Plasma and adipose tissue fatty acids of diabetic children on long-term corn oil diets.

A method is described to determine the fatty acid composition of small samples of subcutaneous adipose tissue, and of fasting plasma free fatty acids (FFA) and triglycerides. These analyses were carried out on samples from five normal children, six diabetic children consuming a standard diabetic diet, 17 diabetic children prescribed a diet rich in corn oil since diagnosis 4-7 years ago, and 2 brothers with familial hypercholesterolemia on a corn oil diet for 3 yr. The results obtained showed that: (1) The composition of adipose tissue triglycerides in the diabetic children on a standard diet was similar to that in the normal children. (2) The 17 diabetic children were consuming different quantities of corn oil. (3) There was a highly significant correlation between the percentage of linoleic acid present in adipose tissue and in the fasting plasma FFA fraction. It is therefore concluded that future assessments of the adherence of these diabetic children to their corn oil diet will be possible by examination of the fasting plasma FFA fraction, obviating the need for repeated adipose tissue biopsies. (4) The sum of the concentration of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids of the same chain length in adipose tissue was similar to that in the fasting plasma FFA fraction, even though the proportions of individual acids were different in the two fractions.