Adipose tissue fatty acids in men from two populations with different cardiovascular risk: the LiVicordia study

The LiVicordia study was set up to investigate possible causes for coronary heart disease mortality in middle-aged Lithuanian men being four times hig her than in Swedish men. In a previous part of this study we found lower to tal and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in the Lithuanian men in spite of them having a higher fat intake than in the Swedish men. Their LDL was also more susceptible to oxidation in vitro than was that of the Swedi sh men. Fat quality can influence LDL oxidation. In order to obtain data on long-term fat quality intake we measured the fatty acid composition of abd ominal wall adipose tissue by gas chromatography in men aged 50 years from Vilnius, Lithuania (n=50) and Linkoping, Sweden (n=50). Men from Vilnius ha d a significantly higher percentage of adipose tissue long chain polyunsatu rated fatty acids (PUFA) (20:4n6, 20:5n3, 22:5n5, 22:6n3) and lower percent age of saturated fatty acids, especially myristic acid (14:0), 3.4+/-0.7 ve rsus 4.6+/-0.8, p<0.0001. The percentage content of adipose tissue linoleic acid (18:2n6) was 11.5+/-2.1 versus 11.0+/-1.4 (n.s.) and of linolenic aci d (18:3n3) 0.7+/-0.3 versus 0.6+/-0.2 (n.s.) in men from Vilnius and Linkop ing, respectively. It is concluded that the adipose tissue content of essen tial fatty acids is similar in men from Vilnius and men from Linkoping and therefore the intake is also likely to be similar. The higher contents of l ong chain highly unsaturated fatty acids in men from Vilnius may be of impo rtance in the oxidation process of LDL.