Plasma phospholipid fatty acid composition as a biomarker of habitual dietary fat intake in an ethnically diverse cohort

Background and aim
As an evaluation of fatty acid intake measurement, our aim was to examine associations between diet and plasma phospholipid (PL) fatty acids, and whether these were modified by age, sex, country of birth, fasting status, use of cholesterol-lowering medication, body size, chronic disease and other lifestyle factors.

Methods and results
Cross-sectional analysis of plasma PL fatty acid composition and dietary fatty acid intake over 12 months from a 121-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) in 4439 men and women aged 40–69 years, born in Australia, Greece or Italy. Crude correlation coefficients ranged from 0.18 to 0.40; and corrected correlation coefficients from 0.38 to 0.78 for total monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, n-6, n-3 fatty acids, oleic acid, linoleic acid, EPA and DHA. Weaker associations were observed for other fatty acids. The associations did not vary significantly by fasting status, use of lipid lowering medication or alcohol intake, but for some fatty acids did vary by sex, age, body mass index, country of birth, smoking and previous heart attack or diabetes.

Conclusions
The FFQ provides useful information on intakes of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Correlations did not differ by fasting status, or use of lipid-lowering medication.