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A prospective study of erythrocyte polyunsaturated fatty acid, weight gain, and risk of becoming overweight or obese in middle-aged and older women

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Abstract

Purpose

ω3 and ω6 fatty acids (FA) may have divergent effects on the development of obesity. We examined the association of baseline erythrocyte ω3 and ω6 FA composition with body weight change and the risk of becoming overweight or obese in the Women’s Health Study (WHS) participants.

Methods

We identified 534 women who had baseline erythrocyte FA measured and a baseline body mass index (BMI) of 18.5–<25 kg/m2. Body weight was updated at a total of six time points during follow-up.

Results

Weight gain during a mean of 10.4-year follow-up increased with increasing quartiles of baseline erythrocyte cis ω6 FA, ω6/ω3 ratio, and trans FA while decreased with increasing cis ω3 FA. After multivariable adjustment including total energy intake and physical activity, the weight gain (kg) in the highest versus the lowest quartile was 3.08 versus 2.32 for erythrocyte cis ω6 FA (p trend 0.04), 2.07 versus 2.92 for cis ω3 FA (p trend 0.08), 2.93 versus 2.05 for ω6/ω3 ratio (p trend 0.046), and 3.03 versus 2.27 for trans FA (p trend 0.06). Among individual FA, the associations were significant for 18:2ω6, 18:3ω6, and trans 18:1 and marginally significant for 20:3ω6 and trans 18:2. The risk of becoming overweight or obese (defined as BMI ≥25 kg/m2 at any follow-up time point) increased across increasing ω6/ω3 ratio (multivariable model p trend 0.04).

Conclusions

In this prospective study, we found suggestive evidence that erythrocyte cis ω6 FA may be positively associated, and cis ω3 FA inversely associated with weight gain in initially normal-weight women.

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Abbreviations

FA:

Fatty acids

PUFA:

Polyunsaturated fatty acids

BMI:

Body mass index

CVD:

Cardiovascular disease

EPA:

Eicosapentaenoic acid

DHA:

Docosahexaenoic acid

WHS:

Women’s Health Study

BP:

Blood pressure

FFQ:

Food frequency questionnaire

GC:

Gas chromatograph

HR:

Hazard ratio

CI:

Confidence interval

AA:

Arachidonic acid

PPAR:

Peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor

NHS:

Nurses’ Health Study

WHI:

Women’s Health Initiative

AHA:

American Heart Association

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Acknowledgments

We are indebted to the 39,876 participants in the Women’s Health Study for their dedicated and conscientious collaboration, and to the entire staff of the Women’s Health Study for their assistance in designing and conducting the trial. This study was supported by a national scientist development grant funded by American Heart Association (0735390N) and research grants CA047988, HL043851, and HL080467 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Dr. Wang was supported by Grant HL095649 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes. These grants provided funding for study conduction, data collection, data analysis, and manuscript writing.

Conflict of interest

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 900 Commonwealth Avenue East, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Lu Wang, JoAnn E. Manson, J. Michael Gaziano, Julie E. Buring & Howard D. Sesso

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    JoAnn E. Manson

  3. Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    Susanne Rautiainen

  4. Division of Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    J. Michael Gaziano, Julie E. Buring & Howard D. Sesso

  5. Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center and Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA

    J. Michael Gaziano

  6. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN, USA

    Michael Y. Tsai

Authors
  1. Lu Wang
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  2. JoAnn E. Manson
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  3. Susanne Rautiainen
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  4. J. Michael Gaziano
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  5. Julie E. Buring
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  6. Michael Y. Tsai
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  7. Howard D. Sesso
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Correspondence to Lu Wang.

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Wang, L., Manson, J.E., Rautiainen, S. et al. A prospective study of erythrocyte polyunsaturated fatty acid, weight gain, and risk of becoming overweight or obese in middle-aged and older women. Eur J Nutr 55, 687–697 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-015-0889-y

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