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Table 1 Fatty acid profiles (%FAME) in plasma lipids according to diet group

From: Comparative analysis of fatty acid profiles across omnivorous, flexitarians, vegetarians, and vegans: insights from the NuEva study

 

sex

WD

(23 m, 39 w)

 

Flex

(14 m, 55 w)

 

VG

(18 m, 46 w)

 

VN

(17 m, 40 w)

 

SFA

         

C14:0

all

0.65 / 0.40

a

0.78 / 0.35

b

0.84 / 0.48

b

0.49 / 0.23

c

C15:0

all

0.20 / 0.08

a

0.23 / 0.06

b

0.24 / 0.09

b

0.10 / 0.04

c

C16:0

all

21.56 / 2.62

a

22.14 / 3.07

a

21.38 / 3.06

a

18.74 / 2.29

b

C17:0

all

0.23 / 0.05

a

0.23 / 0.04

a

0.23 / 0.05

a

0.17 / 0.04

b

C18:0

all

7.00 / 0.98

a

6.41 / 1.00

b

6.59 / 1.11

b

6.63 / 0.92

b

C20:0

all

0.04 / 0.02

a, b

0.04 / 0.01

a

0.04 / 0.02

b

0.06 / 0.02

c

Σ SFA

all

30.66 / 2.61

a

30.57 / 3.35

a

30.16 / 3.00

a

26.91 / 2.35

b

MUFA

         

C16:1n-7

all

1.57 / 0.69

a

1.64 / 0.87

a

1.68 / 0.60

a

1.09 / 0.63

b

C18:1n-9

all

21.95 / 3.59

a

21.48 / 3.98

a

21.77 / 3.52

a

23.00 / 3.63

a

C20:1n-9

all

0.16 / 0.05

a

0.14 / 0.05

a

0.16 / 0.05

a

0.20 / 0.06

b

Σ MUFA

all

25.08 / 3.83

a

24.88 / 4.04

a

25.26 / 3.76

a

25.96 / 4.53

a

n-6 PUFA

         

C18:2n-6

m

w

all

28.72 / 5.62

29.56 / 4.04

29.20 / 4.92

a

a

a

31.75 / 10.36

30.66 / 4.55

30.66 / 5.67

a, b

a, b

b

31.99 / 2.83

30.99 / 4.58

31.52 / 4.49

b

b

b

37.80 / 7.43

35.08 / 4.87

35.57 / 6.04

c

c

c

C18:3n-6

all

0.34 / 0.22

a

0.29 / 0.14

a

0.33 / 0.14

a

0.31 / 0.13

a

C20:2n-6

all

0.16 / 0.06

a

0.15 / 0.05

b

0.16 / 0.05

a, b

0.22 / 0.07

c

C20:3n-6

all

1.35 / 0.38

a

1.32 / 0.49

a

1.46 / 0.49

a

1.30 / 0.53

a

C20:4n-6

m

w

all

6.99 / 1.32

6.39 / 2.07

6.57 / 1.82

a

a

a

5.26 / 2.43

5.82 / 1.64

5.43 / 1.80

b

b

b

4.90 / 1.19

5.68 / 1.42

5.34 / 1.57

b

b

b

4.70 / 2.87

5.21 / 1.69

5.20 / 1.79

b

b

b

C22:4n-6

all

0.17 / 0.09

a

0.17 / 0.05

a

0.18 / 0.07

a

0.16 / 0.05

a

C22:5n-6

all

0.13 / 0.07

a

0.10 / 0.06

b

0.10 / 0.05

b

0.09 / 0.07

b

Σ n-6 PUFA

all

38.42 / 5.11

a

38.20 / 4.62

a

39.21 / 5.03

a

42.77 / 4.84

b

n-3 PUFA

         

