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Validation of the omega-3 fatty acid intake measured by a web-based food frequency questionnaire against omega-3 fatty acids in red blood cells in men with prostate cancer

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 69, pages 1004–1008 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of a web-based self-administered food frequency questionnaire (web-FFQ) to assess the omega-3 (ω-3) fatty acids (FAs) intake of men affected with prostate cancer (PCa) against a biomarker.

Subjects/Methods:

The study presented herein is a sub-study from a phase II clinical trial. Enrolled patients afflicted with PCa were included in the sub-study analysis if the FA profiles from the red blood cell (RBC) membranes and FA intakes at baseline were both determined at the time of the data analysis (n=60). Spearman’s correlation coefficients were calculated to estimate the correlations between FA intakes and their proportions in the RBC membranes.

Results:

Intakes of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were highly correlated with their respective proportions in the RBC membranes (both rs=0.593, P<0.0001). Correlation between alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) intake and its proportion in RBC was not significant (rs=0.130, P=0.332). Correlations were observed between fatty fish intake and total ω-3 FAs (rs=0.304, P=0.02), total long-chain ω-3 FAs (rs=0.290, P=0.03) and DHA (rs=0.328, P=0.01) in RBC membranes.

Conclusions:

This study has shown that the web-FFQ is an accurate tool to assess total long-chain ω-3 FAs, EPA and DHA but not ALA intake in clinical trials and epidemiological studies carried out in men with PCa.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all patients who participated in this study. This research was funded by Prostate Cancer Canada (clinician scientist award) and the American Urological Association (young investigator grant) awarded to VF, and also Fonds de Recherche du Québec en Santé, Junior 1 career award to support this work. JA is a recipient of scholarships for undergraduate students from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. M-EL is a recipient of doctoral scholarships from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Fonds de recherche du Québec—Santé. BL is Chair in Nutrition and Cardiovascular Health at the Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Laval University. PJ is director of the Endocrinology and Nephrology Axis at the CHU de Québec Research Center, Laval University. We thank Hélène Hovington and Claire Ménard for the management of database and collection of biological specimens. Finally, we thank Line Berthiaume and Karine Greffard for the analyses of fatty acid profiles of biological specimens.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery (Urology), CHU de Québec, L'Hôtel-Dieu de Quebec, Quebec City, Canada

    J Allaire, X Moreel, C Léger, A Caron & V Fradet

  2. CHU de Québec, Research Center, Oncology Axis, CHU de Québec, Laval University, Quebec City, Canada

    J Allaire, X Moreel, C Léger, A Caron & V Fradet

  3. Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods, Laval University, Quebec City, Canada

    M-È Labonté, B Lamarche & V Fradet

  4. CHU de Québec Research Center, Endocrinology and Nephrology Axis, CHU de Québec, Laval University, Quebec City, Canada

    P Julien

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Correspondence to V Fradet.

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Allaire, J., Moreel, X., Labonté, MÈ. et al. Validation of the omega-3 fatty acid intake measured by a web-based food frequency questionnaire against omega-3 fatty acids in red blood cells in men with prostate cancer. Eur J Clin Nutr 69, 1004–1008 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2015.7

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