[Chemically prepared fats and Crohn disease. A pilot study of the occurrence of trans-fatty acids in the subcutaneous tissue of Crohn patients in comparison with healthy controls as a parameter of long-term fat intake].

In a pilot study the fatty acid pattern of subcutaneous adipose tissue from 22 patients with Crohn's disease and 22 subjects of a healthy control group was analyzed using glass capillary gas-liquid chromatography. Among all fatty acids amounting to at least 1% peak area of the chromatograms, only trans-octadecenoate differed significantly (p less than 0.05) between both study groups, the mean value being 2.39 +/- 0.83% in patients with Crohn's disease and 1.96 +/- 0.46% in healthy controls. Also the mean value of trans-hexadecenoate was significantly (p less than 0.05) higher in the Crohn group (0.25 +/- 0.07%) than in the control group (0.21 +/- 0.06%). There was a strongly positive linear correlation (p less than 0.001) between the trans-hexadecenoate and trans-octadecenoate values for the Crohn patients but not for the controls. Our results demonstrate that patients with Crohn's disease as a group consume more trans-monoene fatty acids than healthy controls, thus providing evidence for a higher intake of chemically processed fats like margarine, shortenings, frying and cooking fats. In further studies which are necessary to examine Guthy's hypothesis the fatty acid composition of adipose tissue should be followed up as an ideal marker of long-term dietary compliance.