Clin Nutr Res.  2016 Jul;5(3):190-203. 10.7762/cnr.2016.5.3.190.

Serum Phospholipid Docosahexaenoic Acid Is Inversely Associated with Arterial Stiffness in Metabolically Healthy Men

• Lee MH
• Kwon N
• Yoon SR
• Kim OY

• KMID: 2344891
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.7762/cnr.2016.5.3.190

Abstract

We hypothesized that lower proportion of serum phospholipid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is inversely associated with increased cardiovascular risk and vascular function in metabolically healthy men. To elucidate it, we first compared serum phospholipid free fatty acid (FA) compositions and cardiovascular risk parameters between healthy men (n = 499) and male patients with coronary artery disease (CAD, n = 111) (30-69 years) without metabolic syndrome, and then further-analyzed the association of serum phospholipid DHA composition with arterial stiffness expressed by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV) in metabolically healthy men. Basic parameters, lipid profiles, fasting glycemic status, adiponectin, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and LDL particle size, and serum phospholipid FA compositions were significantly different between the two subject groups. Serum phospholipid DHA was highly correlated with most of long-chain FAs. Metabolically healthy men were subdivided into tertile groups according to serum phospholipid DHA proportion: lower (< 2.061%), middle (2.061%-3.235%) and higher (> 3.235%). Fasting glucose, insulin resistance, hs-CRP and ba-PWVs were significantly higher and adiponectin and LDL particle size were significantly lower in the lower-DHA group than the higher-DHA group after adjusted for confounding factors. In metabolically healthy men, multiple stepwise regression analysis revealed that serum phospholipid DHA mainly contributed to arterial stiffness (β'-coefficients = -0.127, p = 0.006) together with age, systolic blood pressure, triglyceride (r = 0.548, p = 0.023). Lower proportion of serum phospholipid DHA was associated with increased cardiovascular risk and arterial stiffness in metabolically healthy men. It suggests that maintaining higher proportion of serum phospholipid DHA may be beneficial for reducing cardiovascular risk including arterial stiffness in metabolically healthy men.

Keyword

Serum phospholipid; Docosahexaenoic acid; Cardiovascular risk; Arterial stiffness; Metabolically healthy

MeSH Terms

Adiponectin
Blood Pressure
C-Reactive Protein
Coronary Artery Disease
Fasting
Glucose
Humans
Insulin Resistance
Male
Particle Size
Pulse Wave Analysis
Triglycerides
Vascular Stiffness*
Adiponectin
C-Reactive Protein
Glucose

Figure

• 

  Figure 1 Proportions of serum phospholipid fatty acids between healthy men and CAD patients.Mean ± S.E.LA, linoleic acid; DGLA, dihomo-γ-linolenic acid; DHA, docosahexaenoic acid; PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acid.*p < 0.05 †p < 0.001 tested by general linear model (GLM) with adjustment for age, waist circumference, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, systolic blood pressure, HDL-cholesterol, total energy expenditure/total calorie intake, dietary carbohydrate (% of total calorie intake), dietary fat (% of total calorie intake); ‡Tested after log transformed.

• 

  Figure 2 Association of serum phospholipid DHA proportion with cardiovascular risk related parameters and arterial stiffness in healthy men. (A) Glucose (mg/dL); (B) HOMA-IR; (C) Adiponectin (µg/dL); (D) hs-CRP (mg/dL); (E) LDL particle size (nm); (F) ba-PWV (cm/sec); (A-D, F) Tested after log transformed; Tested by general linear model (GLM) analysis followed by Bonferroni correction with adjustment for age, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, dietary intake.Mean ± S.E.DHA, docosahexaenoic acid; HOMA-IR, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance; hs-CRP, high sensitivity C-reactive protein; ba-PWV, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity.*,†Variables marked with the same mark indicates no significant difference. Healthy men were subdivided into three tertile groups according to the proportion (%) of DHA in serum phospholipids [lower DHA group: DHA (%) ≤ 2.061; middle DHA group: 2.061 < DHA (%) ≤ 3.235; and higher DHA group: 3.235 < DHA (%)].

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