"General Medicine and Hypertension" Unit, Department of Medicine, AOUI, Hospital "Policlinico G.B. Rossi", University of Verona, P.le LA Scuro 10, 37134, Verona, Italy.
Department of Surgery, Dentistry, Paediatrics and Gynaecology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
Eur J Nutr. 2019 Mar;58(2):731-742. doi: 10.1007/s00394-018-1677-2. Epub 2018 Mar 28.
Obesity leads to the clustering of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and the metabolic syndrome (MetS) also in children and is often accompanied by non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Quality of dietary fat, beyond the quantity, can influence CV risk profile and, in particular, omega-3 fatty acids (FA) have been proposed as beneficial in this setting. The aim of the study was to evaluate the associations of individual CV risk factors, characterizing the MetS, with erythrocyte membrane FA, markers of average intake, in a group of 70 overweight/obese children.
We conducted an observational study. Erythrocyte membrane FA were measured by gas chromatography. Spearman correlation coefficients (r) were calculated to evaluate associations between FA and features of the MetS.
Mean content of Omega-3 FA was low (Omega-3 Index = 4.7 ± 0.8%). Not omega-3 FA but some omega-6 FA, especially arachidonic acid (AA), were inversely associated with several features of the MetS: AA resulted inversely correlated with waist circumference (r = - 0.352), triglycerides (r = - 0.379), fasting insulin (r = - 0.337) and 24-h SBP (r = - 0.313). Total amount of saturated FA (SFA) and specifically palmitic acid, correlated positively with waist circumference (r = 0.354), triglycerides (r = 0.400) and fasting insulin (r = 0.287). Fatty Liver Index (FLI), a predictive score of steatosis based on GGT, triglycerides and anthropometric indexes, was positively correlated to palmitic acid (r = 0.515) and inversely to AA (r = - 0.472).
Our data suggest that omega-6 FA, and especially AA, could be protective toward CV risk factors featuring the MetS and also to indexes of hepatic steatosis in obese children, whereas SFA seems to exert opposite effects.
肥胖会导致心血管（CV）风险因素和代谢综合征（MetS）在儿童中聚集，并且通常伴有非酒精性脂肪肝疾病。膳食脂肪的质量，而不仅仅是数量，会影响 CV 风险状况，特别是ω-3 脂肪酸（FA）已被提议在此情况下有益。本研究的目的是评估个体 CV 风险因素与红细胞膜 FA 之间的相关性，这些因素可以描述代谢综合征，在一组 70 名超重/肥胖儿童中。
我们进行了一项观察性研究。通过气相色谱法测量红细胞膜 FA。计算 Spearman 相关系数（r）以评估 FA 与 MetS 特征之间的关联。
ω-3 FA 的平均含量较低（ω-3 指数= 4.7±0.8%）。不是 ω-3 FA，而是一些 ω-6 FA，特别是花生四烯酸（AA），与代谢综合征的几个特征呈负相关：AA 与腰围（r=-0.352）、甘油三酯（r=-0.379）、空腹胰岛素（r=-0.337）和 24 小时 SBP（r=-0.313）呈负相关。饱和脂肪酸（SFA）的总量和特定的棕榈酸与腰围（r=0.354）、甘油三酯（r=0.400）和空腹胰岛素（r=0.287）呈正相关。脂肪性肝病指数（FLI），一种基于 GGT、甘油三酯和人体测量指标预测脂肪变性的评分，与棕榈酸呈正相关（r=0.515），与 AA 呈负相关（r=-0.472）。
我们的数据表明，ω-6 FA，尤其是 AA，可能对代谢综合征的 CV 风险因素具有保护作用，并且对肥胖儿童的肝脂肪变性指数也具有保护作用，而 SFA 似乎具有相反的作用。
