Type 2 diabetes

Arachidic acid

Stearic acid

Endocrinology

Fatty acid

Biochemistry

Food science

Organic chemistry

Quartile

Behenic acid

Palmitic acid

Internal medicine

Confidence interval

Medicine

Chemistry

Diabetes mellitus

Journal of Nutrition

Very-long-chain SFAs (VLCSFAs), such as arachidic acid (20:0), behenic acid (22:0), and lignoceric acid (24:0), have demonstrated inverse associations with cardiometabolic conditions, although more evidence is needed to characterize their relation with risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). In addition, little is known regarding their potential dietary and lifestyle predictors. We aimed to examine the association of plasma and erythrocyte concentrations of VLCSFAs with incident T2D risk. We used existing measurements of fatty acid concentrations in plasma and erythrocytes among 2854 and 2831 participants in the Nurses´ Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS), respectively. VLCSFAs were measured using GLC, and individual fatty acid concentrations were expressed as a percentage of total fatty acids. Incident T2D cases were identified by self-reports and confirmed by a validated supplementary questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate the association between VLCSFAs and T2D, adjusting for demographic, lifestyle, and dietary variables. During 39,941 person-years of follow-up, we documented 243 cases of T2D. Intakes of peanuts, peanut butter, vegetable fat, dairy fat, and palmitic/stearic (16:0–18:0) fatty acids were significantly, albeit weakly, correlated with plasma and erythrocyte VLCSFA concentrations (|rs| = 0.19). Comparing the highest with the lowest quartiles of plasma concentrations, pooled HRs (95% CIs) were 0.51 (0.35, 0.75) for arachidic acid, 0.43 (0.28, 0.64) for behenic acid, 0.40 (0.27, 0.61) for lignoceric acid, and 0.41 (0.27, 0.61) for the sum of VLCSFAs, after multivariate adjustments for demographic, lifestyle, and dietary factors. For erythrocyte VLCSFAs, only arachidic acid and behenic acid concentrations were inversely associated with T2D risk. Our findings suggest that, in US men and women, higher plasma concentrations of VLCSFAs are associated with lower risk of T2D. More research is needed to understand the mechanistic pathways underlying these associations.

Circulating Very-Long-Chain SFA Concentrations Are Inversely Associated with Incident Type 2 Diabetes in US Men and Women