Trans Fatty Acids Correlates with Diabetes

Trans fatty acid consumption correlates with diabetes risk…

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Qianyi Wang and her colleagues, Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts studied how specific subtypes of trans fatty acid affect type 2 diabetes risk.

Trans fatty acids are a type of unsaturated fatty acid that can be found in margarines and cooking oils. These food items are created in an industrial process, which adds hydrogen to liquid vegetables oils to form a solid product. An increased intake of trans fatty acid results in atherosclerosis, which is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes patients.

In the Cardiovascular Health Study, phospholipid trans (t)-16;1n9, t-18:1 and cis (c)/t, t/c-, and t/t-18:2 were drawn from 2,919 adults ages 74 years old free from diabetes. During the study, dietary trans fatty acid were estimated among 4,207 adults free of prevalent diabetes between 1989 or 1996. Researchers found that during 30,825 years of follow up, 287 diabetes cases had trans fatty acid biomarker analysis. After the adjustments that were made from de novo lipogenesis fatty acid, the levels correlated with a higher incidence of diabetes. Out of 50,105 person-years during the dietary analysis, there were roughly 407 diabetes cases. Incidence of diabetes was positively associated with consumption of total trans fatty acid (1.38 [1.03–1.86], P-trend = 0.02), t-18:1 (1.32 [1.00–1.76], P-trend = 0.04), and t-18:2 (1.41 [1.05–1.89], P-trend = 0.02). After further adjustment for other dietary habits, however, the associations of estimated dietary trans fatty acid with diabetes were attenuated, and only nonsignificant positive trends remained.

According to Quanyi Wang, “Incident diabetes correlated positively with total trans fatty acid consumption and with consumption of t-18:1 and t-18:2. The correlations of estimated dietary trans fatty acids with diabetes were attenuated and no longer significant after adjustment for other dietary habits.” Also, this study should have included a younger population to see how increase consumption of trans fatty acid increase the risk of diabetes.

Practice Pearls:

• Trans fatty acids are associated with diabetes in older adults.
• In the study, researchers found that 287 diabetes cases had trans fatty acid biomarkers.
• The findings highlight the need for further observational, interventional, and experimental studies on the effects of trans fatty acids on diabetes.

Qianyi Wang. Circulating and Dietary Trans Fatty Acids and Incident Type 2 Diabetes in Older Adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study. Published online before print March 17, 2015, doi: 10.2337/dc14-2101. Diabetes Care June 2015 vol. 38 no. 6 1099-1107.