S. Rao et Rt. Erasmus, PILOT-STUDY ON PLASMA FATTY-ACIDS IN POORLY CONTROLLED NON-INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETIC MELANESIANS, East African medical journal, 73(12), 1996, pp. 816-818
Different data have been reported with respect to the distribution of
plasma and tissue fatty acids in patients with diabetes mellitus and s
ome studies have suggested that severe diabetes is required to produce
the fatty acid abnormalities observed in the diabetic rat, We studied
the plasma fatty acid profile with particular attention to the omega
3 and a fatty acids in 14 non insulin dependent (NIDDM) diabetic Melan
esians, majority of whom were poorly controlled (mean glycosylated hae
moglobin levels of 12.8%), their mean age was 43.0+/-6.3 with disease
duration of 5.2+/-4.8 years, Plasma fatty acids were estimated by gas
chromatography(GC) using a flame ionisation detector (FID), Each diabe
tic was age and sex matched with a non diabetic healthy control, Thoug
h the plasma concentrations of arachidonic (20:4, omega-6), eicosapent
anoic (20:5 omega-3) and docosahaxaenoic (22:6 omega-3) acids were low
er than in control subjects, these values were of no significant diffe
rence, Similarly, no significant differences were observed between the
total plasma saturated fatty acids (palmitic and stearic acids) of di
abetic and control subjects. The result of this pilot study suggest th
at poor metabolic control may not be associated with plasma fatty acid
abnormalities in NIDDM patients.