Gender differential in apo E genotypes’ correlative tendency to dyslipidaemia responsiveness upon flaxseed oil administration in adult type 2 diabetic patients not meeting the 2008 Canadian Practice Guidelines

Abstract

Fasting blood serum lipid concentrations, low density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation, hypertension, and various anthropometric measures such as waist circumference are important measures of coronary atherosclerosis risk in type 2 diabetics. Apo E genotypes, leptin and adiponectin, modify fasting blood serum lipid levels and thus the degree of atherosclerosis as assessed in part by c-reactive protein (CRP). Hypertension, LDL oxidation and increased waist circumference promote atherosclerosis and hence the risk of myocardial infarction. It was hypothesised that there would be apo E, adiponectin, leptin and gender driven differences in myocardial infarction risk including hypertension, various anthropometric measures, CRP levels and at least some of the lipid levels including their modulating levels of leptin and adiponectin as the result of the administration of flaxseed oil (60 mg/kg bodyweight/day of alpha-linolenic acid for 90 days) and that apo E genotype would play a role in lipid responsiveness to such flaxseed oil administration. The purpose of this study was to assess this hypothesis. The only significant change seen was a statistically significant drop in cholesterol only in females consuming flaxseed oil with correlative evidence of apo E genotypic influence on other lipid parameter responsiveness in males and females. The absence of change in leptin and adiponectin levels suggests that this change did not occur due to these, lipid modulating, adipocytokines. Dietary intakes of calories, oleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid were consistent for each gender/treatment group and therefore consistent with no change in waist circumference. It is concluded that flaxseed oil consumption at an alpha-linolenic acid level of 60 mg/kg body weight/day for three months has no impact on the cardiovascular disease risk factors studied in the overall population herein except for cholesterol in female type 2 diabetics consuming flaxseed oil. However, in certain apo E genotypes there was a greater sensitivity to change in lipid parameters.