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Epidemiology and Population Health

Higher erythrocyte n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid were associated with a better profile of DXA-derived body fat and fat distribution in adults

International Journal of Obesity volume 44, pages 1884–1892 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background

Previous studies have reported that high-dose supplementation of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may reduce the risk of metabolic diseases, but there is limited evidence of an effect on body fat. We examined the associations of erythrocyte n-3 PUFAs with body fat and fat distribution in a general population consuming a normal diet.

Methods

This community-based cross-sectional study included 3075 Chinese (68% women, 40–75 years) recruited between 2008 and 2013. We collected general information and measured anthropometric indices; erythrocyte n-3 PUFAs (including α-C18:3, C20:5, C22:5 and C22:6) by gas-chromatography, and fat mass (FM) and %FM at the total body (TB), android (A) and gynoid (G) regions by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA).

Results

Both minimally and maximally adjusted models showed dose-dependent inverse associations of total and individual levels of erythrocyte n-3 PUFAs (except C20:5 n-3[EPA]) with adiposity indices. In the full model, the mean differences between quartiles 4 and 1 of total n-3 PUFAs were −1.60% (BMI), −4.06% (TB FM), −5.38% (A FM), −2.05% (G FM), −2.05% (TB %FM), −3.39% (A %FM) and −2.50% (% A/G); the ORs (95% CI) of %FM-derived obesity (≥25% for men, ≥35% for women) for the highest (vs. lowest) quartile were 0.70 (0.57, 0.86) for total n-3 PUFAs and 0.71 (0.58, 0.87), 0.96(0.78, 1.18), 0.82(0.67, 1.00), 0.66 (0.54, 0.81) for α-C18:3/C20:5/C22:5/C22:6 n-3, respectively. The favourable associations were more pronounced for the DXA-derived FM indices, measurements at the android region and for C22:6 n-3. No significant associations between C20:5 n-3 and the adiposity indices were observed.

Conclusions

Higher levels of circulating n-3 PUFAs were dose-dependently associated with better profiles of body fat and fat distribution, particularly in the abdominal regions in this population.

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Fig. 1: Regions of abdomen (A region) and hip and thigh region (G region) fat as assessed by DXA.
Fig. 2: Percentage mean (change) differences and its standard errors for indices of body fat and fat distribution by quartiles of total and individual erythrocyte n-3 PUFAs levels.
Fig. 3: The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidential intervals (95% CI) of %FM-derived obesity for quartiles 2–4 compared with quartile 1 (lowest) of each and total n-3 PUFAs.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the participants and the coordination staff in the GNHS cohort study gratefully.

Funding

This study was supported by National Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81773416, 81472965, 81602853); the 5010 Programme for Clinical Researches (No. 2007032) by the Sun Yat-sen University. The funders had no role in study design, the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, the writing of the report, and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Yi-hong Li, Ting-yu Sun

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  1. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 510080, Guangzhou, China

    Yi-hong Li, Ting-yu Sun, Yan-yan Wu, Cheng-feng Li, Chu-yun Ling, Fang-fang Zeng & Yu-ming Chen

  2. Department of Epidemiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Jinan University, 510632, Guangzhou, China

    Fang-fang Zeng

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Contributions

YMC conceived and designed the research; YHL, TYS, YYW, CFL, CWL, FFZ collected the data; YHL performed the data analysis and wrote the paper; YMC critically revised the manuscript and had primary responsibility for final content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yu-ming Chen.

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Li, Yh., Sun, Ty., Wu, Yy. et al. Higher erythrocyte n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid were associated with a better profile of DXA-derived body fat and fat distribution in adults. Int J Obes 44, 1884–1892 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-020-0569-8

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