In this week's PLoS Medicine, Kay-Tee Khaw of the University of Cambridge, UK and colleagues analyze data from a prospective cohort study and show associations between plasma concentrations of saturated phospholipid fatty acids and risk of coronary heart disease, and an inverse association between omega-6 polyunsaturated phospholipid fatty acids and risk of coronary heart disease.
The authors comment: "Early guidelines to prevent [coronary heart disease] recommended reductions in saturated fat but little consistency as to what might be substituted: other fats, protein, or carbohydrate. Our results add to the accumulating evidence that substitution of saturated fat by n-6 polyunsaturated fat may have more [coronary heart disease] benefits."
Funding: This study was supported by grants from the Medical Research Council UK and Cancer Research UK. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of this manuscript.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Citation: Khaw K-T, Friesen MD, Riboli E, Luben R, Wareham N (2012) Plasma Phospholipid Fatty Acid Concentration and Incident Coronary Heart Disease in Men and Women: The EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Study. PLoS Med 9(7): e1001255. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001255
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http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001255
PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/media/press/2012/plme-09-07-khaw.pdf
Journal
PLoS Medicine