Composition of serum fatty acids in healthy children.

In 81 children aged 0-18 years with normal body weight the serum pattern of fatty acids (FA) were determined by means of gas chromatography. The results show that of the 11 FA determined chromatographically, unsaturated and saturated fatty acids had differences in their distribution in the plasma. A certain regularity of these differences in favour of unsaturated fatty acids was observed. At the same time it was demonstrated that the mean values of unsaturated essential fatty acids (EUFA) increased with the age of a child. These results suggest that the plasma FA pattern may be a valuable supplementary source of information about lipid metabolism disturbances in children.