Relationships Among Omega‐3 fatty acids, Anthropometrics, and Biochemical Markers in College Students

Abstract

Students participated in a college life survey, an n‐3 FFQ, and a fasting blood draw. Participants were classified as normal weight (BMI < 25 kg/m2, n=27.), overweight (25–29.9 kg/m2, n=16), or obese (≥30 kg/m2, n=12.). IL‐6 negatively correlated with plasma phospholipid EPA (−0.387) and DHA (−0.396) and positively with saturated fat (0.469) (P<0.05) only in the normal weight. While IL‐6 correlated with lipids in the normal weight, a positive correlation was found with IL‐6 and body weight (BW) in the obese (0.627) and overweight (0.506). Ghrelin had a negative correlation with BW (−0.504), EPA (−0.415) and total n3 (−0.397) and a positive correlation with the n6:n3 ratio (0.496) in the normal weight (P<0.01) while not correlating with any of these variables in the overweight and obese.Blood n‐3 PUFAs were similar in overweight and obese women, but were 25% higher in overweight than normal weight women. The difference in women total n‐3 PUFA levels was induced by cumulative differences in EPA, DHA, and DPA and the combined influence on total n‐3 PUFA as there was no difference within the sex for the specific n‐3 PUFA. There was no difference in total n‐3 PUFA in men; however, the overweight had significantly lower DHA than the normal and obese men at a mean of 3.0 mol% vs. 4.9 and 4.6 mol%, respectively. While there were differences between individuals with different BMI's the health implication need to be evaluated.