Plasma fatty acid composition of breast-feeding Sudanese women.

The status of essential fatty acids has been evaluated in 75 well-nourished Sudanese women of two villages of the irrigated Gezira area. All were consuming local Sudanese food. The fatty acid composition of the plasma cholesterolester and phospholipid fractions was estimated by capillary gas chromatography. Compared to values published from healthy American controls (Holman et al., 1979) their values of linoleic acid, dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid, and arachidonic acid were adequate. Eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid were found to be lower. Trans fatty acids were very low. With increasing levels of linoleic acid in the phospholipid fraction the arachidonic acid levels decreased, thus showing a regulation of the phospholipid arachidonic acid content. The ratio linoleic acid/dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid, reflecting the delta 6-desaturation and the following elongation step, increased with rising linoleic acid values.