Circulating Very-Long-Chain Saturated Fatty Acids Were Inversely Associated with Cardiovascular Health: A Prospective Cohort Study and Meta-Analysis

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 12; no. 9; p. 2709
• Main Authors: Liu, Meng, Zuo, Luo-Shi-Yuan, Sun, Ting-Yu, Wu, Yan-Yan, Liu, Yu-Ping, Zeng, Fang-Fang, Chen, Yu-Ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 04.09.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Atherosclerosis; Blood; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; cardiovascular health; Carotid arteries; Carotid Arteries - diagnostic imaging; Carotid Stenosis - diagnostic imaging; Carotid Stenosis - epidemiology; Carotid Stenosis - etiology; China - epidemiology; Cohort analysis; cohort study; Confidence intervals; Erythrocytes; Fatty acids; Fatty Acids - blood; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Gas chromatography; Health risks; Heart Disease Risk Factors; Humans; Incidence; Male; Meta-analysis; Metabolism; Middle Aged; Nutrition Surveys; Nutritional Status; Plaques; Proportional Hazards Models; Prospective Studies; Questionnaires; Sex Factors; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonography; Ultrasound; Veins & arteries; very-long-chain saturated fatty acid; China; Palo Alto California; United States > US; meta-analysis; very-long-chain saturated fatty acid; cohort study; cardiovascular health
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu12092709

Saturated fatty acids with different chain lengths have different biological activities, but little is known about very-long-chain saturated fatty acids (VLCSFAs). This study investigated the associations between the circulating VLCSFAs and cardiovascular health. This community-based cohort study included 2198 adults without carotid artery plaques (CAPs) at baseline. The percentage of baseline erythrocyte VLCSFA (arachidic acid (C20:0), behenic acid (C22:0), and lignoceric acid (C24:0)) was measured by gas chromatography. The presence of CAPs was determined at baseline and every 3 years thereafter by ultrasound examination. A meta-analysis was conducted to summarize the pooled associations between circulating VLCSFAs and the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). During a median of 7.2 years of follow-up, 573 women (35.1%) and 281 men (49.6%) were identified as CAP incident cases. VLCSFAs were inversely related with CAP risk in women (all -trend <0.05) but not in men. Multivariate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of CAPs for the highest (vs. lowest) quartile were 0.80 (0.63-1.01) for C20:0, 0.71 (0.56-0.89) for C22:0, 0.75 (0.59-0.94) for C24:0, and 0.69 (0.55-0.87) for total VLCSFAs in women. The pooled HRs (95% CIs) of CVDs for the highest (vs. lowest) circulating VLCSFAs from seven studies including 8592 participants and 3172 CVD events were 0.67 (0.57-0.79) for C20:0, 0.66 (0.48-0.90) for C22:0, and 0.57 (0.42-0.79) for C24:0, respectively. Our findings suggested that circulating VLCSFAs were inversely associated with cardiovascular health.