in cancerepidemiology. Epidemiology 1995; 6: 190–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3Lichtman, SW, Pisarska, K, Berman, ER, Pestone, M, Dowling, H, Offenbacher, E, et al. Discrepancy between self-reportedand actual caloric intake and exercise in obese subjects. N. Engl. J. Med. 1992; 327: 1893–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4Hellerstein, MK. De novo lipogenesis in humans: metabolic and regulatory aspects. Eur.J. Clin. Nutr. 1999; 53(Suppl. 1): S53–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5Kohlmeier, L. Future of dietary exposure assessment. Am.J. Clin. Nutr. 1995; 61: 702S–9S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6Beynen, AC, Katan, MB. Rapid sampling and long-termstorage of subcutaneous adipose-tissue biopsies for determinationof fatty acid composition. Am.J. Clin. Nutr. 1985; 42: 317–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7Handelman, GJ, Epstein, WL, Machlin, LJ, van Kuijk, FJGM, Dratz, EA. Biopsy method for human adipose with vitamin E and lipid measurements. Lipids 1988; 23: 598–604.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8Malcom, GT, Bhattacharyya, AK, Velez-Duran, M, Guzman, MA, Oalmann, MC, Strong, JP. Fatty acid composition ofadipose tissue in humans: differences between subcutaneous sites. Am.J. Clin. Nutr. 1989; 50: 288–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9Hendrikse, PW, Harwood, JL, Kates, M. Analytical methods. In: Gunstone, FD, Harwood, JL, Padley, FB, eds. The LipidHandbook, 2nd ed. London: Chapman & Hall, 1994; 319–58.Google Scholar
10Christie, WW. Detectors for high-performance liquid chromatographyof lipids with special reference to evaporativelight-scattering detection. In: Christie, WW, ed. Advances inLipid Methodology – One. Glasgow: The Oily Press, 1992; 239–71.Google Scholar
11Sehat, N, Rickert, R, Mossoba, MM, Kramer, JKG, Yurawecz, MP, Roach, JAG, et al. Improved separation of conjugated fattyacid methyl esters by silver ion–high performance liquid chromatography. Lipids 1999; 34: 407–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Fordyce, MK, Christakis, G, Kafatos, A, Duncan, R, Cassady, J. Adipose tissue fatty acid composition of adolescents in aUS–Greece cross-cultural study of coronary heart diseaserisk factors. J.Chronic Dis. 1983; 36: 481–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13Blondheim, SH, Horne, T, Davidovich, R, Kapitulnik, J, Segal, S, Kaufmann, NA. Unsaturated fatty acids in adipose tissue ofIsraeli Jews. Isr.J.Med. Sci. 1976; 12: 658–61.Google ScholarPubMed
14Shorland, FB, Czochanska, Z, Prior, IAM. Studies on fatty acidcomposition of adipose tissue and blood lipids ofPolynesians. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1969; 22: 594–605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15Moriya, K, Itoh, S. Regional and seasonal differences in thefatty acid composition of human subcutaneous fat. Int.J. Biometeorol. 1969; 13: 141–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16Horrobin, DF. Nutritional and medical importance of gammalinolenic acid. Prog. Lipid Res. 1992; 31: 163–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17 Panel on Macronutrients,Food and Nutrition Board, National Academy of Science Letter. Report on dietaryreference intakes for trans fatty acids [online]. Available at http://www.nas.org, 2002.Google Scholar
18Ip, C, Singh, M, Thompson, HJ, Scimeca, JA. Conjugated linoleic acid suppresses mammary carcinogenesis andproliferative activity of the mammary gland in the rat. Cancer Res. 1994; 54: 1212–5.Google ScholarPubMed
19Banni, S, Angioni, E, Casu, V, Melis, MP, Carta, G, Corongiu, FP, et al. Decrease in linoleic acid metabolites as a potentialmechanism in cancer risk reduction by conjugated linoleicacid. Carcinogenesis 1999; 20: 1019–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20Kohlmeier, L, Bellach, B. Exposure assessment error and itshandling in nutritional epidemiology. Annu. Rev. Public Health 1995; 16: 43–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed