Erythrocyte Fatty Acids and Association with Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Free‐Living Elderly

Abstract

Aging significantly increases the incidence of various cardiometabolic disease risk factors including diabetes, insulin resistance, hypertension, obesity, and dyslipidemia. These factors, in return, exacerbate the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the major cause of morbidity and mortality among the elderly in the U.S. Unsaturated fats, specifically n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n‐3 PUFAs), have been shown to be inversely related to CVD risk factors, while saturated fat seems to increase the risk for CVD. Not much is known on the association between different fatty acids and cardiometabolic factors, especially in the elderly population.In a subset of the Walnuts and Healthy Aging (WAHA) study, a dual center, randomized controlled trial, we wanted to assess the possible associations between various red blood cell (RBC) membrane fatty acids, biomarkers for long‐term intake of fatty acids, and select cardiometabolic risk factors. Our study encompassed 192 participants with a mean age of 69 years from the Loma Linda, CA center only. The RBC membrane fatty acids and cardiometabolic risk factors (blood pressure, blood lipids, and fasting glucose) were measured at baseline and at the end of one year.RBC membrane n‐3 PUFAs were inversely associated with total plasma cholesterol (ß = ‐3.83; p= 0.02), triglycerides (ß = ‐7.66; p= <0.01), and fasting glucose (ß = ‐0.19; p=0.03). N‐6 PUFAs were positively associated with systolic blood pressure (ß=1.10; P=0.02). Mono‐unsaturated fatty acids were positively associated with TAG (ß = 4.16; P=0.03). Total saturated fatty acids were not associated with any of the cardiometabolic risk factors.RBC membrane fatty acids are good long‐term markers of dietary intake of fatty acids and can be used for diet‐disease relationship studies. Among elderly participants, increased n‐3 PUFAs in RBC may be predictive of lowered cardiometabolic risk.