C18:3n-3

m

w

all

0.82 ± 0.31

0.86 / 0.44

0.78 / 0.41

a, c

a

a

0.51 ± 0.46

0.51 / 0.19

0.51 / 0.20

b

b

b

0.66 ± 0.60

0.48 / 0.19

0.50 / 0.22

a, b

b

b

1.04 ± 0.86

0.72 / 0.37

0.80 / 0.38

c

a

a

C20:4n-3

all

0.08 / 0.07

a

0.06 / 0.04

a, b

0.07 / 0.05

a, b

0.06 / 0.06

b

C20:5n-3

m

w

all

0.72 / 0.43

0.60 / 0.41

0.63 / 0.38

a

a

a

0.42 / 0.28

0.43 / 0.29

0.43 / 0.28

b

a

b

0.50 / 0.33

0.39 / 0.27

0.42 / 0.33

a, b

b

b

0.24 / 0.29

0.30 / 0.14

0.30 / 0.23

b

b

c

C22:5n-3

all

0.41 / 0.13

a

0.32 / 0.11

b

0.34 / 0.13

b

0.35 / 0.13

b

C22:6n-3

m

w

all

1.34 / 0.48

1.42 / 0.60

1.40 / 0.57

a

a

a

0.99 / 0.48

1.13 / 0.46

1.11 / 0.39

a, b

b

b

0.84 / 0.58

0.82 / 0.44

0.84 / 0.48

b

c

c

0.70 / 0.52

0.92 / 0.34

0.89 / 0.38

b

c

c

n-3 LC PUFA

all

2.46 / 0.73

a

1.93 / 0.69

a, b

1.65 / 0.83

b, c

1.57 / 0.54

c

Σ n-3 PUFA

all

3.50 / 1.16

a

2.59 / 0.83

b

2.37 / 0.98

b

2.42 / 0.77

b

Σ PUFA

all

42.04 / 4.37

a

41.47 / 5.39

a

41.43 / 5.50

a

45.78 / 4.60

b

%n-6 HUFA1

all

76.81 / 6.44

a

78.97 / 6.04

b

81.49 / 5.94

c

81.77 / 6.04

c

%n-3 HUFA2

all

23.49 / 6.46

a

21.32 / 5.46

b

18.73 / 6.49

c

18.34 / 6.94

c

TFA

         

C16:1t9

all

0.32 / 0.08

a

0.34 / 0.08

a, b

0.33 / 0.08

a, b

0.36 / 0.13

b

C18:1t9

all

0.14 / 0.05

a

0.11 / 0.04

b

0.10 / 0.04

b

0.06 / 0.04

c

Σ TFA

all

0.93 / 0.29

a

0.93 / 0.19

a

0.88 / 0.24

a

0.62 / 0.18

b

CLA

 

0.13 / 0.05

a

0.12 / 0.17

b

0.09 / 0.19

b

0.05 / 0.06

c

Ratios

         

n-6/n-3

all

11.15 / 3.45

a

14.62 / 4.65

b

16.30 / 2.27

b, c

18.86 / 6.78

c

ARA/EPA

all

10.34 / 6.47

a

12.50 / 5.35

b

12.97 / 8.75

b

17.44 / 10.71

c

ARA/DHA

all

4.55 / 2.22

a

5.08 / 1.83

a

5.96 / 3.08

b

5.92 / 2.23

b

LA/ALA

all

36.15 / 18.17

a

58.93 / 20.21

b

61.72 / 25.96

b

44.91 / 25.87

c

ARA/LA

all

0.23 / 0.09

a

0.18 / 0.07

b

0.16 / 0.06

b

0.14 / 0.05

c

  1. Results are presented as median / IQR. Diet groups that do not share indices (a, b,c) differ significantly (Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Benjamini-Hochberg correction (p < 0.05)). Abbreviations: WD = omnivores, Flex = flexitarians, VG = vegetarians, VN = vegans, m = men, w = women, SFA = saturated fatty acids, MUFA = monounsaturated fatty acids, PUFA = polyunsaturated fatty acids, n = omega, LC = long-chain, HUFA = highly unsaturated fatty acids, TFA = trans fatty acids, CLA = conjugated linoleic acids, ARA = arachidonic acid, EPA = eicosapentaenoic acid, DHA = docosahexaenoic acid, LA = linoleic acid, ALA = α-linolenic acid
  2. 1Percentage of n-6 PUFA in fatty acids with three or more double bonds
  3. 2Percentage of n-3 PUFA in fatty acids with three or more double bonds
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Lipids in Health and Disease

ISSN: 1476-511X