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CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 30, No 4, July/August 2019
192
AFRICA
contribute to the inflammatory phenotype in obesity and
the MetS.
7
Indeed, a set of four recent studies found that
circulating levels of DGLA and the SFA, palmitoleic acid (PA),
in particular, were predictive of the risk of developing the MSet
or diabetes remission after metabolic surgery in a group of obese
subjects, and were also potential markers for the inflammatory
status of the subject.
7
In this issue of the journal (page 228), Ojwang
et al
.
19
applied
factor analysis to identify fatty acid patterns from 11 dietary
fatty acids and 26 individual phospholipid bilayer-associated
fatty acids in 711 black South African adults who participated
in the South African leg of the Prospective Urban and Rural
Epidemiology (PURE) study. Two patterns from dietary fatty
acids and six patterns from phospholipid bilayer-associated fatty
acids were identified that explained the association between fatty
acid patterns with adiposity and the MetS in this population.
The association for dietary fatty acid patterns was weaker
than for phospholipid bilayer-associated fatty acid patterns.
Phospholipid bilayer-associated fatty acid patterns, characterised
by, first, high levels of SFAs and, second, high levels of n-3 very
long-chain PUFAs, were positively associated with measures of
adiposity and the MetS. Phospholipid bilayer-associated fatty
acid patterns, characterised by, first, high levels of LCMUFAs
and, second, high levels of n-3 LCPUFAs, were inversely
associated with the MetS and some measures of adiposity.
In the clinical setting, identifying specific high-risk profiles
of fatty acid and oxylipins in the lipidome could assist in
identifying obese and possibly lean individuals who are most
likely to develop diseases associated with chronic inflammation
or oxidative stress.
20
Further research, including polymorphism
analysis of desaturases, may provide a better understanding
of the contribution of LCPUFAs to the development and
consequences of obesity and the MetS.
15
In the fight against
NCDs, knowledge of beneficial and harmful biomarker profiles
could also assist in improving dietary guidelines for fat intake to
prevent obesity and the MetS.
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