Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Nutrients. 2023 Apr 17;15(8):1933. doi: 10.3390/nu15081933.
Malnutrition is prevalent in low-middle-income countries (LMICs), but it is usually clinically diagnosed through abnormal anthropometric parameters characteristic of protein energy malnutrition (PEM). In doing so, other contributors or byproducts of malnutrition, notably essential fatty acid deficiency (EFAD), are overlooked. Previous research performed mainly in high-income countries (HICs) shows that deficiencies in essential fatty acids (EFAs) and their -3 and -6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) byproducts (also known as highly unsaturated fatty acids or HUFAs) lead to both abnormal linear growth and impaired cognitive development. These adverse developmental outcomes remain an important public health issue in LMICs. To identify EFAD before severe malnutrition develops, clinicians should perform blood fatty acid panels to measure levels of fatty acids associated with EFAD, notably Mead acid and HUFAs. This review demonstrates the importance of measuring endogenous fatty acid levels for measuring fatty acid intake in various child populations in LMICs. Featured topics include a comparison of fatty acid levels between global child populations, the relationships between growth and cognition and PUFAs and the possible mechanisms driving these relationships, and the potential importance of EFAD and HUFA scores as biomarkers of overall health and normal development.
营养不良在中低收入国家（LMICs）很普遍，但通常通过典型的蛋白质能量营养不良（PEM）的异常人体测量参数来临床诊断。在这样做的过程中，其他营养不良的原因或副产物，特别是必需脂肪酸缺乏症（EFAD），则被忽视了。以前在高收入国家（HICs）进行的研究表明，必需脂肪酸（EFAs）及其 -3 和 -6 多不饱和脂肪酸（PUFA）副产物（也称为高度不饱和脂肪酸或 HUFAs）的缺乏会导致线性生长异常和认知发育受损。这些不良的发育结果在 LMICs 仍然是一个重要的公共卫生问题。为了在严重营养不良发生之前识别 EFAD，临床医生应该进行血液脂肪酸谱分析，以测量与 EFAD 相关的脂肪酸水平，特别是亚油酸和 HUFAs。这篇综述强调了在 LMICs 中测量各种儿童人群的内源性脂肪酸水平以衡量脂肪酸摄入量的重要性。重点介绍的主题包括全球儿童人群之间的脂肪酸水平比较、生长和认知与多不饱和脂肪酸的关系以及这些关系的可能机制，以及 EFAD 和 HUFAs 评分作为整体健康和正常发育的生物标志物的潜在重要性。
