Abstract
Omega-6 fatty acids are involved in a series of biological processes including inflammation, immune function, and carcinogenesis. Omega-6 fatty acids are closely related to multiple chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, autoimmune diseases, and cancer, however, the evidence is controversial. Omega-6 fatty acids are also responsive to dietary intake and therefore serve as biomarkers for dietary intake. This chapter provides a narrative review of omega-6 fatty acids as biomarkers for major chronic diseases, summarizes the usefulness and limitations of omega-6 fatty acids as biomarkers in epidemiological research and clinical applications, with implicatoins for using omega-6 fatty acids as biomarkers for disease prediction, dietary interventions and primary health care.
Keywords
- Omega-6 fatty acids
- Diet
- Cardiovascular disease
- Diabetes
- Asthma
- Autoimmune disease
- Cancer
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Abbreviations
- 5-HETE:
-
5 hydroxyeicosatetraenoic
- AA:
-
Arachidonic acid
- CHD:
-
Coronary heart disease
- CVD:
-
Cardiovascular disease
- D5D:
-
Delta-5-desaturase
- D6D:
-
Delta-6-desaturase
- DGLA:
-
Dihomo-γ-linolenic acid
- GLA:
-
γ-linolenic acid
- IL:
-
Interleukin
- JIA:
-
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
- LA:
-
Linoleic acid
- LT:
-
Leukotrienes
- LXA4:
-
Lipoxin A4
- MI:
-
Myocardial infarction
- MS:
-
Multiple sclerosis
- PUFAs:
-
Polyunsaturated fatty acids
- RA:
-
Rheumatoid arthritis
- SLE:
-
Systemic lupus erythematosus
- T2D:
-
Type 2 diabetes
- TNF-α:
-
Tumor necrosis factor-α
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Huang, X., Zhao, J.V. (2022). Omega-6 Fatty Acids. In: Patel, V.B., Preedy, V.R. (eds) Biomarkers in Nutrition . Biomarkers in Disease: Methods, Discoveries and Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81304-8_25-1
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