Adipose Tissue Trans Fatty Acids and Risk of Coronary Artery Disease

Dietary isomeric trans fatty acids are suspected to increase the risk of coronary artery disease. The fatty acid composition of human adipose tissue is a useful biomarker of the long-term average of dietary fat. In this population-based case-control study the association between trans fatty acids intake and the risk of coronary artery disease was investigated.Patients & Adipose tissue samples were obtained from 112 patients aged between 20-75 with angiographically proved coronary stenosis who referred to Tehran Rajaee Cardiovascular Center. The healthy control subjects included 70 individuals without any history of heart disease. Adipose tissue fatty acids were determined by gas-liquid chromatography technique. There were no differences between patients and controls in any of the adipose tissue trans fatty acids measurements. Patients had lower levels of linoleic acid(18:2). Odds ratios(OR) were calculated from logistic regression analysis. Adipose tissue t-18:2 was positively associated with risk of coronary artery disease. An association between t-16:1 and t-18:1 was not detected. Adipose tissue trans fatty acids was positively correlated with LDL-C/HDL-C(r=0.11, P=0.049). Adipose tissue t-18:2 was positively correlated with LDL-C(r=0.15, P=0.04). The results also showed that Iranian subjects had higher proportion of adipose trans fatty acids than subjects from other countries. These findings suggest that dietry intake of total trans fatty acids is associated with increase in the risk of coronary artery disease and trans isomers of linoleic acid is even more associated with increase in the risk of coronary artery disease. These associations need to be confirmed by further studies.