Could Omega-6 Levels in Adipose Predict Mortality Risk?

Adipose tissue linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) found in vegetable oils, was inversely associated with all-cause mortality, but not cardiovascular mortality, according to a new study from Sweden.

The major PUFAs in adipose tissue can more accurately indicate long-term dietary intake compared to self-reporting dietary intake. The researchers aimed to investigate whether adipose tissue PUFAs could predict cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in a cohort of elderly men.
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To conduct their retrospective study, the researchers collected data from the Uppsala Longitudinal Cohort of Adult Men study, which originally included 2322 men born from 1920 to 1924 and was conducted from 1970 to 1973 in Sweden.

At a reinvestigation at age 71 years, 1221 of the 1681 invited men participated, of which 853 men had an adipose tissue sample taken for biopsy.

Primary analysis was comprised of 4 PUFAs thought to reflect dietary intake, including linoleic acid, α-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid. Secondary analysis included all other PUFAs.

Of the 853 men who had a biopsy, 605 died, of which 251 were related to cardiovascular causes.

Primary analysis showed that the 4 PUFAs were not associated with cardiovascular mortality, but linoleic acid was inversely associated with all-cause mortality and directly associated with dietary intake.

Secondary analysis showed that palmitoleic acid was associated with higher all-cause mortality, heptadecanoic acid was associated with lower all-cause mortality, and arachidonic:linoleic acid ratio was associated with both cardiovascular and all-cause mortality.

“Adipose tissue linoleic acid was inversely associated with all-cause mortality in elderly men, although not significantly with cardiovascular mortality,” the researchers concluded.

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Iggman D, Ärnlöv J, Cederholm T, Risérus U. Association of adipose tissue fatty acids with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in elderly men [published online August 17, 2016]. doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2016.2259.