Plasma omega-3 fatty acids and incident diabetes in older adults
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 05/23/2011
Djousse L et al. – With the use of objective biomarkers, long–chain n?3 FAs and ALA were not associated with a higher incidence of diabetes. Individuals with the highest concentrations of both types of FAs had lower risk of diabetes.
Methods- Authors prospectively analyzed data in 3088 older men and women (mean age: 75 y) from the Cardiovascular Health Study (1992–2007)
- Plasma phospholipid n–3 FAs were measured by using gas chromatography, and incident diabetes was ascertained by using information on hypoglycemic agents and serum glucose
- Authors used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate multivariable–adjusted relative risks
- During a median follow–up of 10.6 y, 204 new cases of diabetes occurred
- In a multivariable model that controlled for age, sex, race, clinic site, body mass index, alcohol intake, smoking, physical activity, LDL cholesterol, and linoleic acid, relative risks (95% CIs) for diabetes were 1.0 (reference), 0.96 (0.65, 1.43), 1.03 (0.69, 1.54), and 0.64 (0.41, 1.01) across consecutive quartiles of phospholipid eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (P for trend = 0.05)
- Corresponding relative risks (95% CIs) for phospholipid α–linolenic acid (ALA) were 1.0 (reference), 0.93 (0.65, 1.34), 0.99 (0.68, 1.44), and 0.57 (0.36, 0.90) (P for trend = 0.03)
