Plasma fatty acids and desaturase activity are associated with circulating adiponectin in healthy adolescent girls

Abstract

Context: Adiponectin can be a potential predictor of future metabolic derangements and some preliminary evidence supports the role of dietary fat in influencing adiponectin levels thus, the dietary determinants of adiponectin were investigated. Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the association of adiponectin concentrations with plasma fatty acids and indices of endogenous fatty acid metabolism. Design: This was a cross-sectional descriptive analysis to investigative the determinants of adiponectin. Setting: All subjects were examined at a large tertiary care center located in Montréal (Québec, Canada) between 2004 and 2006. Subjects: Subjects included 180 postpubertal, adolescent daughters (age range 13.6-17.3 yr) from a 15-yr retrospective cohort of mother-daughter pairs representing gestational diabetes mellitus affected (cases) and nonaffected (controls) pregnancies between 1989 and 1991. Main Outcome Measures: Plasma adiponectin concentrations, plasma fatty acids presented grouped by series name and as individual fatty acids (reported as percent of total), and calculated indices of fatty acid metabolism were measured. Results: In linear regression analyses, adjusting for both waist circumference and insulin measured 2 h after the onset of an oral glucose tolerance test, the docosahexaenoic acid sufficiency index (an indicator of docosahexaenoic acid status) and α-linolenic acid (C18:3 n-3) were significantly negatively associated (P ≤ 0.05) with adiponectin. After accounting for dietary fat intake, these associations disappeared, indicating an effect of diet. However, the long-chain saturated fatty acid, lignoceric (C24:0), was positively associated (P ≤ 0.05) and Δ9-18 desaturase activity (estimated from the ratio of 18:1 n-9/18:0) was significantly inversely (P ≤ 0.01) associated with adiponectin concentrations. Conclusions: Adiponectin, an inverse marker of metabolic derangements, was associated with desaturase activity, indicating that possible functional alterations in fatty acid metabolism may already be present in young healthy adolescent females. Copyright © 2010 by The Endocrine Society.